Focus on What You Can Control & Stop Giving Energy to What You Can't
The biggest waste of time, energy and enthusiasm in business is worrying about things that you can't do anything about. What if you took that same amount of time and energy and focused it on what you could control? And what if that one area was the area for ultimately determining your success in business and life? Would you be willing to make the trade-off and give up focusing on the things you can't control in exchange for what you could?
You've probably guessed it by now, but in case you haven't, the area I'm referring to is your attitude. Talking about keeping a positive attitude has become cliché in business today, but the fact is that most people keep letting it fend for itself. They do little deliberate work to fortify it and improve it. Working on your attitude has to become a daily discipline in you have a chance of reaching your full potential in business or in life. Here are eight tips to a peak attitude. Take some time to study these and pick an area(s) that you can take action on immediately:
- Become a goal-setter. Goal-setters have better attitudes because they are living on "purpose" and their lives have more meaning. Because they have a picture of the future that is bigger than today, it gives a long-term perspective that helps get us past the bad that happens today, at the same time it puts more meaning into today because it is a part of that big picture.
- Read or listen to motivational material each day. Make time for this. Get up a few minutes earlier and fill your mind with positive thoughts from inspirational reading. This will set the tone for the day. Then on the way to work, turn off the "R" rated disc jockey and listen to a tape or C.D. that will elevate your thinking. The book and tape stores are filled with products that will fit your style. Go invest in some today.
- Stay away from the "grave-diggers". These are the negative people who bring you down. They are "infectors" who pollute the environment. Avoid them at all costs. They want to bring you down to their level. Don't think you're immune to them—you're not. They slowly take a toll on your confidence, outlook, disposition and can lull you into a funk before you realize what happened. Take a look at your closest associates at work. If they're gravediggers, it's time to upgrade your associations and leave the losers behind.
- Stay away from gossip. This prevalent exercise in the workplace is the biggest energy leak there is. Remove yourself from unacceptable situations and don't add fuel to the fire. Whenever you listen to or add to a gossip situation, you cheapen yourself.
- Balance your life. Too many people think they "burn out" because they work too long or too hard, and get a bad attitude because of it. However, we all know people who work continually, always have a great attitude, never burn out and have a happy family life. What's the difference? Balance. "Burn-outs" don't work any harder than many others, they just have lives that have become seriously out of balance. For an optimal attitude, you need balance in four areas of your life: physical, spiritual, mental and emotional. Much has been written about balancing these four areas. Get to a bookstore and get a resource that will help you—or e-mail us and we'll suggest some titles.
- Reframe failure. Too many people have their attitudes destroyed because they have made a mistake or failed in an area. Understand that failure is just delay, not defeat. It's a detour, not a dead-end street. When you decide to learn from failures and make them your teacher rather than your undertaker, you can get past them and go on to great things. Your past does not equal your future.
- Reframe rejection. Rejection can cause us to lose confidence, question our abilities and talents and second-guess ourselves into paralysis. Rejection is good because it means you are doing something. People who are never rejected never attempt anything. They consign themselves to a life of mediocrity. I'll take rejection over mediocrity any time because I know that if I have solid goals and a good plan, and I keep on keeping on, I will succeed and my success will taste all the sweeter having overcome the rejection that could have rendered me into a trance. I'll also be better at dealing with it the next time it comes up—realizing that it's just part of the process, it is not the end result.
- Reframe your problems. Realize that you will have problems, and that your problems are not your problem. It's what you let your problems do to you that's your problem. Fix that and your problems are no problem! You don't get to choose what happens to you much of the time, but you do get to choose how you'll respond. Your attitude is a choice. Make the productive choice and keep your attitude intact.
Dave Anderson is President of The Dave Anderson Corporation. He can be contacted by phone at (800) 519-8224, or by fax at (650) 949-4270. For more information, see his web site at www.learntolead.com.
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