How to Develop a Positive Mental Attitudeby Neil Flanagan and Jarvis Finger
Excerpt from Just About Everything a Manager Needs to Know
We've all met people who seem to have everything going for them - ideal upbringing, seemingly unlimited talents, useful contacts, and so on. But why is it they never seem to get to first base, careerwise? The answer: attitude. It is often their attitude that limits their achievements. Although changing attitudes is not easy, it can be done and here's an eight-step process that can lead to the development of a positive mental attitude, a will to win, and career success...
1 Practise visualisation
Visualisation is one of the most powerful techniques of self-image modification because your visual image can become your reality. Management guru Brain Tracy tells us that there are four elements of visualisation and an increase in any one of them will accelerate the rate at which we create the physical equivalent of that mental picture of out\r life. These four elements are:
Frequency. People who accomplish extraordinary things continually visualise their desired results.
Vividness. This is literally seeing things clearly.
Intensity. When you intensely desire something it occurs much faster.
Duration. The longer you imagine a desired future event, the more likely it is to appear.
2 Make affirmations
Affirmations are strong statements or commands from our conscious mind to our subconscious mind. They override old information and reinforce new, positive habits of thought and behaviour. Affirmations need to be based on the 3Ps - they must be positive, present tense, and personal. For example, if you're trying to improve your health and general well-being, then positive self-talk such as this will help: "I'm feeling better now', 'I feel young and vital', 'I'm reaching my best weight' and 'I can really feel the difference my exercise program and change in eating habits are having.'
3 Affirm aloud
Begin and end each day verbalising your affirmations. You'll be amazed how more confidently you will behave and feel when you're feeding yourself the right messages. So, in the days leading up to a job interview, for example, tell yourself - aloud, whenever you get the chance: 'During my interview I will be calm, confident and in control!' Don't forget: what you 'see' is what you get; what you 'feel' is what you are.
4 Act the part
Walk, talk and act exactly as if you are the person you want to be. St Thomas Aquinas referred to this philosophy as 'as if', while others call it 'fake it till you make it'. The first step in becoming more confident then is to act 'as if' you already are.
5 Expose yourself to high-quality information only
The more you read, listen, watch and learn about your subject area, the more confident and capable you'll feel. But we need to be discerning about the quality of information we expose ourselves to. Look on information as food and we should be careful to feed ourselves only the best food.
In this regard the famous T-cell study of the 1980s is worth remebering, 'T-cell' being a measure of the blood's healthfulness. The T-cell of a group actually changed after exposure to varying amounts of positive and negative information. One outcome of the study was that regular exposure to negative information was a health hazard!
6 Associate with positive people
Fly with the eagles instead of scratching with the chooks. Our parents taught us that 'we are judged by the company we keep'. They were right. To meet new, positive people, you have to stop associating with the loser-brigade, those dull excuse-makers who end up dragging you down to their level of complacency and incompetence.
7 Imitate positive people
The qualities we admire and envy in others usually reflect our own under-developed capacities. Imitation is essential to learning. Identify those around you with a positive mental attitude and watch what they do. How do they work, what do they say, how do they carry themselves? Select one small behaviour at a time and emulate it.
8 Teach others
When you attempt to articulate and explain a concept to others, you will understand it and internalise it better yourself. Seize every opportunity to share with others as a way of helping you to become even more familiar with it.
