The 21 Laws of Leadership: How to Develop the Qualities of a Leader

Chapter 15 A positive attitude is the prerequisite for all success
Positive attitude
The greatest discovery of our generation is that human beings can change their lives by changing their mentality.

—William James, psychologist

The so-called successful person is one who can build a solid foundation for himself with the bricks thrown at him by others.

—David Brinkley, television reporter

No. 1 in the thousand-year history of mankind

The American "Life" magazine nominated him as "the person who has contributed the most to mankind in the past 1000 years".He created 1093 inventions in his lifetime; he is also the person with the most patents in the world, with a new patent every year for 65 consecutive years.He also established a modern research laboratory.He is Thomas Edison.

Most people sum up Edison's ability as his creative genius.He himself summed it up as "hard work".He said: "Genius is 99% sweat and 1% talent." But I think there is a third factor in Edison's success: a positive attitude.

Edison was an optimist who always saw the bright side of things. "If we did things that are within our power," he said, "we would admire ourselves." Edison once experimented more than [-] times to find materials for making incandescent lamps, but he never regarded these experiments as fail.With each attempt, he learned why he failed and brought him one step closer to the right solution.We can see his belief through his words: "The failure of many people is that when they choose to give up, they don't know that they are actually very close to success."

Edison's positive attitude can be seen in the way he was 60 years old when he dealt with an unfortunate event: he built a large and famous laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey.He calls the 14-building campus his invention factory.Its main building is huge, bigger than three football fields.In the park, he and his employees conceive inventions, develop models, manufacture products and ship them to customers, which has become the mode of modern research and production.

Edison loved the laboratory deeply.He spends almost all his time in this campus, and even sleeps on the table in the laboratory.But one day in December 1914, his beloved laboratory caught fire.He is said to have said to his children as he stood outside the laboratory watching the flames of his beloved laboratory: "Children, go and get your mother to come and see. She will never see such a magnificent fire again." gone."

In other words, others may have collapsed long ago.But Edison didn't. "I'm 67 years old," he said after the tragedy, "but not too old to start over. I've been through a lot." He rebuilt the lab and worked in it for another ten years. many years. "I had a lot of great ideas, but I didn't have time to implement them," he said. "I really want to live to be 100." He died at the age of 84.

optimistic and cheerful quality
Edison could not have become such a successful inventor if he hadn't had a positive attitude.People who have achieved long-term success in every industry must always maintain an optimistic and cheerful quality throughout their lives.

A positive mindset is required if you aspire to be an effective leader.This not only affects how satisfied you are with yourself, but also how others treat you.If you want to know what it means to be optimistic, you can look at the following points.

1. You Can Choose Your Mindset

The average person wants to be inspired by others, and such a person always thinks that the surrounding environment must be responsible for his thinking.But which of the following two comes first, is it your own mentality or the surrounding environment?It's like the "chicken and egg" problem.In fact, it doesn't matter which of the two comes first.Regardless of what you have been through in the past, what kind of mindset you choose is a matter of the moment.

Psychologist Viktor Frankl believes that "the last freedom that can be taken away from human beings is the ability to choose our state of mind under all circumstances."Frankl was imprisoned in a Nazi death camp during World War II.He has gone through countless hardships, but he still does not let himself sink.If he can maintain a good attitude in that kind of environment, then you can do it too.

2. Attitude determines action
Denis Waitley, a family life expert, said, “The advantage of a winner is not their natural talent, superior IQ, or ability. It is their attitude, not their ability. No rule.” Your state of mind is critical because it affects your actions.

3. The people around you reflect your state of mind

I'm often amazed to find that some people have a bad mood, but want to be optimistic about those around them.But the "Law of Attraction" in the book "21 Laws of Leadership" states that you can only attract people who are like you.

Throughout Edison's life, you will find that Edison's positive attitude and enthusiasm not only made him fully motivated, but also infected others to move forward and achieve success.He intentionally transmits his optimism to others.He once said: "If we could only leave our children with one thing, that we chose our passion, it would be priceless to them."

4. Maintaining a good attitude is easier than starting from scratch

In Earth and Altar, Eugene Peterson wrote: "Compassion is one of the noblest human qualities, but self-compassion is the least noble...for It hurts your soul, it loses your confidence, it distorts your ability to judge the truth. It's like a drug that deprives an addict of himself."

If you are already a positive person, I hope you continue to be.Don't be discouraged if you're having a hard time bringing out the best in yourself and others.Because you are the one who chooses your mindset, you can change it.

Self-reflection: Do you get depressed easily?
D.Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a famous British heart doctor, said: "More than half of the unhappiness in life comes from you blindly following your own feelings instead of exerting your ability to control yourself. "What kind of voice should you listen to?When you meet other people, do you tell yourself that the other person will disappoint you?Is there a voice in your head telling you "you're bound to fail" when you're faced with something new?If you are only receiving negative messages, you need to try to give yourself some positive encouragement.The best way to train our mentality is to prevent your heart from going further and further down the negative road.

A "prescription" to make yourself positive

To improve your state of mind, try the following.

1. Eat some positive food for thought
If you are lacking in positive messages, then you need to start getting some positive mental nourishment on a regular basis.Read some books that can encourage yourself to have a good attitude, and listen to some motivational tapes.The more negative you are, the longer it will take you to change your mindset.But if you can consistently eat positive food for thought, you can become a positive person.

2. Complete a goal every day

Some people sink into depression, often because they are not making progress in their field.If that speaks to you, start setting goals that you can accomplish each day.In this way, completing the goal every day brings a positive attitude. Once a habit is formed, you will develop a positive attitude.

3. Hang words of encouragement on the wall
We all need things to remind ourselves and help us stay positive.American writer Alex Haley once hung a painting in his office of a turtle stuck on a fence as a reminder that anyone needs help.People often hang up awards they've won, motivational posters, or thank-you notes to encourage themselves, so try finding something encouraging to hang on your wall, too.

win or lose

When you watch professional athletes play, you will marvel at their extraordinary athleticism.But it's their hearts that get them to the best of their ability.For example, one of the greatest female athletes in history, the legendary tennis star Chris Evert (Chris Evert), she has won 18 tennis Grand Slam championships, with a winning ratio of 1309:146.In her 17-year career, she has never been ranked lower than No. [-] in the world.Her comment on this is: "The difference between a good athlete and a great athlete lies in the mentality-the victory or defeat of the whole game is often between two and three points, but whether you grasp the key two or three points, it determines Whether you can win. If your heart is strong, you can win everything."

Is your heart strong enough to win the crucial score in front of you?
(End of this chapter)