Ever heard of PMA? No, not PMS...PMA. Positive Mental Attitude. There has been a lot written about the power of attitude.
Now, I need to confess, I am not into cheesy slogans. Seriously, as one who speaks all around the country on the topics of REAL Success and Achieving Your Dreams, my skin still "crawls" when I hear some of the fluffy stuff that ends up being packaged in motivational talks. Here are just a few samples:
- When you see the word "impossible," think "I'm Possible."
- If you can perceive it, you can achieve it.
- What counts is how much heart you have, not how much smarts you have.
- Trash the "t" in "can't."
Before going any further, please hear what I am saying and what I am not saying. There is nothing wrong with these sayings. In fact, they are inspiring. However, when I read a book or hear a speech that is filled with "sayings," but isn't backed up with practical, solid, applicable strategies that actually work in real life, I feel like I've been sold a false bill of goods. I need more than "fluff," I need tools, action steps, and practical applications. I am a bottom-line individual, and while I tell stories and give illustrations in my talks and writings to inspire and motivate people, I also try to give actual strategies and applications that lead to REAL Success.
Okay, now that you see my heart a bit clearer, I want you to know something. I think PMA...Positive Mental Attitude...gets a bad wrap. It mistakenly gets "attached" to cheesy people who love cheesy slogans and ends up causing other people to blow off the importance of having the right attitude. I mean, who wants to be associated with cheesy wackos?I admit, some PMA people are cheesy. And not just a little cheesy, they'll like Cheese-Whiz on steroids. It's as if they've created a new language using platitudes like the ones listed above and now sound more like late-night infomercial hosts than real, live people.
Yet, in the case of having a positive mental attitude, be careful not to throw out the content with the cheese. Simply stated, having a positive attitude is certainly much better than having a negative one. For instance, a positive attitude:
- helps you overcome challenges and difficulty better than a negative attitude.
- causes you to take responsibility for your actions and life.
- creates energy, while a negative attitude zaps energy.
- leads to action.
- helps you learn and absorb more.
- cultivates expectancy.
- enables you to have more fun and enjoy life.
- causes you to look for opportunities and potential, not just problems.
- helps you believe positive outcomes can occur in almost any situation.
- empowers you to not be afraid to fail because you realize that failing at something does not mean you are a failure at the core of your being (plus, positive people realize they can learn from both success and failure).
- attracts other positive thinking people into your life.
- helps you discover and focus on your strengths instead of your weaknesses.
- makes you appreciate life in all its fullness.
- leads to developing good habits.
- makes you think of how you can better serve others.
- leads to REAL Success.
- creates authentic joy and happiness in your life.
This list is something I just created off the top of my head. And when I say "top of my head," I do not mean something I created out of thin air. It's a list I thought up in less than 3 minutes simply by asking myself one simple question: what has having a positive mental attitude meant to me?
In other articles, I share more about the "nuts and bolts" of cultivating positivity within one's life and mind; but for now, allow me to leave you with one of my favorite quotes on attitude (notice, this one is meaty, not cheesy):
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes. - Charles Swindoll.
© 2007 Kent Julian, Live It Forward™ - All Right Reserved
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