Are You Prepared For Success? (Installment #9)

(If this is your first time on this site, please begin with "Are You Prepared For Success [Introduction.])

"Passion", the first leg of the "Empowerment Triad," is an integral part of the whole process. It is the engine that drives the positive messages into your subconscious. Do not underestimate the power of passion in changing your attitudes. Without passion in the process, the emotions would not be touched and the desired results would be far more difficult to attain.

Passion is in all great searches and is necessary to all creative endeavors.

-W. Eugene Smith

We may affirm absolutely that nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.

-Hegel, 1832

Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Passion is defined as:

1. A powerful, deep, overwhelming emotion
2. Boundless enthusiasm
3. Zeal
4. Ardor

Every great and commanding movement in the annals of the world is the triumph of enthusiasm. Nothing great was ever achieved without it.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Passion is the force behind the creation and the reinforcement of a positive mind-set (positive attitudes ruling your life). As the process progresses - the use of passion in driving the positive messages into your very being...will speed up the process dramatically, and could even be the difference between success and failure.

Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.

-Henri-frédéric Amiel

Men are failures, not because they are stupid, but because they are not sufficiently impassioned.

-Struthers Burt

Passion will ignite the emotions, and awaken a very powerful force that lies within you.

Man is only truly great when he acts from the passions.

-Benjamin Disraeli

Be careful, passion can also have its negative, dark side. Remember, passion is a powerful emotion. There are negative passions such as envy, jealousy, rage, wrath, revenge, and many more. All the messages that you get and create through this process need to be positive, self-affirming and empowering.

Living well is the best revenge.

-George Herbert

The passion that you will summon up should be a combination of your own burning desire for success, the knowledge that a change in attitude will bring you so much closer to it, and the pleasure derived from reading rhyming poetry. Following is the "Pleasure" leg of the "Empowerment Triad."

We may affirm absolutely that nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.

By Mel Kaye

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Go to Installment #10

Handling Failure by Zig Zigler

By Zig Ziglar

There are many great articles about attitude and success. I will be posting some of them verbatim rather than trying to rewrite them into my own words. In some cases, reinventing the wheel is not really necessary.

Cal Ripken is known for breaking Ty Cobb's "unbreakable" record of playing in 2,130 consecutive professional baseball games, and for signing a five-year contract for more than $30 million in the 1990s. However, during one particular year of that contract, Cal got only about one hit for every four times at bat. Think about it. If you had failed three times out of four in your job, how would you feel about it? What would your self-image or picture of yourself be?

Question: What do you think Cal Ripken's picture of himself is when he steps up to the plate? Do you really think that he's thinking: "Boy, what a waste of time! Chances are only one out of four I'm going to get a hit! I don't know why I bother with this anyhow. Sure, they pay me a lot of money, but this is embarrassing and terribly discouraging to get only one hit for every four trips to the plate. There has to be another way to make a living! I'm just a loser.

I'm no good, and I don't know why I put myself through this torture so everybody else can see what I already know." Do you think that's his self-talk? If not, then what is his self-talk? I believe as he steps to the plate with considerable eagerness to face the pitcher, Cal is thinking to himself, "Okay, you got me the last time, but I've got your number this time. I've been thinking it through, watching you, and I happen to know I'm one of the best athletes in the world.

I've hit that ball under every circumstance known to man. I've gotten hits off tall pitchers and short pitchers, winning pitchers and losing pitchers. I've hit in close games and runaway games, and this time . . . I'm coming after you. This is my turn!"

Cal Ripken sees himself as a winner, and he is elated to have a chance to step back up to the plate. Message: Regardless of what happened to you the last time you stepped up to the plate, this time it's a brand new day, and at this very moment you are preparing to make it a winning one. That is motivation.