ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” Thomas Jefferson
Great people always have a different mind-set. They know something that the rest do not know. They think from a different dimension. They perceive life with a different eye. They have deep understanding of what it takes to leave the kingly life. It is ingrain in their memory, attitude is everything.
In his book “The Power of Positive Thinking” Norman Vincent Pearle said “Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure. The way you think about a fact may defeat you before you ever do anything about it. You are overcome by the fact because you think you are.
America’s 3rd president, Thomas Jefferson also said “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”
John C. Maxwell wrote a book titled Attitude is everything. How true! This is what makes greatness out of ordinary people. Your beginning is not as important as how you end. Jesus was born in a manger but rose to become the greatest man in history. Let nothing stop you.
In not too far distant a young man was incarcerated in the Nazi camp. Others were tortured and maltreated right under his eyes. It was a terrifying, heart breaking and breath taking sight.
Nobody goes into that camp and comes back the same. But Viktor E. Frankl had a different mind-set. He came back whole and complete from the Nazi camp. In his words he said “ everything can be taken from a man but one thing: The last of his freedoms- to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way”.
Chapters 1 of the book of Daniel, throws a deeper light into how the young man Daniel emerge from the backside of life to the highest place in the Babylonian Kingdom. He became that great prophet of God. A man beloved of God. Daniel stood tall amongst all his peers. Note that at this point in time, Nebuchadnezzar had invaded Jerusalem and had taken with him all the young men and women as captives. But among all the captives was this young man. There is something different about him. He looked cheerful in the midst of hopelessness. Faith in the midst of fear. Joy when everybody was crying.
Nebuchadnezzar said of Daniel “A Child in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in him to stand in the king’s palace, and whom he might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans”. (Paraphrased) Daniel 1.4.
These were the qualities that set Daniel apart from the rest. Others died but a man with these qualities cannot die with the rest. Some were killed but these virtues cannot be killed. These were the qualities that separated him from the dying ones. The merciless army of the Babylonians had killed some of the captured Israelites. They had imprisoned some. But these qualities of Daniel could just not be ignored. Such qualities cannot be imprisoned. Against such qualities there are no other laws.
No wonder Nebuchadnezzar enlisted him into the school of royal training. Royalty was inherent in him. He knows that whatever you want on the outside must first be in the Inside. If it is not in the inside, it cannot come on the outside. A good man out of his good heart will bring forth good fruits (Matt. 12:33). He lived his life focusing on being rather than having. If you are going through some heat right now and feel like giving up do not give up. Success is not measured by possession. A man’s life does not consist of abundance of things which he possesses.
And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth (Luke 12:15).
Your life should not be focused on having. Focus on being. It is the “being” that delivers the “haves”. Most people spend their entire life focusing on what to have instead of what to be. True success is a mind-set and not a material set. That is why most great people can lose everything today but will gather all up again in the next few years. Scriptures say when they fall down they shall arise again (Mic. 7:8). True achievement is to be the best you can be. Not to have the best you can have. This is the missing ingredient on our journey to success. Let us wake up and focus on the real thing. The true value of a man is what he is made up of. Right attitude is an asset.
In the next articles we will explore the key attitudes required for outstanding greatness. Read on …
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