"Attitudinal Isometrics (TM)...A Workout For Building Strength of Character"

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All Rights Reserved. http://www.BookShaker.com =========================================================== >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 =======================================