Close Close
Popular Financial Topics Discover relevant content from across the suite of ALM legal publications From the Industry More content from ThinkAdvisor and select sponsors Investment Advisor Issue Gallery Read digital editions of Investment Advisor Magazine Tax Facts Get clear, current, and reliable answers to pressing tax questions
Luminaries Awards
ThinkAdvisor

Life Health > Running Your Business

Keeping it positive

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

I see a main part of my vocation as someone who “kicks at the darkness until it bleeds daylight” (to borrow a phrase from Bruce Cockburn’s song “Lovers in a Dangerous Time”). And there are times when I feel like the darkness kicks back.

Adversity is the state in which man most easily becomes acquainted with himself.

—John Wooden

There are days when I feel positive, days when I struggle to stay out of a negative mindset and days when I don’t know how I feel simply because I am overwhelmed by details.

All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me…You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.

—Walt Disney

Our Internet began to slow down to a crawl late one Friday afternoon, which was surprising given our Internet provider had performed an onsite service call just six weeks prior. The onsite service call came after repeated complaints about slow Internet connection going back a year.

When the service technician arrived, I asked, “Do we have the fastest Internet connection available?” I was assured that we did.

I wasn’t relishing the idea of going to work Monday without an Internet connection, so I stopped by our Internet provider’s office on Saturday. Again, I started my conversation with the technician by asking, “Do we have the fastest Internet connection available?”

This time the answer was no. It seems that we had an Internet connection with only 20 megabytes per second. I immediately requested the fastest Internet connection, which is 100 megabytes per second, and our problem was solved.

Instead of allowing myself to get disconnected from my values, positive beliefs and positive feelings by this little challenge, I did my best to stay connected by reciting the affirmation “love, happiness, peace and joy,” an affirmation I have been using first thing every morning for more than five years.

In the past, I would have been an angry, blaming victim and allowed my fear-based ego mind to feel disconnected from outside circumstances. But by staying positive, I was able to solve a long-standing problem to my satisfaction.

Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal or greater benefit.

—Napoleon Hill

Sign up for The Lead and get a new tip in your inbox every day! More tips:

Simon Reilly of Leading Advisor Inc. is a financial advisor coach, speaker and writer. Simon writes a daily blog and can be reached at www.leadingadvisor.com/blog.


NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.