The 2020 Workplace

It's All About the Attitude!

"The right attitude is the best and most obvious path to success and yet the least chosen one."- The 8 Pillars of Motivation, page 480

While all of us have our good and bad days, some people choose to see the positive and carry on despite the disappointments they have had. The reality is, there will always be things that don’t go your way—your car breaks down, someone yells at you because they are also having a bad day, you spill coffee down your suit on the way to a meeting, etc. However, we each have the opportunity to react to each of these things positively or negatively. In fact, Brock encourages us to see something great in even the worst of these circumstances. Maybe your car breaking down will lead you to meet someone new. Maybe your listening patiently to the person who has had a bad day will cause them to rethink their attitude. You can’t force others to see the positive, but you can change the way you react to each circumstance, moment-by-moment, day-to-day.

“The things that go wrong can be the defining moments of your life.”

It Takes a Village

"Engage in the right place and build the relationships and be sure to give, give, give and then give some more."- The 8 Pillars of Motivation, page 601

Sometimes just having the right support system in place can make all the difference. If you surround yourself with a lot of naysayers who tell you your ideas won’t work, you’ll likely eventually listen. However, if you cultivate relationships with people who encourage you to go for your dreams, you are much more inclined to try. Brock also tells a personal story about her grandmother that shows that just because someone doesn’t understand why you are doing something doesn’t mean that they don’t care about you. Brock was trying to explain her work in social media and blogging to her grandmother, which her grandmother in Iran did not understand, so she told her grandmother that she was happy and her grandmother accepted that answer much easier than trying to grasp what she did for a living.

Brock writes, “Often it is not that the people who do not support you don’t want you to be happy; they simply do not understand what it is you are trying to do.”

So find people who care about you and what you are doing and, at the same time, encourage others in what they are doing—even if you do not fully understand why they want what they want.

Have Faith

"Whatever it is you dream, simply believe that it is entirely possible. If you cannot believe that it is possible every day of the week, then believe that it’s possible on every Tuesday or every Friday."- The 8 Pillars of Motivation, page 621

I love this idea that even if it’s difficult for you to believe that something is possible all of the time, then to at least try and believe it’s possible as often as you can. There are times when I don’t let myself believe my dreams could come true, but this makes it much more doable. Once you believe that things are a possibility, you’re much more likely to put steps in place to accomplish them. For instance, maybe you don’t believe you could run a successful business, but maybe once a week, you set up an event on your calendar to work on that goal. During that time put aside your thoughts – that you don’t think it is a possibility – and act as though it is. Maybe you’ll surprise yourself by making it a reality with just an hour of focus a week or maybe, with time, you can increase that hour of belief into an entire day.

Put the eight pillars to use in your life, and you’ll be well on your way to never losing motivation again. From defining your purpose and direction to cultivating smart habits, you’ll be paving the road to your dreams coming true.

What habits can you put in place tomorrow that will give you the motivation to accomplish your dreams ten, twenty, or thirty years down the road?