A Trap Anyone Can Fall Into

I was going to start this article with the sentence, “Sometimes it’s hard for me to believe that our ancestors who founded this country were made of such tough stuff.”

This is More Likely

By the time I had a chance to think about that, I realized that rather than our “ancestors” being made of tough stuff —- more than likely it was back then as it is today.  It has (and had) to do with the attitude, mind set, and desire of the individual.

Good training in your youth can take you a long way towards the right attitude and mind set for success in life.   If you’ve not been trained in your youth, it’s never too late to train yourself.

Society Can Make It Difficult

Even with the best of training, because of various things promoted in our society, it is easy to forgo the effort necessary to do our best. You know how it goes:

You’re too old to do that.  You’re too young to do that.

You’re too sick to do that.  You’ll get sick.

You’ll hurt yourself.  It might be too much for you.

You can’t — you can’t — you can’t.

All Are Capable of Much More!

So the first thing we have to do to be everything we can be or want to be is to turn a deaf ear to what society promotes. When it comes right down to it — we are all capable of much, much more!

Negative Self-Talk is the Trap that Can Hold Us Back

How we live today can make our tomorrows better or worse. But there’s a trap anyone can fall into that prevents us from doing all we can — unless we are aware and on the look out for it.

It’s that negative self-talk that can talk us out of being the best we can be.

Here’s an example from my life.  Although seemingly simple it makes the point quite well:

I had planned to go out for an hour this afternoon to finish up cutting the dead foliage on the asparagus. A seemingly simple thing.  But in order to do all I want to do and do it comfortably and well, I have to do a little bit each day.  That’s my agreement with myself.

The weatherman called for rain and I figured today was going to be the last “decent” day in the next three.  So I was anxious to get that task accomplished.

Glancing out the window while working at the computer, I kept thinking how gloomy and cold it was outside. Just about that time, Bill came in and said, “I was going to work on that new bed today but it’s so depressing outside I don’t think I’ll go.” (His negative voice had been busy too.)

I didn’t say anything – but found myself saying to myself — “I’m not the only one who feels that way so maybe I won’t go out. It really is too cold. I’ll just wait.  And besides I really need to get thus and such done in here.”

The Rest of the Story

About an hour before dark, Bill came back and said he was going for his walk.

After a little talk with myself, I got my warm clothes on and went outside.

Bill was working on the new bed.

It wasn’t too cold.  It didn’t seem gloomy.  I got my asparagus cut. I felt good about today and we both made our future a bit better.

Final Words

Be aware of the negative self-talk trap.  You can override it and be everything you want to be!

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