Dr. Al Dirschberger is an educator and former community leader. A government investigation led to his imprisonment. He shares insights from inside.
DEVELOP A SUCCESSFUL ATTITUDE
“So many players enter the game with the same approximate skills. The difference is not aptitude, but attitude. (Dave Winfield, 12 Time MLB All-star, World Series champion, Hall of Fame member)
As I am quickly reaching a milestone of 650 days incarcerated, I decided to sit down to reflect on my rollercoaster ride. It has been full of many ups and downs. I miss my family every minute of every day. I miss my friends, one of my best friends being my dog Ava. I think of the emotional toll it has taken and how it has affected my thought process. The anger, the negativity. Then I realized I needed to get back to what I believe. There is nothing I cannot do. I have to put my mind to it. To be successful, I must believe it, plan for it and demonstrate it. I must practice what I have preached!
The measure of success that you achieve in your lifetime, whether personal, financial or otherwise will be governed more by your attitude than any other factor. There are no physical, emotional, intellectual, or spiritual limitations that cannot be overcome with the right attitude. It is your inner conviction that keeps you going long after everyone else has given up, deciding it isn’t worth the effort. It is your persistence to follow, your attitude to succeed, to plan, follow your beliefs, and intuition.
When your desire for a purposeful life becomes a daily focus, it consumes so much of your time, attention and energy that there is no place for a negative outlook. That is the starting point for the development of the right attitude to succeed. Successful people come in all shapes and sizes, vary in degrees of intelligence, background and education. There is one thing in common all of them have. They expect more good out of life than bad. They expect to succeed more often than fail.
Look at those who enjoy working, their families, and their lives and look at those who do not. What’s the he difference between the two? Those who are happy and satisfied with life control their attitude. They take a positive view of the world. When something is not working for them, they don’t accept it. They look internally at themselves and seek ways to improve themselves. Their commitment to change helps them achieve higher self-esteem and greater satisfaction in life. Those who are unhappy cling to the negativity. They thrive on it. It sucks the life out of them, it is like they want to fail.
A successful attitude is the total opposite feeling, it will help you reach any heights. No matter your circumstance, how you react to the challenges in the worst situations determines how you will face your obstacles. With the right attitude, nothing is impossible. Roadblocks are self-imposed. The size of them depends on attitude — negative attitudes. Open eyes and a positive focus are the lasers that cut through that negativity.
An attitude of success is the result of self-discipline and habit. The most practical way to control attitude is to develop the habits of staying focused on your goals. Setting goals and actively working on them is the starting point for development of a successful attitude. When developing goals, some thoughts to consider are to:
1. Describe what you think would be a successful attitude.
2. Describe how you think a person would act if they displayed a successful attitude?
3. Describe on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your attitude? What would it look like six months from now, a year from now, 5 years from now?
4. Identify roadblocks that have prevented you from having a successful attitude.
5. Describe your plan to stay focused to develop self-discipline and habits for a successful attitude.
6. Understand winners train and losers complain.
So much of our success is about your attitude. Understanding what affects your attitude is being aware of your environment. Are you surrounded by negativity or positivity? There is an old saying, “if you walk on a Persian Carpet, you walk softly, if you walk on saw dust, you spit.” Our environment dictates how we respond to the world around us. Once you are aware of whether you are surrounded by negativity or positivity, you have taken a major step. Eliminate the negativity around you and surround yourself with positives.
You are in control of your thoughts and your world. When you take control, you become what you believe; successful. Love what you do, approach each day with joy and enthusiasm, love yourself! You are not a failure because you experienced a failure. You are a successful person who temporarily failed and now returning to your natural state of success. CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE, CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!!
