Now hear this: Studies at Harvard and Stanford reveal that 85% of the reason a person gets a job and gets ahead in that job is because of his or her attitude. Only 15% of the time does it have anything to do with technical or specific skills!
Imagine that! With the right attitude, you’re likely to get more of what you really want, and sooner than if you had the wrong attitude.
The problem for many of us, of course, is developing and then maintaining that right attitude. A positive attitude. If you’re one of the many who need a little help in this area, we’re going to give you three steps that will put you on the path to “positivity.”
First, yesterday ended last night. It’s over. Forget it. Nothing you can do about it now.
Second, failure is an event and not a person. You were born to win. That doesn’t mean failure won’t creep into your life now and then. It happens to us all. However, it’s not personal. If you take it personally, you’re going to find it mighty difficult to develop a positive attitude. It’s okay to analyze failure so that you can avoid it in the future, but it’s not okay to dwell on it. So if you’ve been thinking about past failures, right now, stop. Failure in the past stays in the past. The future is full of opportunities for you to win.
Third, protect your outlook on life. Your outlook influences your output, and your output determines your success, so you need to jealously protect your outlook. How? By controlling the input to your mind!
Perhaps the easiest way to control the input to your mind is to become a lifelong student. Interestingly, at the top of this article we explained that only 15% of technical or specific skills had anything to do with you getting a job, or getting ahead in that job. So why are we now telling you to become a lifelong student?
Because skills are the foundation of a positive attitude. You begin with the skills, and they help you develop and maintain the positive attitude.
Most of you reading this e-zine are not students any more. You left school a long time ago. However, you don’t have to go to school to learn. Here are three ways to learn new skills while also controlling the input to your mind.
First, learn just one new word a day. If you do that, you’ll be able to talk to just about anyone about anything in about five years. Pick up the dictionary and learn a new word daily. Or, you can find a list of new words to learn every month in the Reader’s Digest.
Second, read something informational or inspirational every day. Read for 20 minutes a day and you will gain an enormous advantage in attitude and skills.
Third, enroll in Automobile University. If you spend any time at all in your car–driving to and from work, driving to and from the market, driving to and from your child’s school–get a collection of tapes or CDs and listen to them.
By the way, people sometimes tell us they don’t have a tape or CD player in their car or truck. You can buy a portable player inexpensively and carry it with you, or tuck it under the seat of your vehicle.
You’ve got a choice now. If you’re attitude isn’t quite what you think it ought to be, and if you’d like to step up your chances of getting a job or moving up in your job, we’ve just given you a simple formula for success. The rest is up to you. Start protecting the input to your mind right now!
The Personal Development Zigget includes eight lessons that you can teach yourself and share with your associates. Each lesson can be taught within 30 minutes. Great for “brown bag lunches.” Want more information about how to acquire Ziggets? Visit www.zigziglar.com and browse through our store.
For more on the subject of how to be successful, read Zig’s popular book, “Success for Dummies,” published by IDG Books. It’s at your bookstore, and it’s also available from http://www.zigziglar.com.
