Most of the time we don’t think about our own attitudes. We certainly don’t think they could kill off our business or our personal lives. But truly, everything we do comes from our attitudes. And our attitudes come from how we think about the world. Do any of the following statements sound familiar?
- No matter how hard I work, it will never get done.
- What’s wrong with these people, why don’t they take responsibility for themselves?
- Nothing going to change.
- I can’t trust anyone else to do it right.
- Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know.
- I didn’t sign up for this!
- I’m such an idiot. When will I ever get it right?
This may not be exactly what’s in your head, but it’s close. These things (or things like them) go through our heads a thousand times a day. Think not? Listen for the next 2 hours. You’ll be shocked. If you didn’t notice them before, you are in for a surprise. Imagine sitting in a room with someone saying nasty, depressing things to you all day long. You’d feel awful after awhile, wouldn’t you? Well that is what is going on everyday, except it’s running in the background, inside your head.
More about Attitudes and Success
These little sayings reflect our basic beliefs about the world. And they’re killing us. Am I being a bit dramatic? Nope. Our beliefs create our attitudes, and our attitudes create our actions. Our actions determine our success (or failure) at whatever we are doing. See the connection?
I’m not saying it’s all bad. You probably have lots of cheery thoughts too. Maybe you only pay attention to the happy thoughts. But I promise you; those depressing, nasty thoughts are back there, in your head somewhere. If you ignore them, they just keep playing (over and over and over). They affect you whether you pay attention or not. In fact they especially affect if you are not paying attention.
So what does this have to do with your business? This is the mechanism that keeps us from being satisfied with our lives. It keeps us from being successful, or producing the results we want to produce. And then if we do produce the result, we’re still not happy with it. We need to do more, or get more, or be more, or be different. It keeps us from really listening to our customers, our employees, and our families. It keeps us from working as a team.
Are you tired of dealing with gossip and conflict every day? Do you find yourself expending a lot of effort without great results? Do you feel like you have to do it all on your own? Do you wish your level of productivity could increase without having to add more staff? Do you wish you could be more self-expressed at work? All these things are signs that your present attitudes are running your life and your business. Don’t worry, it’s not just your attitudes. Everyone else is doing the same thing. Is it starting to make sense why communication is difficult? We’re not listening to each other. We’re listening to that storm inside our heads!
If you have tried seminars and training for you and your staff before, and they didn’t make much impact, it’s because they didn’t make it through that storm inside your head either. Until you deal with these negative tapes playing over and over in our minds, no other training will really produce a breakthrough.
So what can you do?
First of all, you have to get real. If you are not already well aware of these voices of doom, you must listen to them, dig them out, acknowledge them, and own them. If you are responsible for them, you can have a say in whether they are running your life.
Second, you have to create something else to put in their place; a profound vision for your business and your life that inspires you and pulls you into action.
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