CONFIDENCE IN DETERMINING RESULTS

Those who pursue the good life should never settle for less than the best they can be. Doing less than our best has a disastrous effect. It erodes self-confidence and diminishes our self-worth.

Doing less than we can inevitably affects our attitude. It leads to a bottomless pit of degrading emotions, and produces embarrassing and discouraging results.

Doing less than we can creates guilt; guilt leads to worry, and worry gives birth to self-doubt. Then comes the inevitable loss of self-confidence and the blueprint for failure is now virtually complete. The less capable we feel, the less we do and less activity means fewer results. As our results decline, so does our attitude. The negative spiral has now begun and our lives are soon spinning out of control.

And how did it all begin? When we allowed ourselves to do lessthan we couldhave done. The growing weight of things left undone undermines our confidence not only in ourselves, but also in the possibility of a better future.

But there is a solution for those whose lives are caught up in this negative spiral. By going to work on our attitude, we put ourselves in a better position to begin the process of taking action. From increased activity we can produce new results. From these early results our self-confidence will once again begin to grow. And as our confidence increases we push ourselves into new activities which produce new results, and that improves our attitude even more. Suddenly, what was once a life spinning out of control is a life headed toward the pull of the future. It begins with doing whatever is necessary to change our attitude — the beginning point of all human progress and achievement. ‘If we care at all about ourselves and our future, then we must accept full responsibility for our own feelings. We must learn to guard against those feelings that have the capacity to lead our attitude down the wrong path and to strengthen those feelings that can lead us confidently into a better future.”

Sometimes the best prescription for a poor attitude is activity. We may find ourselves with an acceptable attitude, and needing only involvementin which to apply our talent. It has been wisely said, “Weak is he that permits his attitude to control his actions, and strong is he who forceshis actions to control his thoughts.” Whether the recipe for success begins with activity or attitude, the essential step is to go to work on one or the other. It is inactivity, regardless of the cause, that is unacceptable. You can crawl, you can walk, you can run; but you must keep moving. “Each of us has the ability to put our unique human potential into action and to acquire a desired result. But the one thing that determines the level of our potential, produces the intensity of our activity, and predicts the quality of the result we receive is our attitude.”

Action can begin with writing a long-overdue letter or making an important, but difficult telephone call. It can be the purchase of a journal or the reading of a book. It can be the simple act of turning off the radio and turning on a cassette tape that will provide new insights.

Whenever our lives are turned upside down, we have only to find something worth doing to change things for the better. We must do it with wavering confidence in the beginning. We may have to do it despitethe presence of fear. But inevitably, our doubts and fears will step aside when our unyielding commitment to take action comes into the picture. The results produced by these initial acts of faith will become the foundation upon which to build a whole new life.

Results are more than just an objective; they are the seeds of future joy and prosperity. Every result we experience, no matter how small, is another certain step taken toward a life of achievement.

HOW FAR SHOULD WE REACH?

It seems that every life form on this planet strives toward its maximumpotential except human beings.

A tree does not grow to half its potential size and then say, “I guess that will do.” A tree will drive its roots as deep as possible. It will soak up as much nourishment as it can, stretch as high and as wide as nature will allow, and then look down as if to remind us of how much each of us could becomeif we would only do all that we can.

Why is it that human beings, surely the most intelligent life form on earth, do not strive to achieve their maximum potential? Why is it that we allow ourselves to stop half way? Why are we not constantly striving to become all that we can be? The reason is simple: We have been given the freedom of choice.

In most cases choice is a gift. But when it comes to doingall that we can with our abilities and our opportunities, choice can sometimes be more of a curse than a blessing. All too often we choose to do far less than we coulddo. “We would rather relax under the shade of the growing tree than to emulate its struggle for greatness.”

THE TWO CHOICES WE FACE

Each of us has two distinct choices to make about what we will do with our lives. The first choice we can make is to be lessthan we have the capacity to be. To earn less. To have less. To read less and think less. To try less and discipline ourselves less. These are the choices that lead to an empty life. These are the choices that, Rohn believes, once made, lead to a life of constant apprehensioninstead of a life of wondrous anticipation.

And the second choice? To do it all! To become all that we can possibly be. To read every book that we possibly can. To earn as much as we possibly can. To give and share as much as we possibly can. To strive and produce and accomplish as much as we possibly can. All of us have that choice.

To do or notto do. To be or notto be. To be allor to be lessor to be nothing at all.

Like the tree it would be a worthy challenge for us all to stretch upward and outward to the full measure of our capabilities. Why not do all that we can, every moment that we can, the best that we can, for as long as we can?

Our ultimate life objective should be to create as much as our talent and ability and desire will permit. To settle for doing less than we could do is to fail in this worthiest of undertakings.

Results are the best measurement of human progress. Not conversation. Not explanation. Not justification. Results! And if our results are less than our potential suggests that they shouldbe, then we must strive to become more today than we were the day before. The greatest rewards are always reserved for those who bring great value to themselves and the world around them as a result of who and what they have become.Life is about constant, predictable patterns of change, and the only constant factor will be our feelings and attitudes toward life. “We as human beings have the power of attitude and that attitude determines choice, and choice determines results.” All that we are and all that we can become has indeed been left to us to decide and interpret through our attitude and choices.

The final blending of our philosophy, attitude, activity and results is what creates this final personal quest that Jim Rohn calls LIFESTYLE.

BY CAPT. SAM ADDAIH (RTD