Often in life, we tend to concentrate on things, we cannot do rather than on things we can do. This invariably leaves us frustrated and brings negative results. It is true in personal situations as well as professional or business settings.
Whether you believe you can, or whether you believe you can’t, you are absolutely right. – Henry Ford
Time and again, history has shown us that we can turn failure into success by concentrating on the things we ‘can do’. Edison failed 1000 times before making the light bulb. Though, when asked about it, he said:
I have not failed. I have just found 1000 ways that do not work.
In this article, we shall focus on three steps that can help us create a “can do” positive attitude and bring more success in life, career or business.
Step 1: Setting The Goals
The secret of getting ahead is getting started – Mark Twain
The first step on the path of achieving success is setting the goals. Often people do not know what they want. Ask any friend, relative or colleague what it is that he or she really wants in life, and you are bound to get a long pause followed by an “I don’t know” or a weak response. However, if you ask someone what he or she does not want, the response will be stronger, clearer and quicker. That is because, all too often, we focus on things we do not desire in life. Just as in sports, where we concentrate on “not losing”, rather than on “how to win”, in real life, too, we focus on things we do not want rather than the ones we want.
So we need to get SMART and set S-M-A-R-T-E-R goals, which means goals that are “specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely, encouraging and rewarding”.
Step 2: Network with positive people
Surround yourself only with people who are going to lift you higher – Oprah Winfrey
Once you have set your “can do” goals you must network with people who are positive and will encourage you to pass roadblocks that may come in the way of achieving those goals. Take a closer look at people around you: are they supporting you and your ‘can do’ attitude? If not; it is best to remove them from your life and replace them with stronger, more positive people.
Step 3: Focus on Your Positives
Forget mistakes. Forget failure. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it – Will Durant
The third step in the journey to success is to start your mornings with meditation and concentrate on positive thoughts that have positive results. You need to constantly be aware of your negative thoughts and replace them with positives. It will take time; initially it will also seem difficult since we have gotten into this habit of negative thinking. However, we must control negative communication of every sort and turn it into a positive one. Tune out negative media and start acting as if you have already achieved your goals.
Below is our list of top quotes about success and we hope they will help in embracing the “can do” steps which are sure to bring you greater success in life.
Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go. William Feather
Health, happiness and success depend upon the fighting spirit of each person. The big thing is not what happens to us in life but what we do about what happens to us. George Allen
Most successful men have not achieved their distinction by having some new talent or opportunity presented to them. They have developed the opportunity that was at hand. Bruce Barton
Success is not permanent. The same is also true of failure. Dell Crossword
Interesting Quotes
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The difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing a thing exactly right. Edward Simmons
Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s the determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal a commitment to excellence, that will enable you to attain the success you seek. Mario Andretti
I believe the greater the handicap, the greater the triumph. John H. Johnson
It is easy to get to the top after you get through the crowd at the bottom. Zig Ziglar
Success does not come to those who wait… and it does not wait for anyone to come to it. Anonymous
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will. Vincent T. Lombardi
The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore. Dale Carnegie
The successful always has a number of projects planned, to which he looks forward. Anyone of them could change the course of his life overnight. Mark Caine
There are three ingredients in the good life: learning, earning and yearning. Christopher Morley
Unless you’re willing to have a go, fail miserably, and have another go, success won’t happen. Phillip Adams
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle
We can have more than we’ve got because we can become more than we are. Jim Rohn
The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year. John Foster Dulles
The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. Vidal Sassoon
The toughest thing about success is that you’ve got to keep on being a success. Irving Berlin
What is success? I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough, that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose. Margaret Thatcher
A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm. Charles Schwab
A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him. David Brinkley
Action is the foundational key to all success. Pablo Picasso
Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success. Henry Ford
Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally. David Frost
Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas. Henry Ford
Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success. Dale Carnegie
I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please everybody. Herbert Bayard Swope
I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature. John D. Rockfeller
I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. Bill Cosby
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no point in being a damn fool about it. W. C. Fields
If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself. Henry Ford
If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own. Henry Ford
If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work. Much of the best work of the world has been done against seeming impossibilities. The thing is to get the work done. Dale Carnegie
If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success. John D. Rockfeller
In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. Bill Cosby
Instead of worrying about what people say of you, why not spend time trying to accomplish something they will admire. Dale Carnegie
It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure. Bill Gates
Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown. Ross Perot
My list of ingredients for success is divided into four basic groups: Inward, Outward, Upward and Onward. David Thomas
One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self confidence is preparation. Arthur Ashe
One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes. Benjamin Disraeli
Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough. Sometimes you have to give up the fight and walk away, and move on to something that’s more productive. Donald Trump
People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing. Dale Carnegie
Pity the man who inherits a million and isn’t a millionaire. Here’s what would be pitiful, if your income grew and you didn’t. Jim Roh
Singleness of purpose is one of the chief essentials for success in life, no matter what may be one’s aim. John D. Rockfeller
Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose. Bill Gates
Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go. William Feather
The great successful men of the world have used their imagination, they think ahead and create their mental picture in all its details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this a bit and that a bit, but steadily building steadily building. Robert Collier
The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes. Benjamin Disraeli
There’s no limit to what a man can achieve, if he doesn’t care who gets the credit. Laing Burns, Jr.
To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart. Thomas J. Watson
When a man feels throbbing within him the power to do what he undertakes as well as it can possibly be done, this is happiness, this is success. Orison Swett Marden
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. Douglas Adams
I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others… I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent. Thomas Edison
To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all. Peter McWilliams
Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. Steve Jobs
I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying. Michael Jordan
I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failurewhich is: Try to please everybody. Herbert Bayard Swope
All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant’s revolving door. Albert Camus
The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed. Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That’s not the place to become discouraged. Thomas A. Edison
Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, “What’s in it for me?” Brian Tracy
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. Theodore Roosevelt
I say luck is when an opportunity comes along and you’re prepared for it. Denzel Washington
The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen. Frank Loyd Wright
A failure is a man who has blundered, but is not able to cash in on the experience. Elbert Hubbard
One of the marks of successful people is they are action oriented. One of the marks of average people is they are talk oriented. Brian Tracy
Success does not consist in never making blunders, but in never making the same one a second time. Josh Billings
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. Herman Cain
Success is the good fortune that comes from aspiration, desperation, perspiration and inspiration. Evan Esar
A year from now you may wish you started today. Karen Lamb
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. Booker T. Washington
Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger, but it won’t taste good. Joe Paterno
One man has enthusiasm for 30 minutes, another for 30 days, but it is the man who has it for 30 years who makes a success of his life. Edward B. Butler