Maximizing Your Potential!

“Optimists are the elixir of life. They constantly remind the pessimists that life isn’t as hopeless as they think. They are the extra ingredient that makes life bubble.”
- – Sara Henderson, b. 1936 Australian Outback Station Manager and Writer

Pretty funny. They certainly provide a few pessimists I know with a good reason to grouse.

The fact of the matter is that it is the optimist who makes the world go round in spite of any and all obstacles. Having read several quotes by Thomas Edison it’s pretty evident to me that he was an optimist.

I’d also have to say that George Washington was an optimist or he would never have survived the American Revolution.

I had the pleasure of reading Joe Montana’s book, “Audibles” and I must say, he was an optimist, too.

So turn on your optimism, and if you happen to be a pessimist, get busy accomplishing some things in life so that you become optimistic, too and we will make this world a better place for everyone.

“Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again.”
- – Sarah Ban Breathnach American Writer

We all heard the adage, ‘in to every life some rain must fall.’ The point is not to get all hung up in that fact to to keep your eyes to the future and know that things will get better.

When we are little kids, we seem to know this instinctively. We ask our parents for a Radio Flyer for Christmas and when it does not materialize we move on to something else. Or, we try to bake a souffle and it falls as we take it out of the oven so we just get in their and try it again.

But as we move forward in life we seem to accumulate more and more of these loses or failures and have a tougher time recovering from them.

My biggest advise is to follow the above and get busy doing something you know you can accomplish and get your mind entirely off of what you failed to achieve or analyze why you failed to achieve your goal and discover what you could do differently in the future to avoid the same outcome.

Whatever you do, do not sit around moping or wringing your hands.

Get busy and make something great happen in your life!

‘I am an optimist, unrepentant and militant. After all, in order not to be a fool an optimist must know how sad a place the world can be. It is only the pessimist who finds this out anew every day.”
- – Peter Ustinov, b. 1923 English Writer, Actor and Dramatist

Isn’t that an interesting quote. He is saying that an optimist is aware that the world can be a sad place but continues to have hope and confidence about the future, whereas the pessimist is surprises or chagrined daily by the fact that the world is a sad place.

One is affected by this the other chooses not to be.

It’s all about choice, whether one will remain upbeat and positive in spite of everything, or be gloomy and morose about it all.

I hope that you will make the choice to be optimist and make good things happen in your life.

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”
- – Helen Keller, 1880-1968 American Writer & Lecturer

In order to achieve anything worthwhile in life, one must first, believe that it is worthwhile and second, believe that it is achievable.

Then one can muster up the courage or design the plan necessary to it’s achievement. It seems that anything worthwhile is going to take some courage to achieve, otherwise, why do it? Remember, in order to have a game their must be freedoms, barriers and purpose.

One needs courage to overcome the barriers, even if they are only in one’s mind. Let’s say someone wants to lose weight, maybe 20 pounds. Let us also suppose that that person has tried in the past and failed. It would take a certain amount of courage to overcome the voices in their head saying that they are a loser and you already tried this once before and failed so what makes you think you can do it now and succeed.

I’ve been there, that takes courage. Or, I heard the story of another gentleman who wanted to own a Porsche one day and he would go each week and pick up an Auto Trader magazine. One day his boss told him that he would never get his car. He should stop wanting his time.

Good news, he did not listen to his boss and eventually he did drive up in front of the shop where he used to work driving the car of his dreams.

He never lost his dream, in spite of all the naysayers, and always had hope and confidence.

You too, can achieve your goals. Read books, get inspired. Hang around people that are making things happen and achieving their goals. They will help you.

See yourself accomplishing your goal every day. Experience the wind rushing through your hair, if it driving a convertible or see yourself thinner in a mirror and be happy about your accomplishment.

You CAN do it! Just decide!

“The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is to live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under it’s roof.”
- – Barbara Kingsolver, b. 1955 American Novelist

So, one can not set a goal and then ignore it if one wishes to be truly happy. It must be nurtured. It must be reinforced.

I had a goal as a child to live in Montclair in the Oakland Hills. I loved all the trees, the wildness of it. Every time I passed through the area with my folks on Highway 13 I would avidly look out the window.

I would reinforce my desire. I would picture myself living in Montclair. I would go to the market. I would walk down the street.

When I was 17 years old, I met a gentleman, we fell in love. Guess where he lived? Montclair. And for 4 glorious years I lived my dream. It was incredible. I had the squirrels come down and eat out of my hand. I shopped in Montclair, I ran up and down the hills, I walked through the town.

It was a blast. Of course, life can sometimes take a different turn but I look back on that time with much fondness and appreciate the gift that Bob gave me for those 4 years.

Needless to say, for a while, I lived “Under that roof” as Ms. Kingsolver so eloquently puts it.

Live your dream. Believe!