Achievement Management:

Coaching Yourself

Positive Thinking

Focusing on the Solution for the Good

"I never saw a pessimistic general win a battle." – Guiseppe Borghese

"The world is like a mirror; frown at it, and it frowns at you. Smile and it smiles, too." – Herbert Samuels

"There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them." – Clare Boothe Luce

Do What Successful People Do

A Positive Mental Attitude is indispensable to your success. You can be as positive as you want to be if you will simply think about the future, focus on the solution and look for the good. If you do what other successful people do, if you use your mind to exert mental control over the situation, you will be positive and cheerful most of the time. And you will reap the benefits enjoyed by all successful people.²

Become A Positive Person

To empower and motivate your employees, customers, your suppliers, your bankers and so on, you simply need to be a genuine, positive and cheerful person. You develop a positive mental attitude. You be the kind of person from whom, “never is heard a discouraging word.” You are easygoing, genial, friendly, patient, tolerant and open minded. You make people feel comfortable being around you.

Jesus on Love

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things... More

Choose To Be Happy

The only source of happiness – and unhappiness – comes from inside yourself.

Happiness is not something that comes to you. It is something you create now, today.  Waiting for something to change in order to be happy is waiting to live your life. It is not what happens to you that counts. It is how you react to what happens to you. It is your attitude. When you adopt a positive attitude, life becomes a rewarding adventure instead of something to get through... More

Happiness Quotes

"Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." – Nathaniel Hawthorne... More

Positive Emotions Are the Key To Life

Positive emotional energy is the key to health, happiness and wellbeing. The more positive you are, the better your life will be in every area... More

Don't Focus on the Problem, Focus on Solution

You can become a positive thinker simply by focusing on solutions, not the problems. Just remind yourself that "there are no problems – only opportunities."

Optimistic Thinking

Changing your perspective is the key to finding success in seeming failure. "Optimistic thinking has sometimes gotten a bad rap as being unrealistic, but research has found that we can indeed live happier, healthier, and more successful lives if we can learn to discover opportunities in problems."³ Due to optimistic positive thinking, problems will become merely challenging opportunities that you can turn to your advantage. They provide opportunities for personal growth and can stimulate your creativity for finding better ways to live.

Can you become more optimistic? Can you simply “choose” to think more positively? Yes, you can. The simplest way is to empty your mind, clear it of all fears and anxieties while replacing them with positive thoughts. Declare independence from negative thinking.⁷ Surround yourself with optimistic people because optimism is contagious. So is pessimism. Studies find that people who live with depressed people tend to become depressed themselves. Surrounding yourself with optimistic, supportive people will help you turn occasional optimistic thoughts into a habitual way of thinking.

Another powerful tool for optimism is "2P & 3P thinking."⁶ When good things happen to you, and when you accomplish your goals, try to understand why those events occurred in Personal, Permanent and Pervasive terms. If you manage a successful project at work, take credit for that success. Attributing it to your intelligence, for example, offers an explanation that is personal (you are intelligent), permanent (you’ll always be intelligent) and pervasive (your intelligence will help on other projects as well).

Living a Healthy and Successful Life

Researchers of two American Universities found that a positive thinking and attitude improved a persons health because it made it more likely that they would succeed in life.⁴ So not only will a positive attitude help you be healthy and live longer – but it also increases the likelihood that you will succeed.

Lead researcher Dr. Glenn Ostir explained it this way: "I believe that there is a connection between mind and body – and that our thoughts and attitudes/emotions affect physical functioning, and over all health, whether through direct mechanisms, such as immune function, or indirect mechanisms, such as social support networks." ... More

The Law of Expectations

Whatever you expect with confidence, positive or negative, becomes your reality. If you confidently expect to succeed, if you confidently expect to learn something from every experience, if you confidently expect to become wealthy as a result of applying your talents and abilities to your opportunities and you maintain that attitude of confident expectations long enough, it will become your reality. It will give you a positive optimistic cheerful attitude that will cause people to want to help you, and will cause things to happen the way you want them to happen... More

 Case in Point  Silicon Valley: "The Five Minute Rule"

Several firms in Silicon Valley have installed a "five minute rule." The rule permits anyone to suggest an idea.  Then for the first five minutes after the idea is expressed only positive comments can be made.  By the time the idea is talked about for five minutes it has usually spun into an impromptu brainstorm session that cultivates truly great ideas and some form of the discussion is often implemented.

 Jokes   Murphy's Plough Positive Thinking Story

A story illustrating the risks of failing to use positive thinking.

McGinty, a farmer, needed to plough his field before the dry spell set in, but his own plough had broken. "I know, I'll ask my neighbour, farmer Murphy, to borrow his plough. He's a good man; I'm sure he'll have done his ploughing by now and he'll be glad to lend me his machine."

So McGinty began to walk the three or four fields to Murphy's farm. After a field of walking, McGinty says to himself, "I hope that Murphy has finished all his own ploughing or he'll not be able to lend me his machine..."

Then after a few more minutes of worrying and walking, McGinty says to himself, "And what if Murphy's plough is old and on it's last legs – he'll never be wanting to lend it to me will he?.."

And after another field, McGinty says, "Murphy was never a very helpful fellow, I reckon maybe he won't be too keen to lend me his plough even if it's in perfect working order and he's finished all his own ploughing weeks ago...."

As McGinty arrives at Murphy's farm, McGinty is thinking, "That old Murphy can be a mean old fellow. I reckon even if he's got all his ploughing done, and his own machine is sitting there doing nothing, he'll not lend it to me just so watch me go to ruin..."

McGinty walks up Murphy's front path, knocks on the door, and Murphy answers. "Well good morning Mr McGinty, what can I do for you?" says Murphy.

And McGinty says, with eyes bulging, "You can take your bloody plough, and you can stick it up your bloody arse!"

Bibliography:

1. "Strategic Management", Third Edition, Alex Miller

2. "Four Steps To a Super Attitude", Brian Tracy

3. "Develop a Prosperity Consciousness," Brian Tracy

4. "How A Positive Attitude Changes Your Life," Karim Hajee

5. "One Thing You Can't Hide," Brian Tracy

6. " Science of Optimism: How to Achieve More with "3P Thinking"," Stephen Kraus

7. "Five Steps for Declaring Independence from Negative Thinking," Stephen Kraus