Be Your Own Coach

I'm currently reading a book called "Real Success". The book is based on the writings of Orison Marden, the founder of Success Magazine. The writings are from he earlier 1900s, but it's amazing how much of what he wrote about then still can be used today.
One of the "success skills", as I like to call them, that I'm the most passionate about is attitude. Attitude is the foundation of success - you can't build on a faulty foundation. Attitude is determined by your thoughts, and the amazing thing about your thoughts is that you can control what you think about and control what goes into your mind.

Here are parts of a passage from "Real Success" that I knew I had to share when I read it:

The great literature of the world is replete with mottos, adages, and proverbs that inspires readers to have faith in themselves and in their capabilities. Make it a practice to find, memorize, and apply these to your life...Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize ordinary ones and make them great. Record adages that you find inspiring. When you feel discouraged, refer to this list and renew your faith. 

When you need to bolster your self esteem, emulate the coach of an athletic team. When the team falls behind, the coach reaches out to motivate the team. With well chosen words, the coach instills enthusiasm, self-confidence, and commitment to reach the goal. As individuals, we need pep talks, too, when our enthusiasm for life wanes, when we are depressed, when we suffer setbacks, when our self-confidence fades, and when our faith in ourselves is shaken. But where's the coach? We must be our own coaches and give ourselves pep talks. 

To change the scripts in your mind, give yourself a pep talk. Tell yourself you are a winner - you have succeeded in the past, and you will succeed again. When we speak to ourselves, we create scripts that govern our lives. If those words are self-negating, pessimistic, and failure-oriented, our scripts and our lives will be the same. If we think positive thoughts, if we dwell on our successes, if we accept that our failures are only temporary, we will generate the enthusiasm that will make life exciting and rewarding. 

Make it a practice to replace those negative words in your personal script with positive words: instead of words of despair, words of hope; instead of words of failure, words of success; instead of words of defeat, words of victory; instead of words of worry, words of encouragement; instead of words of apathy, words of enthusiasm; instead of words of hate, words of loves and self-esteem. 


My sports background brought coaches into my life that helped develop my thirst for inspirational words/acts. It's amazing what a handful of those "well chosen words" can inspire individuals to accomplish as a team. Your days of overcoming a half-time deficit to win a conference title may be over, but your days of using inspiration to accomplish great feats should not be. Be your own coach and feed yourself words that inspire you to achieve success. I keep a section in my Knowledge Bank (more about that in a future blog) for quotes and refer back to them anytime I need a pick-me-up, decide to change my email signature quote, or need a well placed quote for a meeting.


I would love to hear from you - What are some of your favorite quotes, words, or affirmations that inspire you to succeed?