I haven’t written anything about the Olympics but I’ve been watching. I was happy for Serena – singles and doubles gold. I was really happy for Andy Murray. I was impressed by Bradley Wiggins gold medal in the bicycle time trial. And I was pleased to see Gabby Douglas win the all-around gold. Usain Bolt amazed me with his speed and Missy Franklin helped heal a lot of sadness here in Colorado with her four gold medals. It’s exciting to see two American teams go at it for the Beach Volleyball gold. But through it all, I was really inspired by Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee 400 meter sprinter from South Africa.
More than anybody I’ve encountered Oscar embodies the career advice in Tweet 37 in my career success book Success Tweets. “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it. Don’t dwell on the negative, use it as a springboard to action and creativity.”
Losing both legs at 11 months is pretty bad. Becoming an Olympianafter that happens to you is amazing. Oscar Pistorius is an amazing man and athlete.
If Oscar can do what he’s done, you and I can overcome the setbacks we encounter on our road to life and career success. Just like Oscar we can succeed if we have the discipline to make it a habit to focus on the positive and put the negative out of their minds.
Positive habits like this are an important key to career success. Habits are like muscles. The more you use them, the stronger they get. Dan Robey is the King of Positive Habits. His eBook, “The Power of Positive Habits,” is one of my go-to books when I need to give myself a little boost. You can get a copy at www.ThePowerOfPositiveHabits.com.
Dan’s book is based on the idea of cognitive restructuring. According to Dan, cognitive restructuring is learning to identify your personal cycle of negative thoughts, habits, and routines and replacing them with positive thoughts, habits, and routines that will provide you with lifelong benefits.
Today, I’d like to discuss an important positive habit – proactively dealing with the negative things you encounter in your life. When I was a kid there was a popular song that went like this…
You’ve got to ac – cen – tu – ate the positive, and e — lim — in – ate the negative
Oscar Pistorius definitely accentuates the positive. Right after he was eliminated in the 400 meters, he said that he will work harder to be a better runner in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janiero.
I like acronyms and I love one that Evelyn Brooks has created. She suggests that you get S.M.A.R.T…
S Smash the negative.
M Maximize the positive.
A Act.
R Relax.
T Target your next action.
Sounds a lot like the advice in the song. As they say, there’s nothing new under the sun. And, as a career success coach, I agree. It doesn’t matter if you “accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative,” “smash the negative and maximize the positive,” or do a bit of “cognitive restructuring,” you’ll be on your way to taking control of your life and career success.
Stuff happens as you go through life; positive stuff, negative stuff, happy stuff, sad stuff, frustrating stuff. The important thing is not what happens, but how you react to it. In other words, smash your negative thoughts; replace them with positive ones. Don’t dwell on the negative, use it as a springboard to action and creativity. Oscar Pistorius lost both of his legs at a very young age, and he became a world class athlete.
Maximize the positive in your life by creating positive habits and routines. When something goes well, take the time to celebrate. You deserve it. And, small celebrations when you succeed are a positive habit that will put you in a positive frame of mind, which in turn, will help you create more life and career successes. Even though he finished last in his 400 meter semifinal, Oscar says that he will “cherish the moment forever.”
The common sense career success coach point here is simple. You have to react positively to the negative things that happen in your life. Successful people follow the advice in Tweet 37 in Success Tweets. “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it. Don’t dwell on the negative, use it as a springboard to action and creativity.” Oscar Pistorius is great example of this. While you night become an Olympic athlete, you can create the life and career success you deserve. Get competent. Create positive personal impact. Become an outstanding performer and a dynamic communicator. Build strong relationships with the important people in your life. Positive habits will help you do all of these. Smash the negatives in your life and create positive thoughts, habits and routines. Use the negatives that come your way as learning experiences, and positive thoughts, habits and routines to create small victories. Treat these small victories as a reason for celebration. Positive habits – especially the habit of working through your problems — are powerful and will help you become the life and career success you deserve to be.
That’s my career advice based on watching Oscar Pistorius run in the Olympics. What do you think? Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us by leaving a comment. And, as always, thanks for taking the time to read my daily thoughts on life and career success. I value you and I appreciate you.
Bud
PS: If you haven’t already done so, I suggest that you check out my career advice book Success Tweets and its companion piece Success Tweets Explained. The first gives you 140 bits of career success advice tweet style — in 140 characters or less. The second is a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail. Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy. You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.
PPS: Have you seen my membership site, My Corporate Climb? It’s devoted to helping people just like you create career success inside large corporations. You can find out about it by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.
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