Motivation Today

How to Succeed in Attracting Success

Learn to overcome failure and live a triumphant life

Last week, I met a failure.

I never learned his name, so I’ll call him Bill.

He stopped me in a parking lot as I walked by his car.

Without asking me anything, he told me the pandemic had wrecked his life. At 44 years old, he’d lost his home and two businesses. His wife left him and took their children with her. A company hired him then fired him. With no money, he was living in his car that he illegally parked. And if he didn’t move his care, we would cite him. And he had nowhere to go.

I listened to him saying nothing until he wound down and walked away.

As he was walking back to his car, he stopped then turned around. I wondered what else was going to share.

What Bill said shocked me.

He said he hoped the government would collapse so everyone could experience his life.

I’ve thought about Bill all week. But what he said last affected me the most. It bothered me he could feel so depressed that he wanted other people who he didn’t know to suffer so he could feel better.

When a series of terrible events happen, it’s easy to feel hopeless. Maybe you know someone in that state. Maybe that’s you?

But when bad things happen in your life, you can turn things around.

It starts with the state of your mind and body.

Change Your State

Before you can take any other action, you must change your state.

But what does changing your state mean?

There are two states in our lives. There is the physical state and the mental state. To make the change that is transformative both have to align.

Even though Bill was a younger man, he put himself in a negative physical state. As soon as he came toward me, he slumped his shoulders, his head was down, and he walked slow.

And the other clue to his mental state was his speech. He mumbled and was hard to hear. And there was no confidence or emotion.

While he looked depressed, he didn’t have to be in a depressed state.

Here’s what to do when you feel depressed.

Change Your Physical State

To change your mental state, you must change your physical state.

When I was in the service, they drilled it into the troops that you stand tall, shoulders back, head up, and walk with confidence. No slouching and no shuffling your feet. You walk as if you have a place to go. Just assuming the military stance makes soldiers look ready and tough. And they look tough because they believe they’re capable.

An often overlooked part of changing your physical state is how you speak. In Matthew 12:34 the Bible says, “How can you speak good things when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

When depressed it will show in your speech because it’s coming from your heart. So part of getting yourself in a frame of mind to attract success, you must change your speech patterns.

Step one in attracting success. Make yourself look, act, and talk with confidence. Even if you don’t feel it, you must do it. The old saying is “fake it until you make it”. It works. When people see you are looking strong and confident, they will react in kind. It will attract them to you.

Change Your Emotional State

Once you are walking and talking with confidence, your mind will recognize there’s been a change. But it will resist getting into a successful emotional state. So you have to retrain it.

Have you heard some of these comments? Maybe you’ve said them yourself.

“You can’t do that.”

“You’re too old to start over.”

“You’re a loser.”

I started this story saying Bill was a “failure.” He isn’t a failure, but he’s adopted a failure mentality. And until he changes that mind, he will continue to fail.

None of these comments are true unless you accept them as true.

If you want to do something so much that it consumes you, the odds are in your favor that you can do it.

For example, as we age, people will say “You’re too old.” Since when did age make a difference? If you’re 80 years old, you won’t win the Boston Marathon. It isn’t possible for an elderly man to run faster than people a quarter his age. But that doesn’t mean you can run. And if you compete against your age group, you just might win.

What do you think? Do you believe comments like “You’re a loser, a failure, a disappointment” are true?

These describe states we adopt. I have started businesses that failed, but I am not a failure because that is not who I am. You want to guard your identity. So you want to say, “My business failed”. You don’t want to say, “My business failed so I’m a failure”.

You may attempt something beyond your ability. Or the economy may turn against you. You may have run a race and lost, but you are not a failure or a loser.

Step two is attracting success. Shock or distract your emotions so you can change them. Here’s a simple trick. When you’re working on retraining your thinking and a negative thought comes into your mind, snap your fingers, or pinch yourself. When you do it, tell yourself that you are attracting success. Smile so it shows on your face.

If someone sees you smiling just say “hi”. They’ll think you’re friendly and smile back. At that moment, you controlled your emotion, but you also changed their attitude.

Isn’t that awesome?

Another part of step two is reading books and articles that reinforce the change you want to make. I have read over 100 books that cover how to change emotions from negative to positive.

A quick side note about people who criticize positive thinking. Don’t listen to them. I would much rather be a positive person than a negative one. And positive people attract success far more than negative people. Who do you enjoy being around more, a person who is always critical or a person who is upbeat and confident?

Think about it.

Take Massive Action to Attract Success

Tony Robbins’ build his career around helping people transform their lives. And one key to his success is getting people to take massive action.

“The path to success is to take massive, determined action,” — Tony Robbins

But massive action alone isn’t enough. It needs focus and determination.

Do you want to be a writer? Then write a lot starting today. Write every day until it becomes part of you. Read a lot. Both reading and writing will hone your writing skills. But write!

Do you have a skill and want to own a business? Began by writing a business plan. Figure out what equipment you’ll need, how much money it will require, find out how much a building that you can rent will cost. A business plan will determine your action.

Whatever you want to be or do is possible. But you will have to apply a massive amount of consistent action to succeed.

I began this story by telling you about a man I met named Bill. A series of negative events in a short amount of time came into his life. He needed to talk.

From what he told me, he had many successes in his life. He owned a home, had a wife and children, and he owned two businesses. But as one mishap after another came into his life, he chose a negative reaction. And he felt the best solution to his problem was that everyone in America also lost everything.

Have you had a similar experience or felt the same way?

Maybe you didn’t lose physical possessions like a home or business. Maybe you had a spouse leave you. Or a close family member that you depended upon passed away. Maybe you had a stroke or a heart attack or cancer that changed your life.

Even though this story is about attracting success, it would be dishonest to say bad things won’t come into your life.

But you have a choice. You can let life run you over, or you can control your life. You can be triumphant and successful regardless of what comes.

Start today by getting yourself in a state of physical and mental strength. Then follow with taking massive action.

If you do those few things, you will attract success.