"Attitudinal Isometrics (TM)...A Workout For Building Strength
of Character"
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Word Count: 912 Character Width: 60 Resource Box: Rev Dr john
Clements at www.BookShaker.com
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"Attitudinal Isometrics (TM)... A Workout For Building Strength
of Character"
- by Rev. Dr. John Lutwyche-Clements
(c) Rev Dr John Lutwyche-Clements. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.BookShaker.com
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>From the early nineteen thirties to the mid-sixties, a
significant fraction of magazines in the English-speaking world
ran a series of linked ads. They all showed the wasp-waisted,
wide-shouldered, bulging-biceped, swimtrunk- wearing Charles
Atlas standing in various poses and claiming: "I can make a new
man of you in 7 days!" Thousands of men responded to the ads.
Most ended up disappointed - not with the exercise system they
received, but with their own failure to persevere beyond the
initial seven-day period! Presumably, they had never read the
words of Dr Samuel Johnson: "Great works are performed, not by
strength, but perseverance".
Got a dream to fulfil? Got a problem to solve? Got a corporate
entity to build up? Then I've got an exercise system to help
you! I call it Attitudinal Isometrics. Schematically, it looks
like this:
CORRECT THINKING + CORRECT ATTITUDE + CORRECT ACTION = HERCULEAN
SUCCESS!
It is not, however, a magic formula. Some who try it will end up
disappointed - not because it doesn't work, but because they
won't work at it!
All exercise systems involve movement. Attitudinal Isometrics
involves mental movement, and can be analyzed into four basic
dynamics:
from --> negativity... to --> positivity from --> reactivity...
to --> proactivity from --> self-interest... to --> public
service from --> inconsistency... to --> constancy
Practised regularly, Attitudinal Isometrics promotes strength of
character. And without that, we can't really expect to succeed
at anything, can we?
1. WILDE WISDOM The first exercise in the Attitudinal Isometrics
gymnasium is the movement from negativity to positivity. Oscar
Wilde had a first-rate piece of advice for the negativist: "Get
up and out, young man - the day is bursting with moments!"
A moment is an infinitely short window of time - yet it's the
only window open to us! Positive action can occur only in the
present moment (rather than in the irredeemable past or
unknowable future). Therefore, the time for sowing the seeds of
achievement is now. A microsecond's delay equals a harvest of
opportunities lost!
Of course, a positive attitude doesn't guarantee success; but it
does keep our eyes, ears, mind and body focused on the goal.
Future outcomes won't just happen - we have to get up and out,
and intercept the fruitful moments that the day is bursting with!
2. PROACTIVITY VERSUS PROZAC The second Attitudinal Isometrics
exercise is the movement from reactivity to proactivity.
Supposing you have an unpleasant task to complete, and don't
quite know how to start. What's your usual procedure? Do you
picture the finished results and throw yourself into the task?
Or do you picture all the possible problems and throw yourself
into a depression? "Well, the truth is, Dr John," I hear you
say, "some tasks just seem futile - especially when I'm not sure
whether I'll succeed or not." - Oh, really? Let me ask you this,
then: Why should your level of proactivity be dependent on your
skill in predicting the future?
Let's be realistic: we can't predict anything much. Outcomes of
events are cloaked in a veil of complexity; we can't ever
foresee all the possible consequences - much less decide ahead
of time which one will occur. That being the case, the only
sensible option is to get started regardless! It's a well-known
self-motivation technique: acting "as if" the desired outcome is
a foregone conclusion makes you less likely to engage a
psychological reverse-gear halfway through the task.
3. OTHERS BEFORE SELF The third Attitudinal Isometrics exercise
(and it has to be a practical exercise rather than a theoretical
one) is the movement from self-interest to public service - that
is, from a mindset focused on the self to one focused on others.
Perhaps you've always imagined that, in some future world where
you've attained your personal goals, you'll then be in a
position to serve others, and thereby make the world a better
place...? Wrong! You'll only get what you want by giving others
what they want. It's an integral part of the course for success.
Nor do you need any special position to serve others. You do,
however, need a special mindset; and you have to develop it
first - before your personal goals can be attained.
The mental muscle that will empower you to serve others is
already part of your character. You simply need to exercise it
along the appropriate dynamic, using the appropriate mental
apparatus! Help out at a charity headquarters; take a senior
citizen to the shopping mall; work in a soup kitchen; set up a
church group in your community. Start with one hour a week, and
progress to ten. Consider it a form of existential tithing.
You'll be amazed how you can transform the lives of others - and
feel better about yourself in the process!
4. THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING CONSTANT The fourth and most
important dynamic in the Attitudinal Isometrics gym is the
movement from inconsistency to constancy. For most of human
history, people simply had to keep going, keep working, keep
adapting - just to survive. In the modern Western world,
however, things are somewhat easier. Result: a widespread
tendency to justify inaction today with the empty promise of
action tomorrow.
But tomorrow is the time to test your endurance. This evening is
the time to gather your energies. This hour is the time to
persevere. This minute is the time to galvanise your resolve.
This second is the time to practise your Attitudinal
Isometrics... And this moment... is the moment to start!
======================================= Rev Dr John L. Clements
is an international writer, speaker, life coach and author of
"Excellence Becomes You: proven principles to raise your life
from mediocrity to excellence"
http://www.bookshaker.com/product_info.php?products_id=54
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