Many people have a strong aversion to taking risks because they’re afraid they might fail, and they worry about what other people will think of them if they do. What they don’t realize is that failure is the most direct pathway to success. As Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda Motor Corporation put it: “Success…
In a study reported in the Washington Post, 10 patients suffering from depression were injected with Botox (the drug that smooths out facial wrinkles) between their eyebrows. As a result, their facial muscles were unable to form a frown. Of these 10 patients, nine recovered from their depressive symptoms while the other patient, who suffered…
Persistence means to stay the course in pursuing your goals in spite of whatever difficulties or opposition you may run into. Stubbornness, on the other hand, is more along the lines of: “My mind is made up, so don’t confuse me with the facts.” When you’re persistent, you’re moving toward something. This means persistence leads…
Optimists are people with positive attitudes who expect favorable outcomes. When you expect things to work out, you take the necessary action to make sure they do. Being a pessimist is easy—not necessarily pleasant or fun, but easy—because you don’t have to do anything except let the world pass you by while you cling to…
Bestselling author and businessman, Harvey Mackay, wrote an excellent column dealing with risk taking and regret. According to Mr. Mackay, people rarely regret taking risks; what they do regret is not taking them sooner or not taking them at all. He goes on to say, “Afraid to try something new? Most of us are. But…
Sometimes we get into ruts when it comes to solving everyday problems. We turn to the same solutions over and over when a better solution could be ours for the asking. For example, my daughter has two children—a nine-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son. She also has three chickens which keep the family supplied with…
Eric Weiner, a former NPR correspondent and author, travelled to a number of countries including Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland which were ranked high on happiness by the World Database of Happiness. His goal was to find out if the people living in these countries were as happy as the database claims and to learn…
When someone does something to make you angry, the last thing on your mind is to be kind to that person. In reality, it should be the first and for a very important reason: doing so cancels out your anger and brings you back to normal. Let me illustrate with an example. An article which…
Over the years I’ve had a number of people ask me: “How do I go about the business of finding my passion–something I can get truly excited about?” Each of these people had the idea that finding their passion was like walking through a cafeteria line and picking something out that seemed interesting. In reality,…
Over the years, I’ve come across a number of people who can’t admit it when they’ve made a mistake. Instead of admitting their mistake and taking responsibility for it, they blame others. They seem to think admitting a mistake is a sign of personal weakness. In reality, being able to admit our mistakes is a…