You Need To Be Optimistic –
Have you ever heard someone say, “you are what you think about most of the time?” Did you ever wonder what the heck they were talking about? It’s kind of an archaic phrase, “you are what you think about most of the time.”
Or maybe you’ve heard people say, “You get what you think about most of the time;” or “In order to get what you want, think of the result you want and not the result you don’t want.”
All of these phrases are more complicated ways of saying, “you have the resources to purchase the ticket to your own success.” All you have to do is think right and be honest with yourself about what you want.
Ask yourself honestly, “Am I an optimistic person most of the time?” Are you? When faced with an obstacle do I focus on the success of overcoming the obstacle or all the hard steps that it’ll take in order to achieve success?
And what if I put in all that work and I fail? What a waste. Perhaps I’d better take on a more realistic challenge…one that I know I can accomplish.
I’m here to tell you that there is a fine line between success and failure in all things that we do and the way we think – whether we have an optimistic point of view or pessimistic point of view is often the determining factor.
So really, an optimistic attitude is really all about focus. We get what we think about most of the time and when we think about positive things in this world, and definite goals that we want to accomplish and we focus on their successful achievement, we generally feel better about ourselves and our other earthly inhabitants and we’re able to do way more than we ever thought possible.
Ever look at another guy at work and wonder why he gets all the breaks and promotions? Ever wonder why some people seem to continuously and consistently succeed and thrive at a level way over their skill-sets? Ever wonder how they do it?
Simple, they never even consider the thought that they can’t do it. When faced with anything in life, it is a foregone conclusion that things will go their way and they will receive favor. whether it’s a promotion at work, a kipping pull-up, or even a front row parking place at Byerly’s, to an optimist, there is no reason why things shouldn’t go their way.
Optimism is the #1 ingredient to success!!!
Pessimism is a lot like worry and fear from our last blog post. It is something you have 100% control over. Being pessimistic is a negative state of mind or mindset and only you-know-who can change your mindset. YOU! and it’s way easier than you think.
Every day, you have the opportunity to respond to events and activities around you in a positive way or a negative way. You can call the guy who cuts you off in traffic an expletive, or you can consider that he didn’t mean to do it and certainly didn’t cut you off to make your day worse. I’d assume that his day is bad enough if he drives that way anyway.
Ever woken up in a bad mood? Aren’t you fun to be around – grunting answers to questions, not smiling, being short with your family and friends. Isn’t that fun! Of course not! Why would you want to treat your friends like enemies and stay cranky all day? You don’t have to.
No matter what you’re faced with, focusing on the negative will keep you down, keep you sad, upset, frustrated, or angry longer while accomplishing less. You cannot make positive gains while harboring negative emotions and feelings.
Instead, focus on how things can go right and you will achieve so much more that you ever believed possible.
Change your focus. There is a great passage I’ve read that says, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about these things.”
Successful people don’t let the possibility of a negative outcome get in their way. They do not focus on the possibility of failure or how they’ll be perceived if they don’t immediately achieve success. They learn and grow from adversity by focusing on the joy found in the outcome whether it is success or failure.
Failure is a lesson!
Almost nothing of any great worth was achieved with full success on the first attempt. Failure is part of the process. I hate to use the word failure because it doesn’t adequately capture the entire scene. Failure gives us direction, tells us where to turn and where to turn back on our quest toward growth, knowledge, success.
I remember being taught by a really great coach that you only fail when you cease to make attempts. In other words, you only fail when you quit. Find the “wins” in your losses and build on those. You will achieve great things.
If you were always successful you wouldn’t learn much. You’d likely be rich, but you’d have a boring story:)!
Believe In Yourself!!!
Believing in yourself and believing in the power of and processes behind positive thinking can be a huge challenge. Sometimes we are faced with some pretty heart-breaking news. Sometimes our hearts break, our will is challenged, our strength is tapped. And that’s the way life goes.
Our success and our growth as people and as athletes lie not in our ability to avoid the negative that the world has to offer, but our ability to recover, to bounce back and to learn from even the most difficult situations.
This is pretty deep stuff for a CrossFit blog, but it is the stuff of life and may shed some light on how successful people really think. Maybe you already think this way and, if so, be sure to share your success strategy with somebody you know who always seems grumpy or down. Now that would be a positive result.
When you are in the gym, don’t worry that you can’t yet do unbroken push-ups, or that you haven’t been able to master the clean and jerk. It’s a matter of time. If you focus on the fact that you can’t do it, well then you can’t do it. If you focus rather on the fact that you can’t do it yet, you leave the door open for success. You know that the failures now lead to successes later.
“He Who Says He Can And He Who Says He Can’t Are Both Usually Right” -Confucius
So focus on what you want and not on what you don’t want. Your subconscious is an amazing thing and if you tell it“jeez I hope I don’t fail!” all it hears is “FAIL.” Instead, tell yourself how great it will be when you succeed and your subconscious will focus on success. Perhaps that’s a subject for a future blog.
For now, remember this…the and doesn’t know that he can’t move the rubbertree plant because nobody told him he couldn’t. Tell yourself you can, give yourself a break and focus on the positive.
Let us know some great obstacles you’ve faced that you’ve been able to overcome by learning from mistakes, or by developing skills and techniques that aided in your success.
