Tuesday, May 23, 2017
POSITIVE ATTITUDE MATTERS
As you are working towards your dream, you will encounter a
lot of defeat, a lot of failure. Even the inner part of yourself could be
telling you to give you. You have to realise that even your friends may not
agree with your dream and the way you are working hard towards achieving it.
But in such uncertainty, come to realise that positive attitude is all that
matters. If people say that you will fail in your dream, listen to them not;
get inspiration from those that made it the hard way. Achieving a dream demands
having an unwavering sense of madness, a sense of craziness, a sense of
positive attitude that dispels the paralyzing ideas of others.
Peter van Kets who won the 2007 Atlantic rowing race has
this to say: ‘our survival demanded that we put aside uncertainty and
negativity. The reality was clear, dwelling on it was pointless. Through the
waves of exhaustion I reminded myself that there is no story without a
struggle….everyone can act with resolve and courage when all is going according
to plan. We only truly prove ourselves when everything appears to be falling
apart.’
You may be working hard on your dream and despair for facing
imminent failure, facing castigation from your friends and relatives and
critics. It is appropriate to remember, as Winston Churchill said: ‘if you are
going through hell, keep going.’ There will be critics of your dreams but they
become critics because you are achieving something, because you are achieving
the extraordinary, because you are denying fitting in and are push beyond the
boundaries. Wear your positive mentality clock.
When things are hard, when things are tough, when critics
are too much on you, take time to read and re-read what Theodore Roosevelt
said. Roosevelt stressed: ‘It is not the critic who counts; not the man who
points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have
done them better. The credit belongs to the man who actually is in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who
errs, who come short and short again, because there is no effort without error
and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great
enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at
the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if
he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be
with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.’
If Scader Louis had listened to the critics she could not
have risen from the ashes of spinal cord injuries to become a top qualified
accountant. If Dr. Thom Mpinganjira had allowed the bottlenecks he faced along
the way to stand in the path of his dreams, there could have been no FDH bank
today. If William Kamkwamba had listened to those who labeled him mad and
stupid for trying to construct a windmill, he could have been nothing and his
name would not have entered the book of wonderful engineers the world has ever
seen.
Positive mentality is the vehicle that takes you forward.
Positive mentality brings courage, energises enthusiasm, catalyses the power to
win, and becomes a walking stick when the going gets tough. Listen to what
Mahatma Gandhi said. ‘Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become
your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviour.
Keep your behaviour positive because your behaviour becomes your habits. Keep
your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values
positive because your values become your destiny.’
When you fail try again and again and again, nothing is
impossible. Keep on trying until you give the world the best you have, as it is
only when you give the best that the best come back to you.
Stay focused, battles are lost in the mind. Peter van Kets
once again says: ‘the key to success is what happens inside my head. Your body
is an incredible thing. It can get used to almost anything and it can go on
forever. It is your mind that stops you, that gives up long before your body
does.’ Never give up, never give in, wear the cloak of positive thinking then
your dream will be within reach
