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Have you checked your attitude lately?

Contrary to popular belief, your aptitude does not always determine your performance. You can be very intellectually capable or very physically able but if you have a bad attitude, your performance can and will seriously be undermined. What is attitude? It is usually defined or explained as a “an inward feeling expressed by behavior” So, really! Do we just have to monitor our behavior in order to improve our performance? Is it that simple? I believe there is more to it than that. The way we perceive and interpret our circumstances and things around us, our own self-esteem have a direct impact on how we perform. 

Basically, we do have a choice! It is not what life throws at us that is important but how we react to it. We all heard the saying when life gives you lemon, make lemonade! There is no need complaining about it, it is just like crying over spilled milk, not helpful. That is why happiness and inner peace come from within. All the materiel possession or money in the world will not make you happy if you have a negative mental attitude. Likewise all the security in the world will not give you inner peace if you always

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Wednesday Motivation # 16: Nelson Mandela

“En Afrique, quand un vieillard meurt, c’est toute une bibliothéque qui brûle”.

That was said by Hamadou Hampathe Ba, who was a Malian writer and ethnologist, translated into English it simply means “In Africa when an old man dies, it’s a whole library that burns down”. That statement was certainly true at the time of its writing, in 1960, a time in Africa when people “graduated from the great university of the Spoken Word taught in the shade of baobab trees” However today things have changed! We just lost one the greatest elders that Africa has ever produced, but thanks to the Written Word, no “library has burnt down”. Madiba, as he was affectionately called, left us with great sayings and life stories that will serve us and generations to come.

Today I will share just a few quotations from him, please feel to share the ones you know by Mandela.

1. “Difficulties break some men but make other. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end.”

2. “We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”

3. “We can change the world and make it a better place. It is in your hands to make a difference.”

4. “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.”

5. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

6.“Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for eternity.”

Question: Do you believe that the world needs more people like Madela? Why or why not? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

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Three choices that lead to inevitable success!

A wise man once said that if there was only one key to success it would be honesty. But what is honesty? Is it the same thing as integrity? You will probably agree that the two are inextricably linked. Let’s take a look at the definitions: Webster defines honesty as “the quality of being fair and truthful” while, according to the same dictionary, integrity is defined as “the quality of being honest and fair” but also “the state of being complete or whole” Most of the time the lack or loss of those qualities determines whether you succeed or fail in your endeavors. 

Thank God we have the power to choose! Let’s analyze three choices that will lead to inevitable success in whatever you do. However, these choices should not be situational, they should be absolute, for them to deliver the desired results. You should not choose when and where to make them, you should make them all the time.

1. Integrity. There is a story that I heard from Les Brown that I want to share here to illustrate a point.

There was a man who was an efficient builder, he had worked for years in a large company and had reached the age of retirement. His employer asked him to build one more house it was to be his last commission. The builder took the job, but his heart was not involved. He used inferior materials, timber was

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Motivation Wednesday #15: Work all the time your work

Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well! Nothing great has ever been achieved with divided attention, so the time to work is not the time to play. When you are at work, work all the time and focus at one thing at a time. This how you can give your best. Today’s Motivation Wednesday comes from an unknown author:

Work is the foundation of all business, the source of all prosperity and the parent of genius. Work can do more to advance youth than his own parents, be they ever so wealthy. It is represented in the humblest savings and has laid the foundation of every fortune. It is the salt that gives life its flavor, but it must be loved before it can bestow its greatest blessings and achieve its greatest ends. When loved, work makes life, sweet, purposeful and fruitful”

 

Question: What is your idea of job well done? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

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18 Quotes on gratitude to stimulate your thinking

Developing an attitude of gratitude will help us a long way towards getting our lives’ desires. Since being grateful brings about positive vibrations and the law of attraction states that “likes attracts likes” or “birds of feather flock together”, it is very clear then than gratitude is surest path to a life of positivity, peace and bliss. I have compiled here 18 quotes that will stimulate your thinking on this area. I hope you you will find them useful.

  1.  “God gave you a gift of 86 400 seconds today. Have you used one to say thank you ” ― William Arthur Ward
  2.  “Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ― Marcel Proust
  3. “Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.” ― Maya Angelou
  4. “When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.” ― Maya Angelou
  5. “To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us – and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.
  6. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes
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Is giving thanks useful?

From the bottom of my heart THANK YOU! Thanksgiving Day is just around the corner in the US and I would like to avail myself of this great opportunity to thank all those who open their mailboxes every Sunday and Wednesday mornings to read a piece from my writings. Without you there would have been no blog, so thank you!

If at any moment, I inspired or motivated you to take action towards unleashing your full potential, if I ever shared a thought that challenged the way you look at things and stimulated a new approach for the better; I would like to thank you one more time for giving me the opportunity to serve.

Photo courtesy of FSR

There are many blessings in giving thanks, so we are indebted to whoever gives us the opportunity to do so. It is said that being grateful makes us happier and healthier, it also enable us to see more blessings. We always have something to be grateful for even though sometimes it may not seem like it for some folks. There are lot of things we take for granted. Imagine being able to breath on your own, to walk without assistance or to wake up in the morning and have a floor to put your feet on. How about having a roof over your head on cold winter night? What about being

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Whatever you are, be an optimist!

We’ve all heard the saying “we become what we think about”. We also know that what we focus on expand, and yet many people have a very pessimistic outlook on life. It is true that negative thoughts make they way into our minds from time to time. However we have no business inviting them let alone making them comfortable there. Being a pessimist will keep us in a constant state of fear. We are afraid that what we truly want will not happen. However by thinking about that over and over again it we will become our reality; indeed, the law of attraction is here to make sure of that.

How we talk to ourselves determines whether we are a pessimist or an optimist. When we have positive conversations with ourselves we tend to expect good things to happen to us. We tend not to worry because we know things will turn out fine and they usually will. We see more of what we anticipate. Optimists are happier people and accomplish more in life. The state of mind of an optimist is more conducive to success. On the other hand, the pessimist expect the worst and blame themselves for whatever goes

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Motivation Wednesday # 14: From chess to success

There are lot good people out there whose sole purpose in life is to make the world a better place. I subscribed to that cause a very long time ago. I spent most of my waking time, reading about and researching people like that. Recent I virtually “met” a gentle named Orrion Hudson, who in my opinion, is doing a tremendous job, bringing his bricks for the construction of this edifice called the world.

According to the website besomeone.org, “Orrin Hudson was watching the news one night in 2000 when he saw a story about seven employees shot, execution style—for $2,000 in the cash register. That’s when he realized evil prevails when good people do nothing. He sold his business and founded Be Someone to teach something positive to inner city kids: the focus, discipline and patience required by the game of chess.”

Mr. Hudson is changing young people’s lives “one move at time”. Like this master motivational speaker, I truly believe that our success in life should not be measured by how much money we have at the bank, or how many cars or houses we own. But rather, by how many lives we change for the better by lifting people up when they are down, or just believing in them until they can believe in themselves. Our success in this life should be ultimately evaluated by whether we left this world better than we found it.

Today’s Wednesday Motivation, obviously, is from Mr. Orrion Hudson of Besomeone.org. If you have kids in your family, you do not want to miss this video. I found it very inspiring and was very touched by it. Watch out for the definition of K.A.S.H

Question: Do you believe that the game of chess can teach young people success skills? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

 

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Why you should always forgive and how to go about it

In today’s post I am revisiting an article that I wrote last year about forgiveness and how it is important for us. This blog has grown in readership since then and I felt the need of sharing “notes on forgiveness” with the new readers.

Have you ever been hurt, been hurt so bad that you cannot forget or forgive? Have you ever been betrayed by someone you really trusted. How did it feel? If it was depressing or was filling you with hatred, you need to let go. Your well being is more important than dwelling on someone’s past actions, even though they negatively affected you. You need to release your anger in order to live a healthier life! You need to forgive, to live happier! But what is forgiveness and who do you forgive for?

A definition of forgiveness that I like very much is “Forgiveness is the process of waiving any negative feeling or desire of punishment” The reason why I like this definition is that it has little to do with the wrongdoer. However my favorite ones are two that I once heard on the Oprah Show: “Forgiveness is giving up the hope that past could be different”; “Forgiveness is seeing the other person in the light of love rather than in the action of what happened”
Of course other definitions are still good, like “the act of pardoning somebody for a mistake or a wrongdoing”, “to grant free pardon and to give up all claim on account of an offense or

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Motivation Wednesday # 13: People are like potatoes

As human beings we are bound to go thru hardships from time to time. Sometimes we lose hope, sometimes we have to battle desperation just to stay sane. It is part of the process of living. It only becomes dangerous when you give in. No matter what happens to you, no matter how you feel, you need to keep moving forward. That’s the surest way to get out of any situation. But how do you do that? You can start by looking for the good everywhere and in every situation. Have a positive attitude and become a possibility thinker.

According to Dr. Robert Schuller, “the possibility thinking path” has never let anyone down, you may quit the path, but the path keeps right on going on to happiness, health and prosperity. Always remember that when someone wants something bad enough, they will find a way, when they don’t, they will make an excuse.

Today’s Motivation Wednesday is from Dr. Schuller:

People are like potatoes. After potatoes have been harvested, they have to be spread out and sorted in order to get maximum market dollar. They are divided according to size: big, medium, small. It is only after potatoes have been sorted and bagged that they are loaded onto trucks. This is the method all Idaho farmers use – all but one.

One farmer never bothered to sort the sort the potatoes at all. Yet he seemed to be making the most money. A puzzled neighbor finally asked him, “What is your secret?” He said, “It’s simple. I just load up the wagon with potatoes and take the roughest road to town. During the eight-mile trip, the little potatoes always fall to the bottom. The medium potatoes land in the middle, while the big potatoes rise to the top.” That’s not only true of potatoes. It is the law of life. Big potatoes rise to the top on rough roads, and tough people rise to the top in rough times. Tough Times never last, but tough people do.

Question: Do you believe that only tough people can rise in tough times? You can leave a comment by clicking here.