Principle — Think positively

My thoughts on getting older.

I’m getting close to thirty years old. Some people start to panic and want to turn back time or at the very least stop it. I just realized the other day, a much better way to look at it. I’ve lived less than 30 years so far, and I’ve really learned quite a lot! I expect to live at least for 30 more years, perhaps even twice that. Imagine how much I will know in 30 or 60 years! It’s mind-blowing!

My only problem, when I am 90 years old, there will be so many things I still don’t know, and so little time to learn them.

Speaker and coach Birgitta Granström provides some tips for how to get through darker times. (FTBM)

Always have invigorating thoughts. Often tough events bring positive effects. So play with the idea that the hard, in fact, is good.

Marti Barletta, from her “Strengths” essay in What matters now.

I worked on my weaknesses for 40 years to little avail. Still “needs improvement,” as they say. Why? Easy. We hate doing things we’re not good at, so we avoid them. No practice makes perfect hard to attain.

I, for one, can live with just doing what I’m good at!

Quoted from LMI’s Personal Leadership course. (FTBM)

It is a simple psychological fact that you act as the person you think you are.

Do you think you’re good?

In the What matters now essay Change, Chip and Dan Heath provides the following story.

A troubled teenager named Bobby was sent to see his high-school counselor, John Murphy. Bobby had been in trouble so many times that he was in danger of being shipped off to a special facility for kids with behavioral problems.

Most counselors would have discussed Bobby’s problems with him, but Murphy didn’t.

MURPHY: Bobby, are there classes where you don’t get in trouble?

BOBBY: I don’t get in trouble much in Ms. Smith’s class.

MURPHY: What’s different about Ms. Smith’s class?

Soon Murphy had some concrete answers: 1. Ms. Smith greeted him at the door. 2. She checked to make sure he understood his assignments. 3. She gave him easier work to complete. (His other teachers did none of the three.)

Now Murphy had a roadmap for change. He advised Bobby’s other teachers to try these three techniques. And suddenly, Bobby started behaving better.

The moral of the story is, in their words:

You’re probably trying to change things at home or at work. Stop agonizing about what’s not working. Instead, ask yourself, “What’s working well, right now, and how can I do more of it?”