It is common to ask someone “how are you?” to begin a conversation. Whenever someone asks me, I reply “I’m fantastic” as enthusiastically as I can. Sometimes it gets a chuckle or a surprised reaction, but those people who I talk to often know that’s what they’ll hear. I’m fantastic because I choose to be.

Everyone has outside forces that affect them in their daily life. Some good, some bad. Often when I ask someone how they are, their response is a good barometer for what’s happened to them recently. Not enough sleep. Argument with the wife. Nasty email from a client. I listen closely to what people say as it helps me better adapt to the conversation.

Six or seven years ago I realized that I choose how I am. I choose to be happy or not. Certainly things still happen to me that I might not have wanted. I asked myself why I should give the power of “how I am?” to these events that I don’t control. I can choose to be fantastic anyway.

It reminds me of Jim Harbaugh and his often repeated quote “Who’s got it better than us? Nobody!” Like him or not, he has it figured out that he can live life happily with the intensity of a thousand suns.

At first, it was something I said and didn’t always believe. I had read studies about the impact of words and expressions on your mood. The idea that if you smile, it can make you feel happier. I decided if I said I was fantastic, it would help me feel fantastic even if I didn’t particularly feel that way.

Over time I’ve become better in touch with what makes me happy. I look internally for what it means for me to be fantastic. I have so much for which to be grateful. I start every day choosing to be fantastic. It isn’t hard to reply honestly when asked “I’m fantastic.”