By: Ken Austin
What is success? The answer depends on who's responding to the question. There are as many definitions of success as there are people.
Success involves every facet of life: your relationships with others, your ability to make it in the business world, the health that you need to preserve, and the happiness that you enjoy. It also involves a security that goes well beyond financial security; I'm talking about the security of knowing that you have the love, trust, and support not only of family but of friends and associates as well.
However, success does include a degree of financial prosperity. (Money isn't the most important thing in life, but it's reasonably close to oxygen on the "gotta have it" scale.) To be candid, we all like the things that money can buy: houses, cars, clothes, vacations, and so on. You don't need to be super-rich, but you should have a great need not to be poor!
In addition to the financial prosperity that just mentioned, success should also mean success at home, success in your profession, and success with friends and associates. It also means peace of mind.
The question is, what can you do to achieve this balanced success that involves your personal, family, and business lives as well as your physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, with a recognition of the need for financial prosperity? It starts with developing the right mental attitude.
Your journey toward success will flow more smoothly if you ride the "right" attitude all the way to the top. "I think I can" beats "I can't" every time. A can-do outlook on life helps you to achieve goals in record time and make friends and lifelong business associates along the way. Everyone enjoys being around someone who is a solution-finder and who looks for the good instead of the bad in everything.
Here are some important points about attitude to keep in mind:
1. You need to have the right attitude toward your family, friends, and associates. An attitude of acceptance, forgiveness, love, kindness, respect, and consideration goes a long way in any relationship, including those with family members, friends, and business associates.
2. You need to have an accepting, open-minded attitude toward your personal growth and education. The world changes constantly; as they say, "Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine." Unless you change with it, you're destined for mediocrity at best.
3. You must have a sensible attitude toward positive thinking. You may hear some people say that "Attitude is everything" or that "With positive thinking, you can do anything." Careful analysis forces you to realize that this idea is simply not true. Of course being positive is a much needed tool for success, but it takes action, planning, and work – as well.
