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9 Attitudes of Successful Business Owners

entrepreneur

 

Your attitude that you show up with each day has a lasting impact on your behavior that affects your outcomes. A person's attitude is an expression of their mindset at any time and in any given situation. Your attitude represents a feeling that can be changed instantly or maintained for a lifetime.

Why is this important?

It is important to understand the attitudes of the most successful business owners so you can emulate them and move your business forward.

Let's begin.

1) Success Business owners are passionate about the success/value they can create. Unsuccessful ones are more passionate about watching people on TV live out their dreams in sports, movies shows etc. than actually going out and creating the life they want.

Action Steps:

Consider any major success story - what did they have in common?

· Passion for the value they could create.

· Ask yourself am I really passionate about my project?

· Is this passion sufficient to take me through all the ups and downs that I can expect in growing and scaling my business?

· If the passion is really not there - stop and rethink your next move carefully.

· As the old expression goes - "Don't climb your business ladder to only learn it is leaning against the wrong wall".

2) Successful owners maintain a positive mental attitude as a steady state condition. Unsuccessful ones have a mental state that changes and varies with outside circumstances.

Why is this important?

Many times in life you rise and fall to your level of expectations.

If you start with a Negative Mental Attitude you are likely to not fully apply yourself and get results consistent with your expectations.

Life is too short to be grumpy and you will attract other people who are also grumpy and will pull you down.

A positive mental attitude is not sufficient but it is a requirement to succeed.

Action Steps:

· Change your attitude right now by focusing all your thinking on what you are grateful for.

· You cannot maintain two completely different thoughts in your mind at the same time.

3) Successful owners are hyper consciousness about what they are thinking and their attitude at any given point in time. When they feel their attitude turning towards the worse they take massive evasive action to change their attitude since they know their attitude determines their altitude in life. Unsuccessful Business owners allow their emotions derived from their environment to run unchecked. They pay little attention to what they are thinking about and emotionally move with the current. Unsuccessful Business owners are not in control of their mental state.

Action Step:

· Take time at multiple points during the day and ask yourself: "What are my thoughts and feelings on ________ (the most pressing issue for you right now).

· Journal those thoughts and then analyze why you think the way you do.

4) Successful Business owners understand the importance of understanding the root of fear so they can eliminate it before it impacts their attitude. Successful Business owners have an abundance-oriented attitude and believe there is more than enough for everyone. Unsuccessful ones never get to the root of their fears and correspondingly their attitude is impacted. Unsuccessful Business owners have a scarcity-oriented attitude and believe that the pie is only so big - for them to prosper someone must suffer.

Action Steps:

· Write down a list of what you are fearful of.

· Separate the fears into two columns.

· Those that are rational with real consequences and those that are not rational without real consequences.

· For example jumping out of a perfectly good airplane to sky dive is a rational fear - you could die.

· Speaking to a group of 1000 industry peers at a conference is an irrational fear.

5) Successful Business owners have a can do attitude and focus on what they want irrespective of the odds. Unsuccessful ones allow the statistics of others to shape what they believe is possible and often settle in life.

Action Steps:

· Write down very clearly what you want and why you want it.

· Now go deeper and ask the question why again - you will soon discover your internal core motivation and it is this motivation that you need to harness to drive you through to achieve what you want.

· Pay no attention to the Nay Sayers and those that tell you why the odds are against you - they have already given up on their dreams and consider themselves to be "practical".

6) Successful Business owners maintain an attitude of true collaboration and cooperation with others because the notion of competition while important is not the primary focus. Successful Business owners preoccupy their mind with offering incredible service as a way to differentiate themselves and be selected by the market. Unsuccessful Business owners believe that competition is the primary focus and their attitude is they must beat their competitors into the ground. Unsuccessful Business owners preoccupy their mind with how they can hurt the competition and by accident win new customers.

Action Step:

· Develop the ideal customer journey path for your client.

· Vividly imagine how a district and delightful experience can be crafted to meet your customer where they are to help them get to where they want to go.

· Focus 100% on the customer problem and anticipating their needs because you understand them so well.

7) Successful Business owners maintain a balanced attitude and seldom allow events in life to be taken personally. They look at life's events objectively and are careful with the labels they use. Unsuccessful Business owners love to assign labels to everything and often get very excited because they take everything personally.

Action Step:

· Exercise your intellectual asset of Perception - whenever you examine a new idea - turn it over in your mind to see things from all perspectives.

· Be very careful before you assign a label to something as being "good" or as being "bad" because these choices impact your thinking downstream.

· For example if you lose a key customer and associated this as a "Terrible Loss" you cut your mind off from understating why they left and what can be done to improve the customer experience to:

· retain the rest of your clients and

· To innovate your service to attract more clients.

8) Successful owners maintain an attitude rooted in humility. Their inner self does not need this validation. Unsuccessful owners win so seldom that they want the whole world to acknowledge how great they are when it happens. Their sensitive inner self needs this validation

Action Steps:

· Objectively look at how you respond to wins and loses relative to your interactions with others

· Do you boast about your wins or are a quietly confident individual?

· Consider asking those that are very close to you this question and see what they say.

9) Successful Business owners maintain an attitude that is open to being wrong. Unsuccessful Business owners believe they are seldom wrong because they are so smart and accomplished

Action Steps:

· Make a list of mistakes you have made or were wrong about your business.

· Take a look at your financial statements and ask yourself this question again. If you struggle to see your weakness you will never address it or compensate for it through smart hires.

When you change your thoughts, actions and habits your whole life and business will change. To move you through this process, I regularly share ideas and strategies that you can implement today. One aspect of success is your career and business. Individuals who have joined early stage companies or decided to start their own company have created the majority of financial wealth. Click on http://www.RayStendall.com to watch a short video lesson about how you can drive profitable growth through building, marketing and selling products so you too can have the life you have always dreamed of.

Author:  Ray Stendall
Mr. Stendall is the President & CEO of Ray Stendall International, Inc. a San Diego-based consulting office. He is also the Publisher of Customer Engagement Magazine, Author, Activist, and board member of the Financial Policy Council.
Mr. Stendall works with small High Technology Businesses to Sell More, Save Time and Get Organized using Sales and Marketing Automation Systems and Best Practices. This approach allows his customers to make the process Acquiring and Retaining Customers easier and more predictable.

How To Keep A Positive Attitude … When You Don’t Feel Like It

 

5000 years ago, a set of books known as "The Pentateuch" called it "zeal." 2000 years ago, another set of books known as "The Bible" called it "faith." 70 years ago, clergyman Norman Vincent Peale called it "positive thinking." 20 years ago, psychologist Dr. Martin Seligman called it "learned optimism." Two years ago, professor Shawn Achor called it the "happiness advantage."

But when you do a Google search on these terms, most people seem to lump them together and simply refer to them as "attitude," "positive attitude," or "positive thinking." There seems to be a general feeling ... that whatever you call it ... these terms have a lot to do with success in life and success at work. And they're absolutely right. As Achor writes, "Recent discoveries in the field of positive psychology have shown that ... when we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and productive at work." The fact is ...

If you're not a positive thinker, if you don't have a positive attitude, you're in trouble. 

Without this quality or passion, life and work become quite drab. Most everything becomes a "have to" instead of a "get to." For example, the person who doesn't have a positive attitude says such things as: "I have to go to work today ... I have to call on another customer ... I have to clean the house ... or ... I have to pay my taxes."

By contrast, a person of passion says, "I get to go to work today," because he knows that work is so much better than not having any work. A person of passion says, "I get to help another customer," because she knows without her customers she wouldn't have a business. A person of passion says, "I get to clean my house," because he is thankful to have a place to live. And a person of passion says, "I get to pay my taxes," because she is grateful that she makes enough money to even qualify as a tax-paying citizen.

The truth is, if you're not a positive thinker, if you don't have a positive attitude, NOTHING can make up for it.

Education can't. According to historians, some of America's worst presidents were supposedly the smartest and best educated. And some of the greatest Presidents, such as Abraham Lincoln, had very little formal education. A resume may get you through the door, but that's as far as it will get you.
Talent can't. The world is filled with talented people who never achieve personal or professional success. Watch a season or two of "American Idol" or "America's Got Talent" and you'll know what I mean. Talent that isn't fueled by the proper attitude tends to fizzle out before the race is over.
 
Opportunity can't. An opportunity may open a door for you, but without positive thinking you won't make the most of your opportunity. In fact, it may never come to life. As professor Howard Hendricks said, "You don't put live eggs under dead chickens." But that's exactly what negative thinkers do.
Other people can't. It is very difficult to be successful without the help of other people ... or at least be surrounded by the right kind of people. But even that won't guarantee your success. A team with no heart ... no attitude ... and no passion ... will not go very far.
 
There simply is no substitute for a positive attitude. It keeps you going when others quit. It releases an abundance of energy ... an energy you don't even know you have ... and gets you through the toughest times. As novelist Karen Traviss puts it, "Faith keeps you going when there's no logical reason to. In its way, it keeps life going."
 

Bottom line? A positive attitude is the difference maker. So how can you get this difference maker in your life and in your work? Here are a few tips I recommend...





1. Keep your attitude stimulated. 

You may know some people who say they've lost their interest in life. Not much if anything turns them on anymore. It's just another day and another dollar. Chances are they're doing very little to stimulate their attitude.

Other people think they've grown past the enthusiasms of their youth. They're too old to maintain a positive attitude. Or they just don't feel all that well. But chances are, once again, they're doing very little to stimulate their attitude.

In reality, a positive attitude has no connection to age. At the age of 76, General Douglas MacArthur said, "You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair. In the central place of every heart, there is a recording chamber; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer and courage; so long as you are young. When the wires are all down and your heart is covered with snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then and only then are you grown old."

Your attitude acts very much like a muscle. If you don't stimulate or exercise a muscle, it atrophies. It weakens and eventually dies. And the same goes for your attitude. If you don't stimulate it, it dries up.

If, on the other hand, you keep an active interest in life, you will maintain a powerful, effective, happiness-inducing positive attitude. I found that to be true with my Grandma Grace. Whenever I went to visit her, I would always ask if she'd like to get out, take a ride, go somewhere, see something, or do something ... because I knew she was confined to her apartment, due to her age and physical limitations. Invariably, her response would be "No, I'm not feeling that well ... or ... No, I don't really want to go anywhere."

However, with a bit of persuasion, I always got her in the car, and her attitude changed almost instantly. She wanted to see as much as possible and didn't want to miss a thing. I even persuaded her to accompany me on a trip to Norway at age 88, despite the fact she used a walker to get around. Her passion for life began to soar, and with her renewed interest in life and her positive thinking on the rise, she spent the entire trip walking without her walker.

To keep your attitude positive, keep your attitude stimulated. Keep on learning about the world, the people, and things outside of yourself. Get in the habit of looking forward to each day, wondering what new adventure will come your way.

And then...

2. Let your attitude play make believe. 

I know; it sounds childish. But the most successful people use this technique and swear by this technique.

Muhammad Ali, the world champion boxer, says, "To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. It you're not, pretend you are."

And Donald Trump, the world champion real estate developer, tells people, "Even if you haven't encountered great success yet, there is no reason you can't bluff a little and act like you have. Confidence is a magnet in the best sense of the word. It will draw people to you and make your daily life, and theirs, a lot more pleasant."

So I advise you, picture yourself as being competent, effective, and successful. Hold that image firmly in your mind and do not let any self-doubt erase it. Soon, your mental picture will become your new reality.
You can do that if you...





3. Tie your attitude to a long-term value rather than a short-term emotion.

When I'm speaking to salespeople, I often tell them to "act" their way through a tough situation. If they're in the midst of a sales presentation on a late Friday afternoon, for example, and don't feel enthusiastic, they still need to "act" enthusiastic. They need to "act" like this is the most important sale of the week.
Of course, someone in the audience will always say, "Are you asking us to fake it? You just told us to be honest, sincere, and genuine in all our dealings with our customers. And now you're telling us to 'act' enthusiastic whether or not we feel that way. I don't get it. There's seems to some kind of contradiction going on here."

No there isn't. There's no contradiction whatsoever ... if you tie your attitude to a deeply-held commitment rather than a passing emotion.

It's what one clergyman had to learn. He wrestled with how he could stand in front of his congregation and speak about peace, joy, love, hope, and faith when he didn't feel very enthusiastic at the moment he was speaking about those things. He didn't feel authentic. And yet he realized, if he yielded to his immediate feelings, if he let his sagging emotions influence his professional conduct, he could not inspire or motivate the people he was called to serve.

The clergyman resolved his supposed "contradiction" by making an authentic choice. He chose to adhere to his calling rather than his personal emotions. He tied his attitude to something bigger and more important than his momentary feelings.

You need to do the same thing ... whatever line of work you may be in. To get and keep a positive attitude, tie your attitude to a long-term value. If you're in sales, tie your positive attitude to the quality of your product and the way it helps your customers. If you're in leadership, tie your positive attitude to your belief in growing people. Tie your attitude to doing what is right and good, no matter what job you have. That way you can "act" genuinely enthusiastic and "be" thoroughly positive ... no matter what you're feeling.



Finally,

3. Cancel any negative thoughts that interfere with your attitude.

Getting and keeping a positive attitude is a not a once-and-for all proposition. It takes daily practice ... but fortunately less and less practice as you master these skills.

Nonetheless, you still need to deal with the negative thoughts that come into your mind. Cancel them out. As Dr. Norman Vincent Peale taught, "Whenever a negative thought about yourself and your abilities comes to mind, immediately cancel it out as unworthy, untrue, and unrealistic. The more vigorously you cancel it out, the weaker it becomes, until it disappears altogether."

Don't give your negative thoughts too much attention. And don't put yourself down as being too small or too weak. As Bette Reese notes, "If you think you're too small to be effective, you've never been in bed with a mosquito."

Willie Nelson is right. Replace your negative thoughts with positive ones and you'll start getting positive results.

Action:

Select two long-term values that are deeply held by you and tie your attitude to them.

As a best-selling author and Hall of Fame professional speaker, Dr. Alan Zimmerman has taught more than one million people in 48 states and 22 countries how to keep a positive attitude on and off the job. In his book, PIVOT: HowOne Turn In Attitude Can Lead To Success, Dr. Zimmerman outlines the exact steps you must take to get the results you want in any situation. Go to Alan's site for a Free Sneak Preview.

How to Make the New Year Successful and Fulfilling: Start With an Attitude Inventory

It's a wise custom to end an old year and begin a new one with serious self-reflection. 

What did you learn this year that could improve your life and make you a wiser and better person?

 



If you want to have a successful and fulfilling New year, start by examining the way you think and feel about your job, your relationships, and yourself. After all, the single most important factor in personal happiness and your impact on others is your attitude.

In the geometry of life, the axiom is "positive attitudes produce positive results." They make success more likely, failures less harmful, pleasures more frequent, and pain more bearable. Some people tend to bring warm sunshine wherever they go; others bring cold chills. What do you bring?

To find out where you can improve, take an inventory of your predispositions, the attitude you're most likely to start with:

Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic?

Do you tend to assume the best or expect the worst of people?

Is your first instinct to be empathetic or judgmental?

Is your first instinct to be supportive or critical?

Do you send the message that you enjoy life or that you're barely enduring it?

Do you come across as the captain of your own ship or simply a passenger?

Wherever you are on the positive-attitude spectrum, think how much better things could be if you were more consistently and self-consciously optimistic, empathetic, supportive, grateful, enthusiastic, hopeful, and cheerful.

So why not resolve to think, act, and speak more positively about yourself, your family, your coworkers, and everyone else in your life?

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.


Michael Josephson
www.charactercounts.org

,

This ‘pill’ makes you feel AWESOME

Have you seen the movie Limitless?

In it, the protagonist discovers a little pill that, when swallowed, unlocks 'superhuman' powers and personality traits that transform the way he thinks...
making him uber-smart and crazy successful.

It's Hollywood fiction at its best... but what if there WAS a pill you could take to instantly put yourself in a *great* mood... boost your concentration... and hard-wire your mind to focus on WINNING... effortlessly?

Forget alcohol, drugs, or positive thinking -- what I'm going to share with you today is a fast, safe, extremely effective alternative that works like nothing else.

It's called... All Natural High.

Simply strap on a pair of headphones, hit play, and let the expertly engineered brainwave session induce an 'Alpha' mind state that instantly boosts your mood, reduces stress and invokes a feeling of euphoria... the kind of attitude you need to WIN in today's tough world.

I promise, you've never tried anything like it before...
and for the first time ever, it's available for you to try only at this link...

http://bit.ly/xYQY3E

Grab it today, and you get FREE international shipping directly to your mailbox.

P.S -- Oh and if you're expecting one of those pseudo-scientific feel-good CDs, this is not it. When you click the link above, be sure to visit the 'Science' page to learn how it works. It's based on PROVEN neuroscience and is backed by a 100% promise -- either it works for you, or you get every penny back, period.

You can change your attitude and change your life.

It is the energy you bring into the room.  You can have a positive attitude about the events in your life , or you can come from a place of complaint and misery.  You decide.  You can consciously choose to respond in a positive way to almost any event or circumstance-a positive attitude is simple a choice you make.

Now we all know people with negative attitudes .  They are the ones who constantly complain , whine , and moan.   Nothing seems to go right for them. They are the perpetual victims in life. This is because they are operating at a lower frequency , and through the Law of Attraction they are attracting even more to complain about. The reason they tend to stay ''stuck''in their negative lifestyles is because they are constantly focusing their thoughts and energy on their negative present and negative past. By doing so , they are creating the same future over and over.

On the other hand , we also know people with positive attitudes-the ones who always seem to be happy , the ones who really seem to have a handle on things in their life. They are more fun , their energy feels great to be around , and they are operating at a higher frequency.

Surround yourself with these positive , nourishing , uplifting people whenever you can. Spend your time with spiritually evolved people who encourage your growth and applaud your successes. Wrap yourself in a support network of inspirational people with positive attitudes and energy.

You can change your attitude and change your life.

Namaste.

Jack Canfield.

Your Attitude Makes the Difference

Many things about your life boil down to the hand you have been dealt. You can't change the fact that you were born in that place and with certain givens for your appearance, IQ, or physical skills. Education and training can open some doors for you, but they cannot change your past, make you taller and more athletic, or alter the fact that some people are unfair in the way they treat you.

In spite of the fact that all of us know that most of our life circumstances are beyond our control, we are all still tempted to fret and complain about things that cannot be changed. Of course they cause distress. They certainly put us at a disadvantage in certain contexts. They mustn't be allowed to define and limit us.
The people who do best with life move beyond the temptation to whine and feel sorry for themselves. They face the disappointment and move beyond it. They acknowledge the bad break and look for a way to turn it around. They work from a half-full rather than half-empty glass mindset.

These people have a different attitude than the defeatist and whiner. They have found a way to make lemonade from their lemons.

There is a section in John Baillie's A Diary of Private Prayer that reads . . .

Teach me, O God, so to use all the circumstances of my life today that they may bring forth in me the fruits of holiness rather than the fruits of sin.

Let me use disappointment as material for patience;

Let me use success as material for thankfulness;

Let me use suspense as material for perseverance;

Let me use danger as material for courage;

Let me use reproach as material for longsuffering;

Let me use praise as material for humility;

Let me use pleasures as material for temperance;

Let me use pains as material for endurance.

When a given day begins, countless things are headed your way over which you have no control. It may be bad weather or someone's bad temper, a deadline that won't budge or a client equally resistant to change. The one factor you can control through it all is your attitude toward them.

Your attitude today will make all the difference in everything that matters.

Rubel Shelly

Rubel Shelly is a Preacher and Professor of Religion and Philosophy located in Rochester Hills, Michigan. In addition to church and academic responsibilities, he has worked actively with such community projects as Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross, From Nashville With Love, Metro (Nashville) Public Schools, Faith Family Medical Clinic, and Operation Andrew Ministries. To learn more about Rubel please go to: www.RubelShelly.com

Stop Negative Thinking in Its Tracks – 3 Simple Stress Management Tips For a Positive Attitude

Most entrepreneurs and solopreneurs that I facilitate have difficulty when it comes to be able to stop negative thinking. Negative thoughts can cost you a bundle in achieving your goal of financial success.

Negative attitudes and thoughts release a poison into our bodies and that causes more negativity and feelings of unhappiness. This paves the way for failure, disappointments, and frustrations.

There are several little known resources, tips ideas that not only can save you a ton of money, but make you dream affordable. And I am about to reveal 3 simple stress management tips to stop negative thinking.

#1: Smile

If you have been raised in a negative atmosphere, it may be difficult at first to start thinking in a positive way. The first step is to smile more. A smile is said to be contagious. Try smiling at a stranger and see if it is returned. Smiling gives you a healthier sense of well-being and it takes fewer muscles than frowning!

#2: Thoughts and attitude

Thoughts and attitudes cannot be changed in an instant or even over night. It takes work to make your mind aware that it is thinking negative thoughts or putting out negative images.

It has to be trained to think only good and positive thoughts. Visualize positive outcomes to the situations in your life.

This will take patience and perseverance and it is something that will need to be worked on every day. Soon, positive thinking will become more natural and you will think good thoughts automatically.

#3: Visualization

Visualization is a great way of turning negative thoughts into positive ones.

When a situation pops up, look at it and allow your mind to see a positive outcome. Expect things to work out instead of picturing the worst possible outcome.

You may believe the power of positive thinking is a dream or a myth. Why not give it a try for just a few days or a week.

See if your attitude will change toward your circumstances.

Remember, positive attracts positive.

Smile often! It may change your life and help you achieve your dreams.

One of the biggest obstacles that prevent entrepreneurs and solopreneurs from being able to stop thinking negative is that they are too busy.

I hope I have helped to change your thinking. When you realize how simple and easy it is to relieve your stress on a daily basis, you will look forward with excitement to search and find more opportunities to have fun each day.

About the Author, Cecil McIntosh
Curious about additional, effective stress reduction tips? You can discover 21 extra effective ways for creating your own stress relief management system with the free "21 Stress -Stopper formulas for a healthy and happy life" special report at http://emptyyourcup.com/stressstopperformula.php

Attitudes of Successful Learners

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