Positivity XIV

A friend told me recently that she used to be a really positive person but the harsh environment and competition of the industry turned her into a rather bitter person. Can't be compassionate when the world requires you to be strong rather than be vigorously stepped on and taken advantage of. She recounted the experience of an unhappy childhood leading to determination to step out of the rut and equip herself with hope and aspirations. She says taking the reins of leadership and decision making made her somewhat unable to be the ideally good person she had set out to be. "Weathered" she called herself.

But to stop there and continue being "weathered" is almost like putting on a lid to any more expectations and goodness. Not being positive, not being negative but being status quo. Does that sound familiar to you? It will not lead to risky apertures, or violent crashing hopes, life was just bearable so long as roles are met.

Those were the words of a disappointed soul. I felt they were familiar because I told myself those things every single day previously. And when I did see people who had stepped out of their fears and designated zones of safety, I was almost anticipating with bated breath to see if they would crash and burn. That was because I had already fought their battles and lost all of them for them. Naturally when some endured their grueling tests, they won my admiration and those that did not, well, it was "expected".

These days, being a failed pessimist and a new optimist I see it bright and clear. You'll be in the pursuit of happiness so long as you possess the right attitudes. You may want to fight a battle but the "mind is willing, flesh is weak" syndrome may tamper with your state of mind. To be prepared meant correcting the heart and mind and remaining focused. Once you start out with positivity and you meet little rocks of negative influences, fear not. Fall or trip slightly only to slowly come up again. You've already left the stagnant inaction behind, a little trip is fine, it can motivate you to hurry on to catch up again.

Armancio Ortega was a clerk in a shirt store. That's right, just like one of those guys who run around to help you get T shirts and sometimes when you're being a jerk 10 T shirts and you say you don't want any in the end. He borrowed 25 bucks from his wife and started making gowns in his living room.

In 1975, the man opened his first ZARA store. He is now 2009, Spain's richest man and according to Forbes the 10th richest main in the world.

We can always look at 25 dollars and see it as a few burgers, a few books, drinks or basically nothing. 25 dollars can be a dream, a goal and enterprise. Do you think he thought this far when he made his first gown?

OF course he did. If you did not, it's because you still find it difficult to believe that you can be successful and great. When other people laugh and tell you things like these don't fly out of the sky, remember this again and again and again. If Einstein said this, and we all know Einstein knows better, so listen hard:

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices, but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence and fulfills the duty to express the results of his thought in clear form."

Don't blame your critics. They don't know! So instead of agreeing with them, smile knowing you have a secret.