2 The Power of Positive Thinking

2 The Power of Positive Thinking

Key Point
You are what you think. You feel what you want.

Why Think Positively?

All of our feelings, beliefs and knowledge are based on our internal thoughts, both conscious and subconscious. We are in control, whether we know it or not.
Aim high and do your best
We can be positive or negative, enthusiastic or dull, active or passive.

The biggest difference between people is their attitudes. For some, learning is enjoyable and exciting. For others, learning is a drudgery. For many, learning is just okay, something required on the road to a job.

"Most folks are about as happy as they
make up their minds to be."Abraham Lincoln

Our present attitudes are habits, built from the feedback of parents, friends, society and self, that form our self-image and our world-image.

These attitudes are maintained by the inner conversations we constantly have with ourselves, both consciously and subconsciously.

The first step in changing our attitudes is to change our inner conversations.

What Should We Be Saying?

One approach is called the three C's: Commitment, Control and Challenge.

Commitment
Make a positive commitment to yourself, to learning, work, family, friends, nature, and other worthwhile causes. Praise yourself and others. Dream of success. Be enthusiastic.

Control
Keep your mind focused on important things. Set goals and priorities for what you think and do. Visualize to practice your actions. Develop a strategy for dealing with problems. Learn to relax. Enjoy successes. Be honest with yourself.

Challenge
Be courageous. Change and improve each day. Do your best and don't look back. See learning and change as opportunities. Try new things. Consider several options. Meet new people. Ask lots of questions. Keep track of your mental and physical health. Be optimistic.

Studies show that people with these characteristics are winners in good times and survivors in hard times.

Research shows that,
"... people who begin consciously to modify their inner conversations and assumptions report an almost immediate improvement in their performance. Their energy increases and things seem to go better ..."

Commitment, control and challenge help build self-esteem and promote positive thinking. Here are some other suggestions.

7 Suggestions for Building Positive Attitudes

* In every class, look for positive people to associate with.
* In every lecture, look for one more interesting idea.
* In every chapter, find one more concept important to you.
* With every friend, explain a new idea you've just learned.
* With every teacher, ask a question.
* With yourself, keep a list of your goals, positive thoughts and actions.
* Remember, you are what you think, you feel what you want.

CHANGE OR FORCE TO CHANGE

CHANGE OR FORCE TO CHANGE
Everyone resist change. Anything we do repeatedly becomes a habit and later we are conditioned and resist new changes. Remember when you switched over from driving a bike to a car, it was uncomfortable for some days later switching back to bike was uncomfortable. So its all the state of mind. Anything you do with passion gives a positive state of mind thus you start learning / adapting new things in life. Today if you don’t change as per the trend tomorrow, you will be forced to change. Better change today.

Today when you look at the world, what took a decade to change, now takes just a few months. It took 50 years for cassette tapes to replace records, but it took less than ten years for CDs to replace cassette tapes. These were soon replaced by mini discs. Today, in less than 3 years we have the MP3 and MP4. These innovations are making the rest totally obsolete.

Today in the market, mega billion dollar business can become bankrupt because of obsolescence overnight. Similarly small companies can become worldwide market leaders in just 5 years. In the same manner a professional with years of experience and a high market value can become economically unviable within a short period of time. Why?

The new economy is so dynamic that 80% of what you learn in school will become obsolete by the time you graduate. 30% of the jobs, companies, products and services that are common now never existed a decade ago.

Whoever heard of professionals like chief information officer, web designer, techno-preneur, internet service provider in 1990’s. Similarly 50% of the jobs that exist today will no longer exist in their present form ten years from now. In fact the average person will probably go through 4 career changes (not job changes) in their entire life time. Why? Simply because the jobs they have and the companies they work for will not exist for very long.

There are now a hundred times more millionaires and many more billionaires as compared to decades past. Unlike earlier, when most of them were in their fifties, today billionaires are in their thirties.

Today with an innovative idea, you could become the owner of a billion dollar company in less than 10 years. We know that academic success, knowledge and intelligence alone are no guarantee of success in the new economy. In fact, they could mean very little. In the new economy the school dropouts are those who employ “professors” to run their business, like- Bill Gates (founder – Microsoft), Larry Ellison (CEO – Oracle), Richard Branson (CEO – Virgin Group), Steve Jobs (CEO – APPLE), Antony Robbins (World No 1 Success Coach) and Micheal Dell (CEO – Dell) became creators of billion dollar empires.

While education and academic qualification are important, they are not enough if you want to make it in these evolutionary times. The most successful in the new economy are not necessarily the ones with the highest IQ and degrees behind them. It is only certain pattern of excellence which they acquire to succeed. This I have observed with many successful people.

Pattern of excellence is a set of beliefs, attitudes and behavior exhibited by individuals who consistently produce exceptional results. It is the ability to model and replicate excellence within a very short period of time. It is the ability to take charge of your life, be in control of your emotional state and bring out the best of your personal potential.

Whatever may be external circumstances; you can master your mind and design your destiny. You have all the resources you need to succeed.

“WHY BLAME OTHERS FOR YOUR MISTAKES?”