Denny Strecker’s Blog

By Zig Ziglar

Just what can positive thinking do? To be candid, some people have given positive thinking a bad name. I can’t stand to hear some gung-ho individual say that with positive thinking you can just do “anything.” If you think about that one for a moment, you recognize the absurdity of it. As a ridiculous example, I’m a positive thinker, but I could never slam-dunk a basketball or perform major surgery - or even minor surgery - on anyone and expect that person to survive. Nate Newton, the 300-plus pound lineman for the Dallas Cowboys, is positive, optimistic and outgoing but he’d be a complete failure as a jockey or a ballet dancer.

It’s safe to say that positive thinking won’t let you do “anything.” However, it is even safer to say that positive thinking will let you do “everything” better than negative thinking will. Positive thinking will let you use the ability which you have, and that is awesome. It works this way. You can walk into a dark room, flip on the switch and immediately the room is lighted. Flipping the switch did not generate the electricity; it released the electricity which had been stored. Positive thinking works that way - it releases the abilities which you have.

The student who hasn’t studied and prepared for the test won’t be helped by “thinking positively.” However, positive thinking will help the student who has studied and prepared by “releasing” the stored knowledge when the questions are asked. To express it in a different way, knowledge breeds confidence; confidence breeds enthusiasm; and enthusiasm is an important key to being and doing more with your life.

Buy the positive approach to life and I will SEE YOU AT THE TOP!

Zig Ziglar is a motivator and teacher. He is the author of 26 books and loved by millions of people world wide for his practical wisdom and his gift of hope.

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By Robert Ringer

Detachment is an incredibly powerful tool that I wish I had understood much earlier in life. There are many things from which you can detach yourself, and one of the most important is the habit of judging people, actions, and circumstances as being right or wrong, good or bad.

As Deepak Chopra says in The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, when you are constantly classifying, labeling, and evaluating, you “create a lot of turbulence in your internal dialogue.” The more internal bickering that takes place, the less time and room (in your mind) for constructive thinking.

Worry, irrelevant thoughts, and fears only add to this internal bickering. All of these are abstracts from which you should make a conscious effort to detach yourself. Even more important is the necessity to detach yourself from needing the approval of others. When you are attached to peer approval, you tend to make bad decisions.

Then there is the pain and discomfort of your present situation. The more you struggle against the unpleasant circumstances of the moment, the more time and energy you waste. It’s okay to want things to get better down the road, but don’t waste time and energy wishing things were different than they are right now.

Accepting your present situation means detaching yourself from the pain it is causing you. Philosophically, you should learn to accept pain as a normal part of life. Which means, paradoxically, that the best way to eliminate pain is to not try to eliminate it. The more you fight pain, the more it is likely to persist.

Above all, learn to detach yourself from specific results. Practice the art of being flexible. Understand that circumstances constantly change and that things rarely work out precisely as planned. The results you end up with may be much different from the results you were after, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will be less satisfying. If you are too attached to a specific result, it shuts down your creativity.

As with peer approval, when you are too attached to a specific result, you have a tendency to force decisions. And forced decisions are most often bad decisions.

The quickest and most certain way to achieve a goal is to mentally focus on what you want, and attach very strong feeling to wanting it. If you picture a result without attaching strong feelings to it, it’s no more than a thought. And that’s where the subtle connection between desire and letting go comes in.

Having strong feelings about wanting something in your life is a good thing. The stronger your feelings, the better. But, at the same time, you have to let go and allow it to come to you - perhaps in a different form than you expected.

If a specific objective becomes an obsession - if you believe that you can’t be happy without achieving it - your feelings pass the point of diminishing returns and your focus becomes counterproductive.

All this does not mean that you should permanently resign yourself to the circumstances of your currently bad situation. Nor does it mean that you should give up your desire or intention for a specific result. What you should give up is your attachment to that result. Or, as Chopra puts it, you should “accept the present and intend the future.”

When you become adept at detachment - from pain, from evaluating and classifying everything that crosses your path, from precise results - it gives you the time, energy, and mental clarity to focus on the single most important activity for overcoming an impossibly bad situation: exploiting opportunities.

What opportunities? The opportunities that are part and parcel of every “impossible” situation.

Based on personal experience, I am convinced that the greatest opportunities lie in the eye of the storm - at the very center of your worst problems.

Use your will to detach yourself from your impossible situation and, instead, spend your time cultivating the opportunities it has brought into your life - keeping in mind that such opportunities may be heavily camouflaged.

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During my research today I came across an incredibly sad statistic:

The average child hears 432 negative statements per day and only
hears 32 positive statements per day.

It’s no wonder why our children are stressed, depressed, and not excited
about growing up. This is not the example we need to be setting.

Parenting Challenge

Step 1 - Click on the Comments button at the end of this article and leave
a comment saying that you Accept This Challenge.

Step 2 - Click the Share This button and forward this article to any other
parents you know and see if they are willing to accept the challenge.

Step 3 - For the next 7 days, track how many times you say something negative
to your children vs. how many times you say something positive.

Step 4 - Come back to this article and click on the Comments button and
leave your results.

I am excited to see how many parents are willing to STEP UP and not only
accept the challenge, but be willing to follow through and post their TRUE numbers.

This is your chance to become the role model that I have discussed time and
time again in this blog. If you don’t take action now, I am concerned you will
never be able to help your child be confident.

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All you really have to do to be successful is one thing.

Expect more of yourself than anybody else does.

If the coach expects you to run 6 laps……run 8.

If the sales manager expects you to sell ten cars…..sell twelve.

If your teacher expects you to do four math problems……do seven.

Just set your mental “thermostat” slightly higher than those around you require.

And, here’s a secret. It’s not all that hard. Because we live in a lazy, low performing world, almost all expectations have been “dumbed down” so that the mediocre can succeed.

Make this your method of operation……and you will rise to the top of any group.

Teach this skill to your child and they will enjoy a more successful life!

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*** Article: Think Outside the Box — How Limited Beliefs and Fear Keep Us from Getting What We Want - By Dyan Garris ***
—————————————————-

What we believe definitely has power to shape our lives. The chatter that goes around in your head definitely has power to shape your life. That is where the laws of attraction and the power of positive thinking come in to play. But this is only part of the story. Ultimately it’s what you DO with your belief system that has power to transform your life.

For illustrative purposes, let’s say you live in a box. The inside of the box is cozy and comfortable. You’re happy in there. But the box has no windows. One day you decide you need to broaden your horizons, so you gingerly cut a large hole in the side of the box. This gives you a very nice view of what is going on outside your living quarters. You gaze out in wonder from the safety of your little dwelling, and you can see leafy green trees and other interesting shrubbery.

After a while you decide to expand your view so you cut a hole in the opposite side of the box. Now you have yet another view of the outside world. Out of this window you can see horses grazing peacefully right outside your box. You are amazed. You had no idea this was going on outside.

At some point you decide to open an additional portal on another side of the box. You’re a little scared by this because you now think you may be cutting too many holes in your abode. You begin to doubt yourself and start thinking that you may be making a place for rain to get in rather than expanding your view. You worry and fret about compromising the structural integrity of your box. But then you tell yourself that it worked out just fine on the other sides, so what could possibly go wrong?

You tell yourself that if you don’t cut the additional hole, you do have a nice view out of two windows and maybe that’s just fine. But you’ve decided that you don’t want to be limited anymore; you want to see what else is going on out there. So you gather your courage and do it anyway. Now you have a completely different view. You can see a beautiful lake out there. You are in awe. You decide to do this on the remaining side too, this time with enthusiasm instead of fear. Now you have a panoramic view. It’s lovely and enjoyable and you are quite pleased with yourself for taking a few chances.

Some of you reading this were thinking that something bad was going to happen with all of this hole cutting. What is this based on? Why is your mind going to the negative? Study where these negative belief systems have originated from. Fear is very limiting and will keep you from getting what you desire.

Now here is what is important: You can sit there inside the box for the rest of your life, simply enjoying the view and thinking positive thoughts about it, or you can venture outside. You will discover that when you go outside you can ride the horses to greener pastures, eat the luscious ripe berries from the shrubbery, fish and/or swim in the lake. If you stay inside you can’t do any of that. You can sit in there and wonder when a fish will jump out of the lake and land on top of your box or when fresh berries will arrive at your doorstep. It is a choice.

About the Author:
Dyan Garris is the author of “Money and Manifesting,” “Voice of the Angels — A Healing Journey Spiritual Cards,” “The Book of Daily Channeled Messages,” “Talk To Your Food! Intuitive Cooking,” and “Fish Tale of Woe — Lost At Sea.”

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Today’s post is a great story to share with your family. It was originally in an article written by John M. Rowley.

Enjoy…

”We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” –Jesse Owens

As a boy, I started reading stories that would ignite my spirit and spur me on. Later in life I would turn to my Zig Ziglar tapes and CD’s to do the same for me in my career. One of these stories from my childhood stands out in my mind some 35 years later as an example of what we can achieve if we don’t give up.

A little six year old boy had the job of heating his tiny country schoolhouse with his older brother. They came in early so the building was warm when everyone arrived. One February morning in 1916, the stove exploded, killing the older brother and leaving the little boy with incredible burns brutalizing the lower half of his body.

From his hospital bed the painfully burned, semi-conscious little boy faintly heard the doctor telling his mother that her son would surely die - which was for the best because the poor little boy would surely be a cripple. But this boy wasn’t quitting! He made up his mind then and there that he would survive.

Every day his mother would massage his little lifeless legs, but there was no feeling, no control, nothing. Yet the determination that he would walk was as strong as ever. One sunny day his mother wheeled him out into the yard to get some fresh air. Instead of sitting there, he threw himself from the chair, pulled himself across the grass and raised himself up on the picket fence. He then proceeded to drag himself along the fence, determined that he would walk again. He did this every day until he wore a path along the fence.

Through his daily massages, his iron persistence and his resolute determination, he did develop the ability to stand up, then to walk with assistance, then to walk by himself - and then - to run. He began to walk to school and then to run to school.

And run he did. This little boy that was told he would never walk again, made the track team in college and then one day in Madison Square Garden, this young man who was not expected to survive, who would absolutely never walk, who could never ever dream of running - this determined young man, Glenn Cunningham, ran the world’s fastest mile!

Is this story about you? Somehow the odds have been stacked against you and you have more to overcome than you ever thought? Well, take a lesson from Glenn Cunningham, massage your obstacles and then stand up and get going! If you can’t walk…then run! Set your mind to something and put all your energy into it and the world will not deny you! In fact, the world will somehow help!

John M. Rowley is the pioneer in combining peak performance principles with physical and spiritual disciplines for complete and lasting success. He is the author of Climb Your Ladder of Success: Without Running Out of Gas.

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“A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity.
An optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.”

– Winston Churchill

This is a great quote I came across in my adventures. Time and time again it is amazing to see and hear what people think about different situations. People find it easy to be negative and find the “bad” in everything. It is odd to me that people really look to make themselves unhappy. Some people even thrive on making themselves the martyr. What a sad way to go through life.

Our theme last week in class was “Happiness”. We spent the week teaching the children that it is your choice to be happy or to be sad. It was a great lesson for the kids - my hope is that a lot of the parents listened and started to understand what we were talking about. Here are some things I have heard lately that are easily turned from negative to positve:

# 1 - “I HAVE to go to work.” Easily can be “I GET to go to work.”

# 2 - “I CAN”T do that.” Easily can be “I am working on improving that.”

# 3 - “I am bad at math.” Easily can be “I am great at Language Arts.”

The list is endless.

Make it your mission to be the most positive person you know. The biggest challenge is to avoid getting pulled in by all of the negative people around you. Make it a point to minimize the time you spend around negative people - they are contagious!

One of the rules we have in our school is,
“Leave your negative attitude at the door. You can pick it up on your way out if you want.”

Simply put, we tell the students that we only want to work with happy people. If you are going to choose to have a negative attitude, then go some place else. We don’t want it.

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By Lee Colan, Ph.D.

The building blocks of our excellence are moments…literally. Defining moments, that is.

Nobel Prize winning scientist Daniel Kahneman asserts that we experience thousands of individual moments every waking day. These “moments” last only a few seconds. If you consider your strongest memories, positive or negative, you’ll notice the imagery in your mind is actually defined by your recollection of a precise point in time.

In some cases, a single encounter can change your life forever. Think of your own defining moments. Are they literally moments?

Defining moments might be positive or negative, but either way, we are never the same after experiencing one. These moments shape who we are and who we will become. As Mufasa, the Lion King himself, said to his son, Simba, from the heavens, “You are more than you have become.” These few words created a positive defining moment for Simba to start acting like the king he was.

Fantasy or reality, it works the same. So let’s look at reality.

We might be defined by a word of encouragement from a colleague or, just as likely, from a word of discouragement. We might be defined by a moment of glorious victory or one of horrendous failure. We might also be defined by a moment of perfect intuition or one where our best judgment was ultimately found faulty. Or perhaps the moment we commit ourselves to a goal or the moment we decide to go another direction.

We could also be defined by the moment when we decide to make our family’s experience different than the one we grew up with, or the moment we experience a positive example and decide to model it. Or we may be defined by the moment a boss lets us know he believes in us, or even the moment of honest self-reflection that triggers us to change.

Defining moments, indirectly or directly, create a new direction or perspective for us. Consider runner Georgene Johnson. She got to the starting line of a weekend race 15 minutes early. It was a mistake in timing that became a defining moment in her life.

The 42-year-old secretary had registered to run in a 10 kilometer/6.2 mile race that Sunday. The race started at 8:45 a.m. There was also a marathon scheduled to begin 15 minutes earlier. Both races used the same starting line.

Georgene took off at the sound of the starting gun. Four miles down the road, as the race route took the runners out of downtown and into residential areas, Johnson said she experienced a sick feeling that she was possibly in the wrong race. A few minutes later, another runner confirmed her suspicions.

Instead of stopping and retracing her steps, she joined about 4,000 runners taking part in the Revco-Cleveland Marathon. Rather than quit, she decided to keep going (no doubt a defining moment!) and hung on to finish her first 26-mile race.

“As stupid as I felt out there running, I’m proud of myself,” Johnson said after the race. “I guess I was in better shape than I thought. I feel fine.”

Johnson finished the 26-mile marathon in four hours and four minutes, good enough for 83rd place in the women’s division – definitely qualifying as one of her life’s defining moments. Why? Until that time, her longest run was eight miles.

Like Johnson, we each experience our own defining moments on the road to excellence.

It is important to be aware of our defining moments. They make us who we are. Additionally, we have the opportunity to create defining moments for those around us every day. In fact, the pathway to excellence is paved with these moments – positive defining moments we create for others.

I remember earlier in my career, I was hungry to advance to an executive leadership position. I thought I was doing all the right stuff, but I wasn’t getting there as fast as I had hoped. So I asked a respected friend and colleague what he thought it would take for me to break through to the next level. He sat quietly and thought for a minute, then with penetrating eye contact he slowly advised, “Well, Lee, from my perspective, you should probably focus more on performing your current role excellently than worrying about your next move.”

It was incredibly valuable and humbling advice - a defining moment for me and my (never ending) journey toward excellence. It taught me that excellence is achieved in the moment, not in the future.

Today is the perfect time to create a positive defining moment for someone important to you. It’s not as hard as it might sound. Take a moment to:

• Say, “I love you.”
• Forgive someone who hurt you.
• Say, “I appreciate you.”
• Reach out to someone.
• Help a friend even though you might feel like you need help.
• Say “I’m sorry.”
• Say, “I love you.” – that’s worth repeating!

Create a positive defining moment for someone in your life. It will be the best gift you could ever give… and receive.

Lee J. Colan, Ph.D., is President of The L Group, Inc., a Dallas, Texas-based consulting firm. He is a high-energy executive advisor, author and leadership expert.

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One of my favorite phrases is, “You’ve got to be before you can do and do before you can have.” In short, you have to be a person of character and do the right things, and then you can have the things you really want. To make the “be, do have” theory valid, look at some examples in your own life.

1. Draw two vertical lines to make three columns on a sheet of paper.

2. At the top of the left-hand column, write BE; in the middle column, write DO; and over in the last column, write HAVE.

3. In the right-hand column list all the things you really want in life, whether it’s an education, good family relationships, a beautiful new home, a luxury automobile, a trip around the world, to lose weight–you name it.

4. Work your way down the center column identifying the things that you have to do in order to have the things listed in the right-hand column. As an example, let’s say you want a successful marriage. To do so, you must be willing to share your innermost thoughts and concerns with your mate. You must carry more than your share of the workload, encourage your mate when he or she is down, and defend your mate against criticism. You need to remember special occasions. Be particularly helpful when your mate is having a bad day or is not feeling well, or has had a tough day at work. Apply the philosophy that “you can have everything you want out of this marriage if you just help your mate get what he or she wants.” Everybody’s list varies because each of us has unique needs, beliefs, and interests. However, the formula remains the same.

5. Go to the left-hand column and identify what you have to BE in order to DO so that you can HAVE. To have a successful marriage, some of the things that you must be are faithful, attentive, loving, caring, helpful, empathetic, encouraging, persistent, committed, kind, thoughtful, considerate, and responsible. Not having all these qualities at this moment is okay, because they’re all skills, and skills can be developed.

You can use this basic formula for whatever it is you want to have. Look at what you have to do in order to accomplish your objectives, and then examine yourself and determine what kind of person you have to BE in order to DO so that you can HAVE.

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US President Theodore Roosevelt has been described as founder of the Bull Moose Party, the man who led his troops up San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War, a big game hunter, family man, civic servant and a host of other things.

His life story indicates that he was not only an extraordinarily successful man, but surely one of the busiest and best organized ever. However, with all of his “busy-ness” . . . he still retained some of those human qualities that made him so successful.

Simple example: He never forgot to thank others who did things for him. On his whistle-stop tours during his campaign trips, he always left his private car to thank the engineer and fireman for a safe and comfortable trip. True, it took only a few minutes of his time, but when your minutes are so few, they are quite important. He felt that those minutes were well invested and he enjoyed meeting the people who had served him so well. In the process he made friends for life. Doing simple little things endeared Roosevelt to people all across America, which certainly was a significant reward for the few minutes it took him to say thank you.

Someone once said that you could always tell a “big” man by the way he treated a “little” man. By that yardstick alone you would have to agree that Theodore Roosevelt was a “big” man.

Message: Take time to be kind and to say “thank you.” The returns can be so great that you will be amazed!

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