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Your Only Limit is Your Attitude

 

· mental,spiritual

There are people who think they can. There are people who think they cannot. They are all right. Henry Ford said it best. “Whether you think you can, or can’t, you’re right.” Which philosophy of thinking do you have? You get to choose. Our attitude tends to be good if we are pursuing our purpose in life even when things do not go well. We keep our eye on the goal. We focus on our mission statement and goals as our road map to keep us on course when things happen to us that discourages our progress. Sometimes we wander or we let unexpected things knock us for a loop. Remember this, terrible things happen to good people and that’s life. In fact, terrible things happen to bad people also. Circumstances are not always going to go your way. Another factor in our mental success is determined by our attitude when things take a turn for the worst in our life. How do we react? Dr. Stephen Covey said, “There is a gap between stimulus and response.” Our success is determined by what decisions or reactions we make during the gap. In other words we need to carefully think out our response before we react to unwelcomed challenges that confront us daily. The first thing we should ponder in our minds is, “Am I going to let what just happened discourage me from reaching my goals?” Have the mindset of looking at the big picture. Keep your goals in mind.

Let us say one of your goals is to be remembered as a person who respected and tried to encourage everyone you met in your life. You are driving your vehicle and someone cuts you off in traffic. Your initial response might be to shoot them your middle finger and cuss them out. Instead of reacting you should pause and think about your response. A positive response would be not to react at all or wave at them and say to yourself no problem. I hope they get to where they are going. If you react this way your mental attitude will line up with your goal of encouraging everyone you meet in your life.

Look at this scenario. You have worked hard in your current job as a bank teller. You have as a goal to become a bank manager one day. You are qualified and the opening for the bank manager job becomes available. You apply and there is no doubt of all the applicants you are the most qualified. The position goes to another person as a result of that other person being friends with the one doing the hiring. You feel disappointed and defeated. What do you do? How do you react? Do you give up and have a nasty attitude or do you look ahead and say something better will come up? The stimulus is you just got turned down for a job which you deserved and were the most qualified. The gap is the time in between before you react. The decision that you make during this gap or time period will determine your mental wellbeing. This should be your response: Something better will come along at this particular bank or I will seek other banking opportunities elsewhere where my skills and qualifications will be appreciated. Your attitude is your key to staying on track as you are pursuing your life’s mission. You can “bank” on this. No pun intended. We will at times be treated unfairly and overlooked as we are pursuing this journey here called life. Your success, especially mentally, will be determined by a large degree in how you react.

Be careful whose advice you listen to and absorb. I have known people who were raised by parents who told them that they will never amount to anything. Obviously, these parents suffered from low self-esteem and they saw no harm in passing it on to their children. There are always going to be naysayers out there who will discourage. Unfortunately, I have found out over the years that most people you meet don’t want you to become successful. Misery likes company. If you become successful and have a positive attitude, it shows them their flaws. Do not listen to and hang around these people if you can help it. I know if you are getting this negative advice from family members you might find it difficult to disassociate yourself from them. But the bottom-line is don’t listen to any negative advice. It does not matter where it comes from. It is hard when someone who loves you constantly discourages you. You can overcome. Find positive and encouraging role models and listen to what they have to say.

My siblings and I were fortunate to be encouraged by our father who told us “You can do anything in life if you just believe that you can.” I believed him. His attitude was always positive no matter what. I can remember firsthand when he was promised several times by different companies that they were interested in his inventions. In the end they never came through on their promises. He would say, “NEXT.” What is the next invention I can work on? What invention can I create which will solve a problem for the people? He never gave up and had a relentless attitude to succeed. He would tell himself the next invention will pay off. He passed his attitude down to his children and it has served us well. We are to have a comfortable and confident attitude about ourselves. This will happen if we have a well thought out purpose and goal for our lives. Have hope and belief that you can accomplish remarkable things for your life. Allow Christ to be the central source of your confidence and wellbeing. Ask God to guide you in your career path and finding your mission in life. Your mental success is at stake. Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” NKJV.

Be grateful in all things. Look for the best in all circumstances. Look for the best in other people. Forgive those who have discouraged and hurt you. Let go and let God have control of your attitude. Do not let negative thoughts control your destiny. Take constructive criticism from only people who genuinely care about you and your wellbeing. You can control what you think about. Positive and encouraging thoughts will change how you feel mentally. Do not worry about tomorrow. Strive to be successful in your mental outlook for today. Live and make the best of the moment because you are not guaranteed tomorrow. Start living one successful day at a time. Matthew 6:34a “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things….” NKJV. II Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” NKJV.