Anti-Success Attitudes

Success comes to those who truly seek it, not just with their actions but also with their thoughts. The problem is most of us assign far more importance to our actions and forget how our attitude and thoughts affect our success or failure. Often our conditioning and the negative messages we receive while growing up are responsible for our anti-success attitudes. For instance, if you have repeatedly received the following types of messages while growing up, you are likely to have a negative attitude toward success:

• Don’t expect good or you may end up getting disappointed.
• You are not good enough to deserve the best.
• Life is only about dealing with problems.
• People are always out to pull you down.
• You have limited capabilities.
• Practicality is not expecting good from any situation.
• Optimism is just wishful thinking

These messages may sound a little over the top, but often parents and peers pass on such messages unknowingly through their actions and attitudes. For instance, constant comparisons between siblings often make the child being talked down to feel that he/she has limited capabilities or is not good enough. Such beliefs breed nothing but low self-esteem and consequent failure.

You may have noticed that most successful people have an air of confidence about them; they are successful because they believe in themselves. For instance, there are several examples of very successful businessmen who never did well academically. In sports it is not hard to find people who made it big despite several setbacks (physical and/or financial). There are quite a few actors who are successful in every sense of the term without being supremely talented. If you look at the common thread joining these success stories, you’ll find it boils down to self-belief.

The world, it is said, treats you the way you treat yourself. If you read between the lines, you will realize that the statement reveals the secret success mantra. When you believe in your own capabilities and trust yourself to achieve your goals, the world starts treating you with the same respect and confidence. Call it the law of attraction or logical thinking, but when you exude confidence and match it with your actions, opportunities can’t stay far away from your door!

The tricky part is building that kind of self-confidence, which is where persistence comes in. Like it or not, life has a habit of throwing curve balls our way; despite our best efforts, we end up hitting road blocks sent by “fate,” and it is in these situations that self-doubt raises its ugly head. Persistence and resilience in these situations is what can keep our confidence levels from plummeting.

The recipe for success is pretty simple. Mix a spoonful of hard work with dollops of self-confidence, and make sure you are persistent with your brewing until you can smell the intoxicating aroma of success; once you do, remember to keep your head on your shoulders so that you never get too high on it.

Until next time, embrace your inner wisdom.

Namaste,
Karen