The success principals of the teachers on our Resources page, are a new concept to some people.  A common concept taught by most of them is the idea of a positive mental attitude (PMA).  In particular if you watch The Secret it's primary message is that PMA is the key to success.  So is that all it takes to be successful?

Some people I have met laugh at the idea of PMA.  The say something like "I want 2 BMWs.  Ok, where are they?  See this PMA stuff is garbage."  I see this as a complete misunderstanding of what PMA means.  PMA is not wishful thinking.  Wishful thinking is the belief that just thinking something will make it to effortlessly appear.  PMA does not mean that we don't have to do something to achieve our goals.

Think of it this way, if you learned a new exercise to increase your strength or a new diet to lose weight.  Wouldn't it be silly for you to try the exercise or diet for one day and then at the end of the day say "Well, I'm no stronger than this morning or haven't lost any weight so these techniques obviously don't work."?  How silly.  Most all of us realize it takes time and consistent effort to see results from exercise and diet.  Changing our mind and habits is the same.

PMA requires regular application as well as actions towards what we desire.  So in the above example, it seems completely reasonable that if a person truly wants 2 BMWs that if they focus on this everyday, share this desire with others, make concrete plans how to achieve this goal, and take daily actions to achieve the goal, that they will have 2 BMWs.

When put this way, sometimes people say something like "Well, that's no secret, it's obvious."  Yes, it is obvious, though how many of us truly do this?  Do you have clear concrete goals that you think of everyday?  Do you have a plan to achieve your goals?  Are you taking daily actions to achieve the goal?  If not, then why not give it a try?

PS  This applies to me as well.

As a success gym, part of going to the gym is doing a workout, usually consisting of exercises.  So today's post is about an exercise we can all do to improve our success.

Exercise - What are you grateful for?

Think of your life and ask yourself, what is it about your current situation that you are grateful for.  Maybe it is a person you know that you are grateful for.  You can be grateful for physical possessions or surroundings.  You can be grateful for knowledge you possess or learn.  You can even be grateful for the weather.  There are no rules about what you should be grateful for.  It can be something small or large, just something that you honestly feel a genuine emotion of gratefulness.

I'm grateful for having discovered the idea of thinking of success like trying trying to change my body.  It really makes sense to me right now that this road to success will be a gradual process that I will need to keep doing for the rest of my life.  It allows me to relate what other people say about success and self-help to something I understand.

What are you grateful for right now?

I am a proponent of Wikipedia.  I understand that there may be mistakes and debate over some content in Wikipedia, as with all sources of information, but in general I respect the information presented there.

The following quote from the Self Help page goes right to the point:

" "Salerno says that 80 percent of self-help and motivational customers are repeat customers and they keep coming back 'whether the program worked for them or not'."[34] Others similarly point out that with self-help books "supply increases the demand... The more people read them, the more they think they need them... more like an addiction than an alliance."[35]"

Let's assume the above is correct.  I have had positive results from learning self help and success principals, so how can that agree with the above statements?  First of all, it should be noticed that there is no mention about the success of the programs.  What if I said 80% of body builders keep going to the gym?  Does that mean going to the gym doesn't work because they have to keep going back?  How about the fact that the more a person goes to the gym, the more they purchase health books, clothes, supplements and equipments, does that make them addicted to health?

When we think of it in this context, it makes perfect sense that a person that has received positive results from self-help would want to continue to reinforce the learning.

Have you had positive results from learning success principals or is it a waste of time?