More than anything else, your attitude will be a major factor between career success and failure. Network marketing is no different than any other business: there are ups and there are downs, peaks and valleys. Whether or not you make it to the top in this industry has to do with not only whether you survive the valleys, but how much you learn and grow while in the valleys. When you enter network marketing, your dreams and goals are fueled by a fire inside you that drives you to be successful. Then the inevitable happens: you have a bad experience. Now you have two choices. Either that experience acts like a bucket of cold water on your fire and it's over - or the experience is like bucket of gasoline and the fire burns hotter and brighter than ever before. Having a positive attitude doesn't mean walking around in a fantasy world. It means facing reality with hope and excitement rather than with apprehension. You are, right now, at this very moment, the sum total of all the thoughts you have had in the past. That means you can change today's thoughts - thereby changing your future.
"Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitude."
- William James
"Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." - Lou Holtz
Here is four-step program to make sure your attitude gets on the right track and stays there.
Step One: Pay Attention to What You Say To Yourself
Control what you say to yourself. 85 to 95 percent of what you say to yourself is negative. If you've ever been in a situation where things aren't going well, ask yourself this: Are your days consumed with negative? Do things get worse as you wonder what will happen if things do get worse? Rather than worrying about things getting worse, why not concentrate on things you can do to make the situation better? What you feed will become the strongest. Feed the positive and it will overpower the negative. Pay attention to what you're saying to yourself.
Step Two: Choose What You Visualize
What are your daydreams? Do you visualize appointments and telephone calls going well? Do you visualize success or failure?
Visualize yourself being successful. Visualize the people you're going to talk to about your business and the products reacting positively. They are so thankful that you chose them to share in your business adventures! It may be a little tough at first, but the more you practice, the more comfortable you will become and the greater results you will achieve. You know why? Because visualization works.
If you have any doubts about it read a book called "Love, Medicine and Miracles," by Bernie Siegel. Siegel deals with the terminally ill. Visualization is one of the things he uses, and he shares numerous success stories from people who have practiced this technique. What have you got to lose?
Step Three: Take Notice of the People With Whom You Spend Your Time
Most would agree that if we have children, we should be extremely careful about who we allow them to spend their time around. Just because we grow taller and older doesn't mean we are protected by a maturity shield that repels the negative influences in our lives! Write down the names of your five closest friends, the people that surround you. Then list what you believe to be their annual incomes. Add all five up and divide it by five. In most cases your annual income will be very close to that figure.
Evaluate the people you spend your time with: what is their influence on you? If that influence is negative, you really have only two choices. You can limit your association. Simply don't spend as much time with them as you have in the past. Or, you might make the decision that what they do to you is bad enough that you don't want to be around them at all any more. Form new associations with people who will encourage you, support you, and be positive about your potential for success. One of the greatest things about network marketing is that the majority of people in our industry are positive, excited, supportive people. If they aren't, they're usually not around for long.
Step Four: Pay Attention To What You Feed Your Mind
Make sure that what you read, listen to, and watch is positive and uplifting. These things have an enormous amount of influence on you. I would suggest that before you watch the next popular movie or television show, read the next novel or listen to the next CD, you take a look at its content and how it's going to make you feel when you finish. If you want to be successful, it's important to take advantage of all the things that will help you to build your business, and yourself.
If you will do these four things, you can get your attitude on the right track and keep it there. I know, because I have gone through periods where I have paid attention to these things and periods where I have not. As I look back over my life, it is clear to me that those times when I have actively worked on keeping a positive attitude have been the times that have been the best. The times when I have not paid attention or I have allowed myself to get bogged down in the negative have not been good times. We are each responsible for where we are today. What we think about today becomes our tomorrow.
I promise you, if you will practice the things we've talked about here, your business and your life will be better in the next 30 to 60 days.
Ambassador & Master Distributor, Kathy Robbins
Tampa, Florida
This Article was written for Networking Times 2007
