*
How to Get and Maintain a Great/Positive Attitude to Life (Part Two)
© Craig Lock 2002
"Attitudes are the colours with which we paint the most personal picture of our own story on the canvas of life... so make your life the unique individual masterpiece it can be."
- Craig Lock and my "great encouraging buddy", Dr Andrew Eastcott,
Gisborne, New Zealand
Realistically analyse your strengths and weaknesses. As a matter of interest, people generally list more weaknesses than strengths, especially women (nice "things those"!). Too often people discount their accomplishments and focus on what they haven't been able to do.
Making money in itself is not success, but rather a by-product of success. Most successful people use the technique of visualisation to foresee ideal outcomes. If you can foresee getting your desires in the mind, then you can get there in the body.... at least I think so!
"As a man thinketh so is he." - the Bible
Haven't I got that one in already?
Success or failure is not a matter of luck. The key ingredient is a winning attitude, together with PERSEVERANCE and common sense.
Your attitude determines your destiny:
Remember to stick at a task when things don't go right. "When the going gets tough, the tough get going", as my dear father used to tell me often. Did it work though with me? All successful people have true grit and stickability, as well as natural ability. The winner is often the person who gets up one more time than they are knocked down. You will hit attitudes in others who say 'you can't do it'. You have a choice then: a) To remain
convinced that you can do it. or
b) Stay with their
attitude and quit yours.
All the world's greats would never have been great if they had listened to the opinion of even their closest friends. Caruso, the world's greatest tenor, was told his voice sounded like a tin can. Thomas Edison, the inventor of motion pictures, was advised that no-one would pay to listen to sound coming from a screen. Edison told Henry Ford to give up making cars and work for him instead and make millions. Marie Curie was told to forget about radium. Laurence Olivier was told by friends to give up acting. Benjamin Franklin was told to stop fiddling with lightning. People told Johnny Weismuller (Tarzan) that no-one would ever beat his fifty swimming records. His 1936 world record was the qualifying time for the 1972 Olympics! Attitudes of the time said his records could never be beaten. Now 12 year old girls regularly beat his times.
Christopher Columbus took 14 years to raise funding for his ships and crew before setting out on his explorations. The science and culture of the day had said that the world was flat. However, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain had faith in Columbus. With that faith and money behindhim, Columbus took just six months to discover the New World.
In the same way, a "flat-chest, er sorry, world mind-set" can limit our thinking and lead to mediocrity. In the same way that you can train fleas to jump a certain height in a bowl, when you take away the bowl, they still do not jump higher than the learned height.
Our mind can tie us down and limit us, so that mediocrity becomes our destiny. Negative attitudes get cemented in concrete.
WITH THE RIGHT ATTITUDE YOU CAN BE GREATER THAN ANYTHING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO YOU:
ATTITUDE BEATS FACTS EVERY TIME.
DARE TO BE DIFFERENT
* * *
Someone said, "Failure is the line of least persistence." My dear mother called it "stick-to-it- iv-ness." It generally boils down to a healthy combination of faith and hard work, and it usually means success.
"The only place where success comes before work (hard) is in the dictionary."
A short exercise:
Talk to your best friend or partner*(I hate that common New Zealand expression - cheapens the institution of marriage and denotes immoral living - Yes, sir "Mr goody goody two shoes" and "get with the times, mate").
* I far prefer the term 'spouse', which could be an abbreviation for "spastic mouse". Enough about my personal opinions...
1. The picture you hold of yourself (i.e.. how you ]see yourself): Is it positive or negative, are you an introvert, extrovert, popular?
2. How you see other people seeing you - their perception of you, or looking glass). Which brings to mind the following wise words (not mine)...
"I am not what I think I am." "I am not what you think I am." "I am what I think you think I am."
STICK TO IT
According to William S. Banowsky, the story of one of America's greatest leaders is actually a story of repeated failures and dogged persistence. Abraham Lincoln's story is a great encouragement and inspiration to me travelling down my "untrodden path" as a writer. Lincoln grew up in a very difficult environment. He had less than one year of formal schooling and experienced defeat and failure year after year; yet is one of the greatest success stories of all time*...
In 1831 he failed in business.
In 1832 he was defeated for the state legislature.
In 1833 he failed again in business.
In 1834 he was elected to the state legislature.
In 1835 his sweetheart died.
In 1836 he had a nervous breakdown.
In 1838 he was defeated for Speaker.
In 1840 he was defeated for Elector.
In 1843 he was defeated for Congress.
In 1846 he was elected for one term to Congress.
In 1848 he was defeated again for Congress.
In 1855 he was defeated for the Senate.
In 1856 he was defeated for Vice President.
In 1858 he was defeated again for the Senate.
In 1860 he, finally, was elected President of the United States. And these are just a few of the rough spots in the life of Abraham Lincoln.
After that, how's your attitude? Are you feeling discouraged?
Perhaps you just need to give it one more try... like that great American President, Abraham Lincoln
In spite of everything, he had the right attitude to achieve success.
I HOPE THAT YOU DO TOO.
Craig Lock
P.S: This is one of my favourites from my "spiritual mentor", Rev Robert Schuller from the Chrystal Cathedral, in Garden Grove in California...
"When faced with a mountain, I will not quit!
I will keep on striving until I climb over,
find a pass through,
tunnel underneath
-or simply stay
and turn the mountain into a gold mine,
with God's help! "
- Rev R.H. Schuller
"We become what we think about all day long." - Rev Robert Schuller...
"Then why aren't I a woman, Dr. Bob?" - Craig Lock
He's my spiritual mentor and a great inspiration to me, btw (though a bit "straighter" than my "zany/crooked spirituality"!).
As the saying goes,
when you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. Success comes to those who ride out the highs and lows and stick with their dreams, never giving up.
"Dear God help me become all the person, my dear pet thinks I am."
Have FUN travelling down the amazing journey, that is life. Today is a gift and life a mystery; so make the most of your individual journey.
Craig Lock
"Information and Inspiration distributor" http://www.craiglock.com http://www.craiglockbooks.com
* Perhaps there's some hope for me, after all!
Authors Note:
Craig Lock has written extensively in the field of self help.
This extract is from Craig's first published book HANDBOOK TO SURVIVE - a collection of writings on various subjects to
help every man or woman survive in a rapidly changing, uncertain world. Craig's various books can be ordered at: http://www.nzenterprise.com/writer/books.html and http://www.novelty-gift.com/ebooks.html
All proceeds go to needy and underprivileged children - MINE
THIS ARTICLE MAY BE FREELY PUBLISHED