On your road to becoming successful (no matter what your definition of success may be) there are a number of fundamentals or principles that you must make a part of your life both personal as well as professional. I am making it my lifes mission to share with, as many people as possible the synthesis of what I have learned are lifes principles for success. Most are the fundamentals that we all are aware of and know deep in our hearts but have let the pressures of daily living cause us to set aside in an effort to take the short cut or the easy route.
The ignorant would have you believe that success or failure in your lifetime is a matter of luck, happenstance, fate or the breaks. Let that be their excuse I say. Success put in it is simplest form is following commonsense rules or fundamentals that anyone can follow. It is the goal of this issue, and all following issues, of Success Atlas to help you understand and use those fundamentals and guidelines to reach your own desired level of success.
The starting point of this journey is your attitude. Whether you call it your disposition, manner, temperament, spirit, approach, position, posture, outlook or opinion your attitude has a major bearing on your level of success.
Attitude is defined as: 1. Personal view of something: an opinion or general feeling about something A positive attitude to change 2. Bodily posture: a physical posture, either conscious or unconscious, especially while interacting with others
Your attitude, feelings, or moods will infect or effect the actions, moods, and feelings of those around you. If you face the world with a cheerful expectant attitude, the world (and those in it) will know you expect more from it and will perform accordingly. If you face the world with a negative, down trodden attitude it will know you expect poor action from it and will give you those actions. Remember that the world will reflect your attitude back to you. Your attitude to the world will determine its attitude towards you (cause and affect). So one of the main rules to a successful life is to know that the world is a mirror, often a merciless mirror, of our selves and the habitual attitude we carry within us.
Many people live a life of doubtful, defensive, skepticism. Walking with narrow doubtful visions, negatively commenting on the world around them, and building emotional walls to protect themselves. This poor attitude is a magnet for undesirable experiences. Therefore, these undesirable experiences come, as they must, because of their attitude. This reinforces their poor attitude and the circle starts again. This person has become the prophet and the prophecy. We get what we expect!
We are responsible for our own lives, we are where we are because of choices we made (cause and affect) during the course of our life. If we want to be somewhere else in our life we need to make the choices that will move us there the starting choice would be the choice of changing our attitude. You get back what you put out. As soon as we begin to change, the world will begin to reflect those changes immediately.
Think about this for a moment: If you are the type of person that has a good attitude on the norm, and one day you come into work and are emotionally feeling down. What is one of the first questions you are asked? That is right! Whats wrong? People quickly see a change and react to it. The same will work in the opposite direction. If you normally carry a negative or defensive attitude, your changing that attitude will have immediate impact on how the world perceives and reacts to you.
So as you shape and mold your life whether personal or professional, know that it is further detailed and textured by your habitual attitude. Many people start their day in a neutral attitude. This is unfortunate. For these people are usually moved into the days attitude by the first stimulus they encounter good or bad. These attitudinal chameleons crawl through their day changing the color of their cheer or discontent to that of their environment. Attitudinal chameleons are a reason why we MUST control our attitudes ensuring they are excellent. So that we do not become one ourselves.
It was once said, If you think you can or if you think you cant
. You are right! This is very true for if your attitude is one of I cannot, then you are beat before the run has even begun. Think I cannot get the job and you may as well not even go to the interview. Think I cannot reach this goal and it will always be unreachable. Think I cannot complete this project and there it will sit forever half done. Jessie Jackson has taken quotes from two of my favorite speakers and added some of his own beliefs to it If I can conceive it and believe it, I can achieve it. It's not my aptitude but my attitude that will determine my altitudewith a little intestinal fortitude! All too true Jessie!
I know many successful people that are no smarter or more talented than most people you yourself talk to on a daily basis. However, their edge is their attitude. They take on tasks with the attitude that they will accomplish a result. If they meet with failure they learn from it, shrug it off, and move on. This means they go from one goal to the next repeatedly, accomplishing more and more with each passing day. They come be called brilliant and successful and outstanding because they have the right attitude. Successful people come from all walks of life, all nations of the world rich and poor, they range in color, shape and size, but there is one common factor They have an attitude that that tells them they will get more good out of life than bad. That there will be far more wins than losses.
A person can be efficient at their task and still not be successful, if they do not have the right attitude. Any machine can just do the work, but it takes a human with the right attitude to make it come alive with the creativity that lies with the recesses of our minds. Those with the right attitude use that magic within us to make it better to make it worthwhile that ladies and gentleman makes the difference.
Do not stand there waiting for the world to change towards you. You need to change towards what you want. For nothing changes until we do. Take you paint brush of life and paint the world you want, bright, hopeful, and filled with all the treasures of your dreams and goals. It has to start somewhere let it begin with you! There are lots more reasons why you CAN have your dreams and goals then there are why you cannot. Go after them. Keep your attitude one of cheerful expectance. Work at it and you will get them. As this happens you will reach new levels that will enable you to accomplish more. When you stand in the middle of the desert, you can see only to the first sand dune. However, once you reached that dune, you can see beyond it. Set your goal for that first dune and once you attain it - you will be able to see the second and possibly even beyond. Gerta said, Before you can do something you must be something. Your attitude will enable you to be something; thus, your attitude can empower you to do something!
Tips for getting and keeping a good attitude: 1. Since our minds can only hold one thought at a time, make your thoughts constructive and positive. Look for the best in people and ideas. 2. Do not waste time talking about your problems to people who cannot solve them! It will not help you and it cannot help anyone else. 3. Keep an attitude of confidence, of one who knows where they are headed. You will find all sorts of good things will come your way to get you there. 4. Lastly, treat everyone like the most important person on earth.
Do this for the next week treat every person with whom you have contact with as if they were the most important people in the world. One reason to do this is that as far as they are concerned they are the most important people on earth. Another reason is cause that is how we should treat one another. Stop avoiding eye contact as you pass fellow workers in the hallway, look up and say Hello! Finally, as you treat people in this manner you are forming a habit. With this habit, you will begin to notice a change: irritations that use to get to you no longer do. You will see that you are on the road to your goals and the ease and comfort of the ride will surprise you. You will find yourself doing more & doing it in less time because you have a positive attitude about doing it. You find yourself receptive to opportunities that would have eluded you if your negative attitude were still infecting your senses.
Remember by having a positive/constructive attitude you have placed yourself amongst the top 5% of the people in the world! Now that is good company!
**Contact me for a detailed presentation or seminar on attaining and keeping the successful attitude we all desire**
Think Successfully & Take Action. Tracy
http://www.SuccessAtlas.com (C) Tracy Brinkmann 2000-2005 all rights reserved
http://www.SuccessAtlas.com Tracy Brinkmann is an goal setting and success counselor. Through his company Success Atlas, he provides goal-setting, motivational & educational material, & training via live presentations as well as digital/audio products. Sign up for his free e-Zine http://www.SuccessAtlas.com
