PAST MOTIVATIONS

You can find at least two ways to look at virtually everything. A pessimist looks for difficulty in the opportunity, whereas an optimist looks for opportunity in the difficulty.

A poet of long ago put the difference between optimism and pessimism this way: "Two men looked out from prison bars. One saw mud, the other saw stars."

Unfortunately, many people look only at the problem and not at the opportunity that lies within the problem. Many employees complain about the difficulty of their jobs, for example, not realizing that if the job were simple the employer would hire someone with less ability at a lower wage.

A small coin can hide even the sun if you hold the coin close enough to your eye. So when you get too close to your problems to think objectively about them, try to keep in mind how your vision can be obstructed, take a step back, and look at the situation from a new angle. Look up instead of down.

Pessimism muddies the water of opportunity. Think about this example: Anytime an innovation comes along promising to make life easier and people more productive, someone always complains that it will put people out of work.

When Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, protesters said that it would put thousands of people out of work. Instead, the invention made the production of cloth much cheaper, and millions of people could afford more clothing, which created countless jobs.

... You can't do anything to change the fact that a problem exists, but you can do a great deal to find the opportunity within that problem.

You're guaranteed a better tomorrow by doing your best today and developing a plan of action for the tomorrows that lie ahead. Just remember to maintain a positive mental attitude so that, as you plan for tomorrow, you're doing so with the sense of expectancy that produces substantially better results.

... Adapted from Zig's book "Success For Dummies".

Zig Ziglar offers a weekly newsletter filled with more of his inspiring stories as well as practical ideas to help you in the areas of sales, marketing, customer service, and related topics. You can subscribe to his newsletter by going to http://www.zigziglar.com.

By Zig Ziglar

MOTIVATIONAL ARCHIVES:
Motivations March
Motivations April
Motivations May
Motivations June
Motivations July
Motivations August