Positive mental attitude and self belief mantra is a massive industry with solutions provided by Guru’s and would be Guru’s trying to sell their latest recordings, books, seminars and so forth.
Now clearly a positive mental attitude isn’t the solution to everything, but when you are leading a business, particularly a business that’s in difficulties, its far better to have one, to transmit your positive beliefs and mindset to your colleagues, rather than being a defeatist and being negative.
Having turned around businesses in the past myself, I believe that being positive and keeping your emotions under control are part of the ‘tool kit’ required to deal with difficult situations.
Positive affirmations, such as; ‘I always can find a solution to a problem,’ or when you are going into a meeting with the Bank for example; ‘I am prepared for this meeting they can ask me anything and I’ll be able to answer it.’ ‘I’m a bloody negotiator; I’m a great salesperson etc.’
These kinds of statements do help.
I often recalled a story which my Father told me that he would recount when facing difficult situations.
He used to say to me, ‘You cannot let it beat you Mark, if you believe you can get through it you will.’
He told me on a number of occasions about what his brother in law Bill had told him.
Bill was a boxer who was a prize fighter in the 1930’s who took people on who challenged him, as well as fighting other professional boxers.
‘Let me tell you what your uncle Bill told me, after a particularly bad fight, Bill asked another older and more experienced boxer, called McKinty a question.’ Bill said; ‘What do you do McKinty, when you are in trouble in a fight?’ McKinty's reply was; 'Well when you are faced with a situation of great adversity, what you need to do is, get your head down and box on.’
My Dad would then reiterate the point, ‘So you see Mark we’ve got to not let this beat us, lets get stuck in like McKinty, get your head down and box on.’
I was reminded by all of this the other day, when I came across a board minute when I was clearing out some old papers. If was fifteen years ago when I put forward a plan to turn a group around, it certainly helped being positive.
Signing off for now, if you have any of your own story’s about being positive or positive affirmations, let me know and we can feature them on this blog.
I’m looking for guest writers.
Regards Mark
Integrated Marketing Copyright Mark Wheatley 2010 All Rights Reserved
