Cultivate Confidence in Others
January 7, 2021 –
“Once, at a tennis tournament, I was paired with a woman who had just learned how to play. Every time she missed a shot, she immediately turned to me, expecting that I would be disappointed or frustrated. Instead, I talked to her about our strategy for the next point. By doing so, I sent a very clear signal: the past doesn’t matter. I didn’t encourage her with empty praise—that approach rarely works. But I knew that if she dwelled on a mistake, she was more likely to repeat it and that if she focused on how we were going to win the next point, she was more likely to help us do just that. Over several days her abilities improved dramatically—and we ended up winning the tournament.” — Scott Adams, cartoonist, and creator of Dilbert
Be Aware of Your Fears
January 7, 2021 –
“Remind yourself that your fears are internal. You choose to let them affect you. Fears must be acknowledged before they can be overcome. Self-mastery is a lifelong process. Many find direction in spirituality. Mastery of self comes down to an individual’s capacity to discover what they genuinely want, what their path is, and then to eliminate the obstacles, which are always internal, that would keep them from being able to fulfill that path on an ongoing basis. There are natural obstacles that life offers us to grow and expand as individuals, discover who we are, and unfold more of our spiritual path. But I also think there are significant challenges that are self-induced. And we must develop the capacity to meet those, anticipate those as much as possible, and eliminate them by creating what I would consider being emotional or spiritual muscles.” —Tony Robbins, management consultant