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HEADLINE ARTICLE
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Achieving Peak
Performance:
How to Keep A Positive Attitude Even If You’re on Your Last String
Dr. Alan Zimmerman
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The great violinist Paganini was performing before a most
distinguished audience. Suddenly, one of his violin strings snapped.
The audience gasped. But the master musician continued unruffled to
play on the three remaining strings.
Snap! A second string broke.
Then, with a sharp crack, a third string broke!
For a brief moment, the artist stopped, raised his famous Stradivarius
violin high, and with one hand announced, "One string -- and
Paganini."
With outstanding skill, he finished the selection on a single string.
His performance was flawless, and the audience gave him a tumultuous
standing ovation.
There will be times in your life when one string after another will
snap. And you will go through circumstances that might tempt you to
give up. But if you maintain a positive attitude, you won’t allow
yourself give up.
Here are My Top 4 Ways to Creating an Unbeatable Positive Attitude
That’s Invincible to Failure – No Matter What:
1. Stay calm.
When the tough times come into your business or into your life, it’s
easy to get angry, agitated, or scared. This won’t help you. In fact
the more emotional you get, the less capable you become.
Instead, you must force yourself to remain calm. Not only will
your calmness allow your mind to work, but it will also reinforce your
own positive attitude. It’s a way of re-affirming that you can
handle it.
2. Refuse to blame anyone or anything for your
problems
It’s easy and natural to blame someone else. After all, your
company, your boss, your parents, your friends, and your spouse might
even deserve some blame. Nonetheless, a critical step in attitude
development is refusing to blame. Even though it may be justified,
don't do it.
The problem with blaming anyone or anything for your problems is that
it doesn't work. It doesn't change anything. It doesn't make anything
better. All blame can do is keep you stuck in a rut or make you
spiteful. I guarantee this won’t turn you into a winner. It’s not
going to help you achieve peak performance.
3. Focus on the positive.
There's always some good in a bad situation. And there's always some
bad in a good situation. It’s the Yin Yang effect. So, what do you
choose to focus on?
An old ditty says it this way:
"As you go through life, brother,
Whatever be your goal,
Keep your eye upon the doughnut,
And not upon the hole!"
Some people focus on the hole. But the strategy seldom if ever
works. You’ve got to stop keeping track of the negatives.
Perhaps you’ve noticed. On a bad day, some people tend to
count every irritation or inconvenience that occurs. They'll
burst out with, "This is the third time today something like this
has happened." Yet seldom on a good day do these people
say, "This is the third time today something great has
happened." Keeping track of the negative simply gives you a
weak and defeated negative attitude.
If you want to achieve peak performance, you must focus on the
positive like Frank did, even though his constant optimism irritated
his friends. No matter how horrible the circumstances, he'd
remark, "It could have been worse."
To cure him of his annoying habit, his friends decided to invent a
situation that was so bad, so terrible that even Frank could find no
hope in it.
On the golf course one day, his friends said, "Frank did you hear
about Tom? He came home last night, found his wife in bed with another
man, shot them both, and then turned the gun on himself."
"That's horrible," Frank said. "But it could have been
worse."
"How could it possibly be any worse?" his friends asked.
"Well," Frank answered, "If it had happened the night
before, I'd be dead."
4. Refuse to use a loser’s language.
The happiest, most successful peak performers whether in life, in
sports or in business are those people who refuse to use a loser’s
language. They know that words precede results. They know
if they talk like a loser, they'll end up losing. But they know if
they refuse to acknowledge defeat, they cannot be defeated.
It's like the little boy who walked onto the baseball field saying,
"I'm the greatest hitter in the world." He threw up the
ball, swung, missed, and said, "Strike one." He threw up the
ball again, and once more he swung and missed, and said, "Strike
two." He did that for three strikes in a row.
At that point he picked up his bat and ball. With a smile on his face,
he walked off the field and said, "I'm the greatest pitcher in
the world." He refused to use the language of a loser. He only
talked about winning, and so should you.
The Time to Develop a Positive Attitude is Today,
So You Can Achieve Peak Performance Tomorrow
Tough times will come. You may get knocked down at work or in
life. But with the right attitude, using the four skills I just
discussed, you can get back up. You can get back on track toward
success. And you can reach optimal peak performance.
About the Author:
Best-selling author and Hall of Fame professional speaker, Dr. Alan
Zimmerman has helped more than 1 million people worldwide achieve peak
performance in any situation. His book, PIVOT: How One Turn In
Attitude Can Lead To Success is guaranteed to change your life. Get
your F.REE SNEAK PREVIEW at: http://www.drzimmerman.com/tools/productinfo/pivot.htm
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