Condition Yourself to be Solution Oriented and Not just a Victim:
I want to talk to you about attitude and being a solution-oriented person rather than just a victim or someone who tends to be a complainer. Picture a man walking down a country road. A quaint little dirt road in a rural area. There are nice little farm houses off to the sides of the road and many of them have big porches with porch swings. The man is walking along and he sees an old man sitting on a porch of one of the farm houses and there's a dog laying on the porch. The man notices as he walks by that the dog is moaning and groaning loudly.
He thinks it's kind of unusual so the man wonders what's wrong with this dog. He walks up to the owner who's sitting on the porch swing and asks “excuse me sir but I couldn’t help but notice as I'm walking by your house that your dog is just moaning and groaning.” The old man says “yeah, well he's laying on a nail.” The man walking by then asks “why doesn’t he get up?” The old man replies “well, it's not hurting bad enough for him to get up.”
How many people do you know in life are like that dog on the porch? Just laying there, complaining but never DOING anything about it? A lot of people think that complaining IS actually doing something, but that's not going to get you where you want to go. You know people who complain a lot, do they have great lives? Are they really fulfilled and successful in what they're pursuing? Not usually.
Here is an example of thinking like a solution-oriented person instead of a victim. If you walk into a room, let's say there's a class going on or seminar of some sort. You walk into the room and it's freezing cold. Whoever's in charge of the thermostat and temperature is not doing a very good job. Imagine that you walk in this is freezing cold room, how many people do you know would say, “it’s freezing in here,” or “wow, it’s really cold in here” but then leave it at that and not DO anything. They wouldn’t take any action, other than complaining. That is not solution oriented, that's a victim and complaining mentality. If we are in victim and complaining mode we are only going to attract negative energy.
There is a much better, more constructive thought process which says, “how can we get the heat turned up in here?” or “I need to put my jacket on,” then look for a solution to solve the cold room situation. This sounds simple, but it requires conditioning to think about solutions not to just think about the problem and complain about it like the dog on the porch. One of my favorite quotes from Jim Rohn is that “life responds to DESERVE, not NEED.” In other words, figure out how to get what you want and take action. If the man says “I really need to harvest,” then life will say, “then you really need to plant.” Don’t just come to life with a need. Life doesn’t respond to needs. Take action and deserve what you are hoping to get and it will be yours. In your life, make sure you're thinking about solutions, not just complaining.