A positive attitude is an important ingredient in achieving your goals. Believing in your ability to accomplish great things is a powerful tool for success. But such optimism doesn’t mean you can do anything at all. I could step onto a basketball court armed with a positive attitude and I still could not outplay Kobe Bryant. In fact, I can tell you with all certainty that I would be no match for even a bench player in the NCAA. No matter what my mind tells me, I can’t play with their level of skill. But with the right way of thinking, I would play much better than I would with a defeatist perspective.
What positive thinking actually provides is the ability to do anything you want a little bit better. You can run faster, become a better artist or musician, improve your sales skills, or do better at your job, just by believing you can. When you approach a challenge with a successful mindset, you supercharge your confidence and energy. Yes, a positive attitude is an invaluable ingredient but you should not assume that you can get by with that ability alone. A positive attitude without a strategy to achieve what you desire is really just making a wish. Shift your brain into creating an actionable strategy, with a step-by-step plan for making things happen. Then sprinkle it with the magic power of positive thinking.
My wife and I work together in our business. We were reviewing candidates for a position and there was one individual who caught my eye. She objected because this person was a cigarette smoker.
Having once shared this habit, I objected to what seemed to be “profiling.” She explained that her objection had nothing whatsoever to do with the habit itself, but the time it demanded.
The average cigarette break, she explained, lasts about 15 minutes. A smoker will probably take at least three breaks during the workday. She did the math:
15 minutes X 3 breaks X 5 days X 50 weeks per year = 11,250 minutes = 187.5 hours per year, or nearly 5 weeks!! Five weeks of unproductive time.
I had to admit she had a compelling point.
Whether you have a smoker or a person who spends time making personal calls or emails, or has a habit of coming in late, leaving early, and/or enjoying extended lunch breaks, it all amounts to unproductive habits.
Imagine if that time were spent instead on a habit that nurtures the mind or inspires the spirit? Reading, for example. Give yourself a healthful habit of enrichment. If you used your daily “habit breaks” for something to further your goal and your future, you would come much closer to the achievement you seek.
Life is black and white when it comes to achieving your life goals. There are no shades of gray. Everything you do either takes you closer to or farther away from reaching your pinnacle. Don’t allow bad habits to be a detour.
Biologically speaking, humans are organisms — like plants, trees, and animals. Like all living things, we go through stages. We are born, we grow, and we die. For many, there is another stage: stagnation. You stop growing, going through life in one constant mode. Sure, we reach our adult height, but what about our emotional and professional growth? At what point do you accept where you are and stop driving yourself forward? When is “enough” going to be good enough for the rest of your life?
In the dormant stage, you make no conscious effort to improve. It’s purely status quo, ordinary, and usual. But growth is happiness. Think about the exhilaration when you have achieved a goal. That is the euphoric result of growth. In essence, you bloom. Do you want a garden filled with stems but no blossoms and with vegetable plants that bear no fruit? Of course not.
Stillness is stagnation. Look at the Dead Sea. This withering body of water lives up to its name. There are noinlets or outlets. It is a stagnant body of water that is receding, creating a minefield of sink holes as it retreats to a natural extinction.
I suggest that you examine your life and your work. Where are you in the growth cycle? Make a move toward growth. Movement creates motivation. Set one goal today, perhaps to do something you’ve put off for a long time. Get up and do it. Then let the satisfaction of achievement be your addictive motivator to keep going and growing.
When you look into your crystal ball, what questions do you seek to answer? Will I be successful? Will I have all the things I’ve hoped for? Will I be happy?
These are all signs of a normal curiosity. But let’s look at the forecasting for a Super-achiever. “What will I become?” “What do I need to do in order to achieve that future?” “What must I do to become the person I ultimately want to be?”
Then there’s the Under-achiever who wants to know, “What am I going to get?” These are the individuals who believe that they will be rewarded because of who they are, not what they do. They sit back and wait for the spoils. And wait. And wait….
You are in charge of your future. You are the only one who can shape it. Do not expect others to sculpt your life because what you’ll live with is an amalgam of their perceptions, needs, and wishes. You’re at the mercy of others. Is this the destiny you want?
The true joy in life comes from the journey towards “becoming”. Become a better person, a better professional, a better parent or friend. Become a good global citizen. Strive. Stretch. Reach.
Start today. Look at one task in front of you. Ask yourself, “How can I knock this out of the ballpark?” I believe wholeheartedly in the statement, “Reach for the moon. If you don’t get there, at least you’ll land among the stars.”
The Super-achiever knows that individual achievements are just part of the bigger goal. It’s who you become along the way that defines you.
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