#PositiveAttitude #attitude #talent #discipline
To your eyes, is the glass half-empty or half-full?
When working with a team on a project, are you the first to see the worst-case scenario, and be immediately convinced that the worst will happen?
When getting reassigned at work, do you automatically presume it will be the worst thing that could happen?
Vicki Hitzges discusses attitude in her little book, “Attitude Is Everything: 10 Rules for Staying Positive.”
Her 10 rules include: wait to worry; keep an attitude of gratitude; your health is your wealth; the serious benefits of belly laughs; joy boomerangs; losing the fight? write; keep the faith, baby; learn to say “no” graciously; understand the power of discipline; and surround yourself with positive people.
In the interest of space, let’s focus on the last two rules. Hitzges tells the story of Lilly Mae, a bright girl from a good family who had a solid education. “She knew a smattering about everything, from how the moon affects the tides to surviving a freezing weekend without a tent in the forest,” the author writes.
Unfortunately, Lilly’s parents never disciplined her. She never had to do chores, was never taught to say “please” and “thank you,” and never really obeyed her gentle mother, the author writes. As a result, she grew up overweight, with poor study habits and poor social skills, according to Hitzges. Yet, she could sing, play the piano and play the ukulele. She could transform leftovers into a feast. She, indeed, was talented.
“Talent is cheaper than table salt,” Hitzges quotes novelist Stephen King. “What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work,” Hitzges quotes King.
In other words, “talent without discipline won’t take a person far,” the author writes. “Talent with discipline races like a thoroughbred.”
Something else is true. One who has discipline can be more successful than a person with more talent and less discipline.
As you think of this concept, think of athletes, musicians etc. who make a living with their talent. They are essentially forced to be disciplined to hone their craft and practice with others, and on their own, tirelessly. Otherwise, in most cases, they won’t make a living with their talent.
Those less talented than others who make a living in, say, sports or music, do so strictly through hard work. If you can’t outrun someone, out-work him.
As for positive people, the author writes: “Spent much time around people who just drift through life? They don’t set goals, expect others to pick up the slack, just don’t care. Avoid them!” the author writes.
Another adage: “If you can’t change the people around you, change the people around you.”
Negative people will work really hard to try to talk you out of being successful. Hang around people who will support your endeavors, and encourage your success.
If you are a person who considers himself or herself disciplined, and have a need to find a vehicle that could help you become successful, and introduce you to positive people, there are many such vehicles out there. To learn about one of the best, message me.
Your success doesn’t depend on circumstances. Things will happen to you, but those things don’t determine your success. How you deal with them determines your success. Your positive attitude will help you combat any pitfalls in your life, and allow you to take advantage of the good things that come into your life.
Peter
Tag Archives: discipline
WANT IT FIRST, THEN DO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO
“The difference between a successful person and others is not the lack of strength, not the lack of knowledge, but, rather, the lack of will.
Vince Lombardi
#motivation #desire #happiness
You’ve heard lots of talk about discipline.
What you don’t always hear about is the link between desire and discipline.
Some people know exactly what they want from life. Others really haven’t a clue, except for some superficial desire for money, power or some other thing in the abstract, especially when they see that others have what they don’t.
Those in the first category usually not only know what they want from life, but also find a way to get it, even if it means having to do some uncomfortable things before they get it.
Those in the other group will search for contentment, probably never find it in absolute terms and complain that they are not getting it. Many of us know these people. They work at a job, or in a certain place, they make a living and make the best of what life gives them. They realize it’s not enough and are envious of those who have more. Envy is a profound energy waster. It will produce nothing, but will gradually drain one’s physical and mental resources.
Those in the first group look at others’ accomplishments as goals for themselves. They don’t waste energy on envy, resentment and other worthless emotions. They focus their energy on what they need to do to achieve what they desire.
It’s difficult, but not impossible, to convert from one type of person to the other. It’s not easy for an envious person to be self-reflecting. It’s not easy for a motivated, discipline person to sink to the level of the envious, providing he doesn’t listen to what the envious tell him.
But let’s just say an envious person has an epiphany, the same way an addict gets the message that he needs to stop. When that happens, the envious person learns that he DOESN’T have to accept things as they are. He learns there IS a way he can better his life, even, perhaps, without interfering with what he is doing.
What might cause this? Desire! One must realize that he would like something in life strongly enough to make changes, to discipline himself to do what he needs to. Just as the addict might one day say, NO MORE, and mean it, the envious person might find the desire that has been missing. He might realize that contentment is not the same as happiness. He might discover something inside him that will make him want to change.
It’s easy to be fooled by procrastinators. They will talk eloquently about what they will do tomorrow, but that tomorrow is long in coming. They realize contentment isn’t so bad. The person truly converted from envious starts immediately. He doesn’t necessarily look for things to happen quickly, but he performs activities needed to change his life
Are you an envious, contented procrastinator? Or do you want more from life than what you have, and are willing to do what you need to get it? If so, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. See firsthand how people motivated by what they want can get it. Then, see how motivated people help other motivated people do the same.
They had, or discovered, a discontent with a contented life. They didn’t want to wait for something to happen. Instead, they did what they had to do to make it happen.
Another characteristic of motivated people is that they can lose everything, and know they can get it all back. Instead of settling for contentment, they strove for true happiness, and helped others do the same.
Peter
TIME, DISCIPLINE AND RESOLUTIONS
#newyearsresolutions #time #discipline
Why do so many of us abandon our new year’s resolutions?
Rory Vaden, cofounder of Southwestern Consulting and a self-discipline strategist and speaker, says it may not just be a lack of self-discipline. It may be a lack of time.
Vaden discussed the topic in a Jan. 11, 2015, column in The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville.
It’s easier to get to the gym when your house is clean and your bills are in order, he says. It’s easier to eat healthy when you don’t feel so rushed you have to cram some fast food down in 20 minutes, Vaden points out.
So let’s tackle time, or lack of it, that most say is their biggest problem in life.
Time is choice. Sure, most of us MUST go to work. Those who have children MUST tend to their needs etc. Oh, and we MUST sleep – or at least most of us do.
But there are many other hours in which we do things that are not MUSTS. There may even be some hours we do things we believe are musts, but may not be.
Some of us take time doing things, then ask ourselves, why did I waste my time doing that?
Some of us decide that we can’t do something that may be good for us, because we don’t have time. Others make time to do something good for themselves.
Vaden believes that if you want to achieve your goals in 2015, you have to intentionally decide what you won’t do that has taken up your time.
In short, resolutions require a time commitment. You have to determine whether what you spend your time on is worth your time, or could your time be spent doing something better for you.
Let’s take the food example. If you are wolfing down fast food at lunch because your boss gives you no time for lunch, try bringing healthy food to work with you. You’ll eat better and save money. If cleaning your house takes up too much of your time, there’s the option of hiring someone to do it. Chances are, that person can clean your house much more quickly than you, because he or she cleans houses for a living and has the process down to a science.
How can you hire a housekeeper when you are barely getting by yourself? There are many ways to pick up extra income, often without interfering with what you are doing now. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. You might not only find a way to pay your housekeeper, but also you will be using your time more productively.
Often, those who use their time most wisely have cultivated the ability to say, NO! Sometimes we are backed into a corner and say yes when we want to say no. Perhaps the person whose feelings you don’t want to hurt would rather hear no, than a reluctant yes.
Vaden also talks about procrastination vs. patience. Sometimes, waiting for a better time to do something can be a virtue. Putting off things you should do kills success, he says.
So, if you haven’t already, make those resolutions: Live healthier. Know what to do to prosper, and do what you must to make it happen. If you are unsure about the latter, be open to looking for the answer, and recognize it when you see it. Your patience could pay off.
Peter