Archive for Attitude
Unleashing the power of passion
Posted by: | CommentsOne of my roles as a motivational teacher is to try to help people reach their potential. For years, I tried to inspire passion in audiences by going about it the wrong way. I used to tell people about what made me passionate, what made me want to get out and do my best. But I could see that it wasn’t having the effect I desired – people just didn’t respond. I couldn’t ignite others’ passion by sharing my own.
I decided to change my focus. Instead of sharing my passion, I started helping others discover their passion. To do that, I ask these questions:
- What do you sing about?
- What do you cry about?
- What do you dream about?
The first two questions speak to what touches you at a deep level today. The third answers what will bring you fulfillment tomorrow. The answers to these questions can often help people discover their true passion.
While everybody can possess passion, not everyone takes the time to discover it. And that’s a shame. Passion is fuel for the will. Passion turns your have-to’s into want-to’s. what we accomplish in life is based less on what we want and more on how much we want it. The secret to willpower is what someone once called wantpower. People who want something enough usually find the willpower to achieve it.
You can’t help people become winners unless they want to win. Champions become champions from within, not from without.
Cultivating a Positive Attitude
Posted by: | CommentsEnglish heart surgeon Martyn Lloyd-Jones asserted, “Most unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself rather than talking to yourself.” What kind of voices do you hear? When you face new experiences, does a voice in your head say you’re going to fail? If you’re hearing negative messages, you need to learn to give yourself positive mental pep talks. The best way to retrain your attitude is to prevent your mind from going down any negative forks in the road.
To improve your attitude, do the following:
Feed yourself the right “food.” If you’ve been starved of anything positive, then you need to start feeding yourself a regular diet of motivational material. Read books that encourage a positive attitude. The more negative you are, the longer it will take to turn your attitude around. But if you consume a steady diet of the right “food,” you can become a positive thinker.
Achieve a goal every day. Some people get into a rut of negativity because they feel they’re not making progress. If that describes you, then begin setting achievable daily goals for yourself. A pattern of positive achievement will help you develop a pattern of positive thinking.
Write it on your wall. We all need reminders to help us keep thinking right. Alex Haley used to keep a picture in his office of a turtle on a fencepost, to remind him that everybody needed the help of others. As incentive, people put up awards they’ve won, inspirational posters, or letters they’ve received. Find something that will work for you and put it on your wall.
Allow yourself to dwell only on the positive
and not the negative today.
Greatness cannot be locked up
Posted by: | CommentsHello from Harare, Zimbabwe! For the past few days, I’ve been speaking on leadership in cities in Zimbabwe and South Africa. It’s been a wonderful trip, with audiences hungry to grow. And I’m grateful to my host, Dr. David Molapo. He’s taken care of every detail.
But today I want to tell you about something else I’m grateful for. In Cape Town, South Africa, I received a very meaningful gift from my friend Shaun Battleman: a visit and private tour of Robben Island.
If you haven’t heard of Robben Island and the prison that used to be there, you might have heard of one of its more famous prisoners: Nelson Mandela. You might also be familiar with this picture of him in his jail cell, where he spent 27 years of his life for the “crime” of protesting South Africa’s policy of apartheid.
On a sunny spring day in Cape Town, we boarded Shaun Battleman’s yacht and traveled over to Robben Island. After disembarking, we were taken on a private tour of the facility (which is now a museum). Our tour guide, Jama, had been imprisoned there at the same time as Mandela.
Once we entered the former prison, the doors were slammed shut – to give us a sense of what it felt like to be locked in. We saw the area where prisoners were issued a number and lost the use of their name, along with the censor’s office, where news from loved ones was literally cut out of letters.
Most significantly, we visited Nelson Mandela’s cell – the one in the picture above. Here’s another photo that shows more of the interior.
The furnishings consisted of a bucket, a stool, and a “bed” that was really just a mat on the floor. Jama allowed me to unlock the cell door and enter the space that had been “home” to Mandela for so long. First, I lay down on the mat – it was very uncomfortable, as you might imagine. Then I looked out the cell window onto the prison yard, just like Mandela did in the first photo. And I was overcome with emotion, inspired by Nelson Mandela’s courage and commitment. For you see, he never stopped fighting apartheid, even while imprisoned.
He and fellow prisoners, who were not allowed to interact, met in the one place in the whole prison where the guards left them alone: the cave that they had to use as a toilet. Because of the smell of the cave, the guards would not go in. So it was there that Mandela and his fellow prisoners discussed the future of South Africa.
Released in 1990 after the dismantling of the system of segregation, Mandela went on to serve as first president of the new South Africa from 1994 to 1999. And after retiring, he continued to serve his people. He’s now 93 years old, and one of the leaders that I admire most who I haven’t been able to meet. We had an appointment set up last year, but Mr. Mandela had a health problem that forced us to cancel. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to meet him, but I can tell you the lessons I’ve learned from him. This is what I took away from my visit to his prison:
- Our surroundings need not control our spirit.
- People who devalue us do not determine our value.
- Dreams can be birthed during the daily grind.
- Out of our brokenness, we can be made whole and bring healing to others.
A writer in the Bible’s book of Proverbs wrote, “A man’s gift makes room for him.” Nelson Mandela had no room in his cell, but his gift could not be contained. In time, his gift made room for him to lead and bless his country.
What’s your response to failure?
Posted by: | CommentsMost great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.
-Napoleon Hill
When I was growing up, one of the questions I used to hear from motivational speakers was this: “If the possibility of failure were erased, what would you attempt to achieve?”
That seemed to be an intriguing question. At the time it prompted me to look ahead to life’s possibilities. But then one day I realized that it was really a bad question. Why? Because it takes a person’s thinking down the wrong track. There is no achievement without failure. To even imply that it might be possible gives people the wrong impression. So here’s a better question:
If your perception of and response to failure were changed, what would you attempt to achieve?
I don’t know what obstacles you are facing in your life right now. But whatever they are doesn’t matter. What does matter is that your life can change if you’re willing to look at failure differently. You have the potential to overcome any problems, mistakes, or misfortunes. All you have to do is learn to fail forward.
Look at the way any achiever approaches negative experiences, and you can learn a lot about how to fail forward. Read through these two lists, and determine which one describes your approach to failure:
Failing Backward Failing Forward
Blaming others Taking responsibility
Repeating the same mistake Learning from each mistake
Expecting never to fail Knowing failure is part of the process
Expecting to continually fail Maintaining a positive attitude
Accepting tradition blindly Challenging outdated assumptions
Being limited by past mistakes Taking new risks
Thinking “I am a failure” Believing something didn’t work
Quitting Persevering
Think about a recent setback you experienced. How did you respond? No matter how difficult your problems were, the key to overcoming them doesn’t lie in changing your circumstances. It’s in changing yourself. That in itself is a process, and it begins with a desire to be teachable. If you’re willing to do that, then you’ll be able to handle failure. From this moment on, make a commitment to do whatever it takes to fail forward.
~ From Failing Forward
What does it mean to be a COACH?
Posted by: | CommentsToday I thought I’d share with you one lesson from my free daily videos, Minute with Maxwell. This particular video generated the most discussion, which doesn’t surprise me, since it was focused on the word COACH.
(If you can’t view the above video, try clicking here or here.)
Do you find yourself in a situation where you need to coach someone? As I said in the video, one of the most important gifts a coach can give is perspective. Because we all tend to make decisions based on our perspective and attitude, it’s important for the coach to share the big picture.
Here are some attitudes and perspectives that all people have in common, followed by the action a coach can take to influence them:
- People are insecure… So give them confidence.
- People like to feel special… So sincerely compliment them.
- People want a better tomorrow… So show them hope.
- People lack direction… So navigate for them.
- People are self-centered… So speak to their needs first.
- People get low emotionally… So encourage them.
- People want success… So help them win.
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