Today I finished reading the book Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude by Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone. It was a very good and inspiring book. The main idea is that everybody has a "talisman" labeled PMA or NMA. It represents the attitude we have for creating our lives also known as our minds. And usually that attitude can be flipped either way: positive mental attitude (PMA) or negative mental attitude (NMA). Today I'll talk about what negative mental attitude is.
NMA or negative mental attitude is going about everything in life expecting the worse to happen. It is easy to focus on the negative things in life rather than focusing on the positive things in life. Why? It is human nature for each and every one of us to want what we don't have such as:
- Wealth
- Happiness
- Relationship
- Friendship
- Dream House
- Dream Car
- Skinny
- Muscular
- Fame
- Confidence
These are just some of the things that people want but don't have. Having a negative mental attitude then brings it one step further. People who always dwell in the misery will have a hard time bringing themselves out of their hole. In addition they find reasons for why they can't achieve something that they can't have and feel justified by it.
People who have negative mental attitude make it a habit using phrases such as:
- I can't...
- It's hard to do...
- It's impossible...
- There's no way...
- It's his fault...
- It's her fault...
- They need to change...
- I can't change...
- Other people are gifted...
- I was born with this condition...
Now, these are people who have a negative mental attitude do not have the confidence in themselves to carry things out. Moreover, to survive in what they believe is a tough world; they usually put up defenses in order to get by other people.
- Sly
- Overaggressive
- Greed
- Selfishness
- Vain
- Immoral
- Stubborn
- Violent
- Hate
- Envious
Having a lack of confidence is one trait of having negative mental attitude. This is within oneself. And the things listed above bring the conditions to a whole other level, not only attracting negatively to oneself, but using it to give it to others, ultimately repelling success.
People who give off negative attitude to other people will sooner or later realize that it will come back to them in the future through one of the most powerful, negative emotions once can experience that eats you up from inside out - and that is guilt.
You can either bring success through a positive mental attitude, which comes from a more positive way of thinking and usually leads to happiness, or what might be considered a failure through a negative mental attitude, which develops from negative thinking and usually leads to destruction or disaster.
People with negative mental attitude will lose opportunities day in and day out because what is in front of them is what they see; they are blind to the fact that opportunities are not given to a person. Most of the times, opportunities are not "seen." One creates an opportunity in his mind and it becomes an opportunity in real life.
So, take some time to reevaluate yourself right now. Pretend that you do hold an "invisible talisman" everywhere you go. It's either on one side or the other side. Be conscious of yourself. Are you more optimistic or pessimistic? If you feel you are more pessimistic, it has to deal with your negative mental attitude and it's never too late to change that into PMA or positive mental attitude, which I'll talk more about tomorrow.
