I was recently listening to a podcast by Todd Bockman, the
Millionaire Coach, on Attitudes for Success. He was telling a story
about how he encountered some people on a forum who were whining about
their down-trodden luck and offered to help them – for free – to get
them on the right track. Thinking he was doing a good deed, Todd was
shocked to find that not only did they turn him down but they began to
clobber him and suggest he was just trying to sell them something.
Wow!This is the sign of a bad attitude I call naysayers.
Naysayers are the people who always see the glass half-empty, focus
on problems vs. the opportunities and constantly complain about other
people’s strategies for success (especially their marketing).
Within hours of hearing Todd’s story, I saw a blog post for Rich
Scheffren’s video contest. I was fascinated that readers actually took
their valuable time to blast Rich for being creative enough to launch
what I would consider an awesome marketing strategy. They actually
posted scathing comments on his blog about his intentions being
unscrupulous. WHAT??? More naysayers!
Interestingly enough, naysayers tend to be the same people who never
become successful. They don’t have the habits, knowledge and mindset to
be successful so it’s just easier to tear others down (hey, if you can
only see the faults in others then you don’t have to focus on your own,
right?). Amazingly, these are the people who complain that your program
costs too much, that they don’t have enough time to do your program,
and no matter how much education they invest in it never seems to work
for them.
Sensing a theme here? A quote from the legend Zig Ziglar gives us a clue:
“
Your attitude, not your aptitude, will
determine your altitude.”
Your attitude is formed through your beliefs, convictions and
stories you make up about the way life works. Your attitude has a HUGE
impact on what your brain can focus on. And as you’ve heard me say
before,
“What you focus on expands.” So if you are focused on what you don’t like in others, guess what you will get more of?
If someone has an attitude towards successful marketers (or anyone
successful for that matter) that they are bad, are somehow taking
advantage of people, or are unscrupulous in their efforts then you are
most likely going to go around collecting evidence to support that
story (which by the way, you made up in your head).
Evidence is very powerful. Because then you get to prove you are right.
If however your attitude was different, you might get the cheapest education of your life. By
being curious about how people achieve their success,
you might discover how their choices, decisions and strategies
determine their success. It’s called performance modeling. And it’s
what all successful people do – watch and learn from others who have
blazed the trail before you.
So here is my question for you. Do you find yourself experiencing
less than stellar results in your life? Is it possible that you may
need an altitude adjustment (you’d like to be more successful than you
are today)? Then follow these 6 steps to shifting your attitude for an
Altitude Adjustment.
Step 1. Get clear what your attitude is. If your
results reflect your attitude, then its probably pretty clear what
thoughts, beliefs and vision are creating your current reality.
Step 2. Understand how your attitude is affecting your altitude.
This might require some information from a trusted advisor. This could
be your mastermind group, coach or by listening to audio programs on
other successful people.
Step 3. Write out on an index card with what the desired attitude is that will achieve your desired altitude. Start by gathering clues from other’s who have achieved that kind of success. You might want to emulate their attitude.
Step 4. Practice your new attitude. When situations come up, try on the new attitude and notice you react differently. Make up a “new story” about the situation based on your new way of seeing things.
Step 5. Evaluate your results. What’s different?
How is it working? Do you need to further refine your attitude for a
great altitude shift? Do you need more support from your trusted
advisor to reflect blind spots?
Step 6. Continue the cycle. This is not something
you do once and forget. No way José. This is a process you continue
over and over again, each time getting closer and closer to the gold.
