Happy
New Year to all of you as we all embrace a very exciting new year in 2014. I personally anticipate that we will see a
tremendous number of outstanding developments in the upcoming year. From the world of politics, to economics, to
the environment, to Wall St., we are all going to see some fantastic set of
developments unfold right before our very eyes. And, guess what? We have the opportunity to have a say in how
those things evolve. Right here, in America, we
have a great chance to be apart of some great changes for the future. We have that power, if we are willing to embrace
all of the great things that 2014 means for us.
Whatever the outcome for 2014, I can only wish that we will all strive
to reach our greatest potential possible, allowing for nothing, or no one to
deprive us from achieving our various goals and dreams that we would like to
see come true in our lives.
"The difference
between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of
knowledge, but rather in a lack of will." Vincent T. Lombardi
But
even as 2014 is here, for several of us, myself included, that as we briefly
reflect on 2013, we found ourselves falling far short of reaching
many of our most valued goals. Here is where we need to be very careful in
this transition from 2013 to 2014. Even
for those of us who achieved many of our 2013 goals, we need to be extremely careful
that we don’t allow one of two things to happen:
- We don’t get too comfortable in our achievements
that we become complacent, and think that we have got it made;
- We don’t become too upset with our shortfalls
that we allow negativitism to work to destroy whatever achievements we
have accomplished so far.
That’s my gift. I let that negativity roll off me like water
off a duck’s back. If it’s not positive,
I didn’t here it. If you can overcome
that, fights are easy.
Weaponizing Negativity
Negativity
in our thoughts and actions are important to identify so that we recognize what
they are, and how, if we are not careful, we may allow those actions and
thoughts to prevent us from achieving our next level of success. In recognizing how potential negativity is to
our goals, dreams and aspirations, it shouldn’t be beyond reason that we maybe weaponizing our negativity. What does this mean? It means essentially, that we understand the
empowerment that negativity takes on when we hold at the ready, the slightest
response to a failure, or shortfall, that can keep us from achieving our
goals. While can I give some of our own
personal examples, let us look at how history has developed because negative
wasn’t allowed to be weaponized. Here
are a few examples:
© If the Wright
Brothers had weaponized their negativity each time one of their experimental
planes crashed, we may not be flying great distances in shorter periods of time;
© If Scientist Alexander Fleming, had weaponized
his negativity who knows how long it would have been before people would have
ways to stop infections because penicillin may not have been discovered;
© If Michael
Phelps had weaponized the times he fell short in his attempt to win a Gold
Medal at the Olympics he would not have become one of the world’s most
decorated athletes
© If women had
weaponized their negativity, they would not be able to vote in America today;
© If Alexander
Graham Bell had weaponized his negativity, the cell phone would not have been
the grandchild of the telephone itself, or
© If Barack
Obama had weaponized his negativity every time he was told that he could not be
president of the United
States, his pursuit of becoming the first
African American President would have been long destroyed.
These
and many other examples like them are indicators of how easy it could have been
for many of the greats of our times to have thrown in the towel, or to have
given up in their lives on many of their greatest ambitions. Understanding just how important a positive
attitude is, is just as important as understanding how powerful a negative
attitude is because, a negative action equals a negative and destructive
result. That destructive result is essentially fatal
to not only our dreams, but to the detriment of others as well. We cannot afford to be so discouraged from
our failures, or shortfalls, that we are blinded to what our dreams mean to not
just us personally, but to others as well.
We must be encouraged enough to know that our dreams aren’t just our
dreams, but that our dreams belong to the world.
2013
for any number of us, may have resulted in our starting our own businesses. But unfortunately, we may have fallen short in
reaching our goals, for any number of reasons.
We may have missed our mark of success because of: unrealistic sales goals, market changes, failure
to market, shortage of personnel, customer service, or maybe, the weather. The bottom line is, 2013 is gone. What failed, failed. Embrace the good times, learn from the short
falls, but let us know hold on to what might have been. Let us put into place everything necessary to
move forward into 2014. The only thing
that can really stop us from this point forward, is any negative attitude that
we packed up and brought with us from 2013.
And if we are packing those negative attitudes, 2014, is already rittled
with disaster. In short, those negative
thoughts and actions have been weaponized.
Implementing weaponization
Here
is what we have to watch out for when it comes to weaponizing our negative
thoughts and actions:
- Acknowledging that there is sort of a
weaponry-like approach to negativity thoughts and actions; What this means is that, we must understand that
our words and actions are extremely powerful when it comes to how we feel
about the goals, dreams and aspirations that we are seeking to make happen
in our lives. If our goals, dreams
and aspirations are that important to us, we cannot afford to say
anything, or do anything that could affect not only how we feel about we
about to accomplish, but also how others perceive what it is we are trying
to accomplish as well;
- Realizing that those weaponry-like approaches are
easily acquirable, and unfortunately, sustainable when times get rough; It is easiest to say something very destructive
when we are frustrated, especially when something goes against what we
have planned in our pursuit of excellence.
Because we are human, and because of the fact that what we want to
accomplish so many great things in our lives, it is of the utmost
importance to us, when something goes wrong, at the worst possible time,
we have to be careful that we don’t fire off words and deeds that reflect the
greatest level of anger and humiliation when so often we put so much into
what we do. It is almost without
forethought that we may, without intent, damn our projects, damn those who
are involved, or damn anything and everything that has just as much to be
upset or affected by the outcome, that if we aren’t careful, the project
is virtually doomed.
- Our destructive actions could be as dismissive as
daggers, if we are not careful, we could destroy what little effort we may
have made towards either one of our goals, dreams or aspirations, or worse
yet, destroyed a very valuable set of relations with others; As achievers, nothing is worse than realizing the
negative impact of our thoughts and actions after we have said something
to someone, or about someone who has played a tremendous role in our
growth. And in that instance of
weakness, we forget all the contributions that others have played to help
us to a progressive point in our lives.
The destruction, or damage caused by failing to recognize the value
of not only our own work, but that of others becomes the epitome of
dropping a bomb on our dreams.
Surrender your weapons
The
danger that we need to be careful of, is not to get so wrapped up in what went
wrong in 2013, or at any point in our lives that we go into self-destructive
mode. We need to be careful going
forward, because the extreme danger that is possible can be very well due to
our failure to stand down and return to the
inspiration that first motivated us to pursue our dreams and goals. If we don’t want to continue to weaponize our
negative thoughts, then it is time for us to surrender every negative thought
and action that we have. It is time to
put those negative attitudes down, step away the negative actions that we have
weaponized, and take a more proactive stance for the goals, dreams and
aspirations that are ours to have.
Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying, Make
me feel important. Never forget this message when working with people.
Mary Kay Ash
If 2014 is going to be an improvement over 2013 for
those of us who fell short in reaching our goals, we will need to be on guard
against discharging negativity that prevents us from moving forward. If 2014 is going to be our best year yet, we must
be ready to surrender any urgency to curse our failures. If we are going to be on guard from this
point forward, we must be confident that nothing we do, or fail to do, will
cause us to take action that could seem remotely close to a self-destructive
response. We are better than that!
"Would you like me to give you a
formula for success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking
of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all. You can be discouraged
by failure or you can learn from it, So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all
you can. Because remember that’s where you will find success."
-
Thomas J. Watson
Going into 2014, we must be sure to divest ourselves
from concealing any attempt to exercise negative thoughts or actions that will
stand in our way of achieving our goals, dreams or aspirations. We must surrender any mindset that places our
goals and dreams in harms’ way. This
must be our pledge, that from this moment forward, we can no longer be so easily
distracted by any failure, that the failure becomes bigger than the dream. From
this point forward, we must put aside any influence that seeks to overshadow
the value of any of our dreams to:
© To back and finish
high school;
© To return to
school and get that degree;
© To get that
promotion;
© To get that
job;
© To take that
trip around the world;
© To start that
business;
© To get well;
© To loose
weight;
© To climb Mount Everest;
© To make our
businesses successful;
© To build
family relation;
© To build global
relations, or,
© To do
whatever it is our dreams, goals and aspirations are to be our best
Embrace our goals, dreams and
aspirations
If
I dwell on how unproductive 2013 was for me, then I’ll be reaching for one of those
negative weapons that some of us tend to keep stored somewhere in our lives. I’ll be guilty of weaponizing my
negativity. I don’t want to dwell on
what didn’t happen for me any more than I want either of us to dwell on what
failed to happen in our lives. It’s time
to learn from our mistakes and move on. It’s time for us to embrace our original
goals, dreams and aspirations. It’s time
for each of us to use our positive minds, our God-given talents, and our richly,
inspired souls to envelope all that is important to achieving our best.
Embrace
2014! This is our year. Let each of us put forth our very best effort
in everything that we do. Let each of us
look forward to each and everyday’s opportunities to bring forward the very
best of who we are. Let us all embrace
2014, knowing that no trip, stumble or fall will be sufficient enough to cause
us to curse one error, or damn one mistake, because we are destined to achieve our
greatest ever.
Finally,
let us embrace one another, on each of our respective journeys, not as enemies
or adversaries, but as respected comrades, as partners, as cooperates, or as
investors in this great world of ours.
Let us each work together, passionately to make great things happen not
only for ourselves, but for our families and friends, for our communities and
for the world at large. Surely, if the
telephone, the airplane, penicillin and the ability to become President of the
United States can have a profound world effect, whose to say that our dreams
are not next in line to make the same type of impact on the world, and the
universe as a whole, beginning in 2014?
For
you see, we have evidence that all around us that anything is possible, don’t
you give up!
For
you see, we have evidence that dreams do come true, for those who persevere, don’t
you dare give in!
Last,
but not least, we are just as capable as anyone else to achieve that which is
ours to have, all we need to do is simply this: Prepare for Your Next Move!
Here
is wishing for all of us the very best that life has to offer, and a
tremendously, Happy New Year in 2014.
Disclaimer: Information
deemed to be from reliable sources but not guaranteed. Please consult with your
respective professional in those areas in which you need consultation or
direction.
