Throughout my many adventures in Corporate Australia, Tony Robbins Seminars, Small to Medium Enterprise, Prestigious Law Firms and people I have known being mixed up in organized crime – it has given me a great view of:

– People with honourable motives (regardless of wealth).

– Inglourious Basterds (regardless of wealth).

– People with everything – that still complain.

– People with nothing – that are focused.

The latter people completely amaze me – in fact, I have a good friend from Hobart by the name of Manfred. He is a strong preacher and he is so strong in his faith, I could see him going toe-to-toe with Dalai Lama one day. He was from the mean streets of North America/Canada and now works out in Regional Australia devoting himself to helping others.

I had another friend (notice the key word “had”) that used to complain because he only used to earn $120K + Super and didn’t get the extra $30K Bonus he “was promised”. This guy, I don’t see going toe-to-toe with the Dalai Lama anytime soon. If anything, this guy ended up losing his job completely and had nothing at the end of the day.

Now this bit fries my brain. How come some people who get nothing really make something of themselves, and why do some who get beaten up all their lives just stick at it?

I think it’s the “Why?”. That is, people who tend to be bullet-proof and just keep soldiering on have a reason or a goal in what they are doing. That is, they seem to have a solid goal or a solid understanding of “Why they are here and What they have to do”. Now talking the other extreme, you get people who get everything who lose the plot, enter addictions and really abuse the opportunities they have. Some of these people are lucky and survive a while, but we only see too many people in our society just stuff up what they originally have. Does David Jones ring a bell to anyone? I think this is a good example of someone who has it all that obviously doesn’t appreciate what they have and chooses to misbehave!

My own view of the world so far that “Truly Inspirational” people don’t do it by “Being Positive” or painting on a smile. Their genuine positivity comes from within by being compelled by an amazing goal or purpose of living. Negative People who “Pretend to be Positive” can only fake it for so long! Now let me leave this though with you… Why are you here? * Thank to “antonkawasaki” from Flickr for the great pic.

Categories:

Tags:

6 Responses

  1. Hi Ed,

    I have liked your comments about focus in previous blogs.

    The difference between the examples you provide in this blog is one is focusing on what they already have thus maintain perspective. The other focuses on what they don’t have thus lose perspective.

    The saying “Short term pain for long term gain” comes to mind to maintain ones focus. Unfortunately for some they rather short term gain but the cost is long term pain.

    To me the consequence of “positive” thinking is “negative” thinking thus it is a matter of balance. For example, “This is unpleasant but it is not the end of the world and I will cope”. Rather than “This is awful!”

    I hope all is well.

    Cheers

    Bec

    • Many thanks for the great comment Bec! The feedback is great and helping me get this blog on track 🙂

      Yes, in my own life I have been guilty for either going one extreme or the other. I don’t think many people out there are focused on a balance – it’s either “My Life is So Wonderful and I am Abundant” [ignoring the fact their wife is about to leave them] compared to “Everyone hates me and no one loves me” [which is just simply not true].

      Interesting and thanks again Bec! 🙂

      Have a lovely day!

  2. Nice one and aptly put. I’m staring redundancy at this time with nothing to go to (yet). One can take it as a negative change in their lives or as an opportunity for doing something else. After devoting 5.5 years at this company, I feel betrayed and disappointment at the end decision that management has dealt me. These are nonetheless ‘negative’ feelings that can be channeled into positive actions. No amount of positive thinking could present me with another job with same pay. Something will change. My horoscope the other day said it so accurately – Embrace change. After the usual gamut of feelings, I’m more focused than ever to embrace and use this change to get off my butt and take positive action. I questioned ‘Why?’, I questioned ‘How?’ and everywhere I look, I cannot see anything negative. The sky is still blue and the sun still shines. So, I’m taking my ‘Why’ to another level and embracing positive change.

    • Hi Michael,

      That sounds tough and I am sorry to hear about it. I am familiar with this type of experience and in being as honest as possible, it took me a long time in order to deal with this (i.e. putting it in a “Positive” but not “Delusional” type of context).

      If anything, I went down the “Angry” path – which is I think a pretty human thing to do. I eventually got over it – and it is true, such experiences can certainly lead to a better scenario (after some short-term pain).

      I do wish you the best. If you can’t dodge it, hopefully you at least get a nice healthy payout and find something better in no time.

      It’s tough though! Tons of books I read make it it’s “So Easy” to get over, but I think it just takes time like anything.

      Ed Zia

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.