The power of the mind

In my last post, I mentioned that through hard work and perseverance, people have found success.

Let me emphasize this: I mentioned success.

To be successful, it doesn't mean that you will turnout filthy rich. To me, it means that you have made your journey meaningful and this success is unique to you.

Of course, it is a big bonus if you came out of it rich. With what? Money?

No. With experience. People that we've seen or heard of to be successful, struggled before reaching success.

Businessmen may at one point be on the verge of bankruptcy.
Superstars maybe a roadblock where they start to breakdown and have weight issues and don't feel like their life is worth living.
Sportsmen might suffer from a very bad injury that might hinder them in performing their best at their next match.

Hey, these are normal. Even for us.
We may be facing relationship problems that will affect our emotions.
We may have just lost our job and be thinking about how to feed our 12 kids.

But what makes them so different? It's their mind. They have a great fighting spirit. When the tough times arise, they continued to brave on and fight their battle.

Believe in the power of the mind. If you think positive, then positive things are all that you will see, and positive thinking will be your driving factor to succeed.

How do we get motivated if we are born with a pessimistic mind? Well, if you are ready to change your life, then you will definitely be open to changes. You can never cultivate positive thoughts in a pessimist's mind, for all that he sees is a cup that is half empty, not half full.

And when you're ready to open up, you need guidance to stay positive and motivated. We get these source of strengths from people around us who are also emitting positive energy. Who are they? They are your support system i.e. families, friends, the old man at the bus stop who was friendly enough to strike a conversation with you because you were looking moody.

As for me, I was lucky because I was born an optimist. But even so, I do have my bad days. When I feel down, aside from re-aligning my spiritual self, I also read motivational books. One of my favorites is written by Paul Arden titled Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite.

This website (http://bighow.com/news/12-life-lessons-from-whatever-you-think-think-the-opposite-by-paul-arden) provides a brief summary of the quotes that can be found in the book:

I want: Making the safe decision is dull, predictable and leads nowhere new. The unsafe decision causes you to think and respond in a way you hadn’t thought of. And that thought will lead to other thoughts which will help you achieve what you want. Start taking bad decisions and it will take you to a place where others only dream of being.

Are you being reasonable? Most people are reasonable; that’s why they only do reasonably well.

Don't be negative about the rejection: When I was Creative Director at Saatchi’s I gave a young man a grilling for producing an underwhelming piece of work. Later in the day, somebody told me he was in his office crying. I went along to console him. I said, ‘Don’t worry, I was useless at your age too.

Simply change your life: The world is what you think of it. So think of it differently and your life will change.

Inspired yet?

Now go on! Be the change you want to see in the world - Change your mind and it will help you succeed.