If you read this career advice blog with any regularity you know that I am a sports fan.  While I was a rugby player for many years, I also spent a lot of time playing pickup basketball.  I really like watching the game too – both college and professional.

On Sunday I watched the New York Knicks beat the defending NBA champion Dallas mavericks.  I got caught up in Linsanity.  If you don’t know, Linsanity is all about a young player for the Knicks, Jeremy Lin.  He is the first Chinese (Taiwanese) American born player to play in the NBA.  He also has a degree in Economics from Harvard.  On Sunday, against Dallas scored 28 points, had 14 assists, and played over 45 minutes.

Since he’s joined the Knicks, they are 7 and 1.  He’s scored over 20 points in each game.  He’s also had a couple of game winning shots.  Jeremy Lin’s Linsanity is this NBA season’s  Tebowmania.  It’s a very cool story.  Here’s a guy who played college ball at Harvard, a school unlikely to get into the Final Four.  He graduated.  He didn’t get drafted by any NBA team.  He was cut by two NBA teams before he caught on with the Knicks.  On Sunday, Spike Lee showed up courtside at Madison Square Garden wearing a replica of Lin’s Harvard jersey.

Through all the ups and down, Jeremy Lin stayed optimistic.  He is the personification of the career success advice in the Optimist Creed.   I have The Optimist Creed hanging in my office. I like it so much that I have created a .pdf of it and give it away to my career success coach clients. You can get a free copy to hang in your office at http://budbilanich.com/optimist. Check it out…

The Optimist Creed

Promise Yourself:

• To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
• To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
• To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
• To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
• To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
• To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
• To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
• To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
• To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
• To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Jeremy Lin is the Optimist Creed in action.  I think that the fourth point, “Promise yourself to look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true,” is especially true in his case.  Granted it’s a little easier to look at the sunny side of things when you have a degree from Harvard.  But if you really want to play in the NBA, that Harvard degree can be small consolation.

Optimists think of the glass as half full. A couple of years ago, Cathy and I saw a stage production of the Irving Berlin classic film musical, White Christmas, at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. There is a number in the show where one of the leading men is comforting a small girl who is having trouble sleeping. In a song, he tells her, “When you can’t sleep, count your blessings, not sheep.” On the way home, we were talking about that song. We know that we are blessed. However, sometimes we forget how much we are blessed. We both decided that we would begin counting our blessings when we felt a little down and depressed.

Counting your blessings and not sheep is a great first step to “look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.” Realizing that you are blessed and that there is a sunny side is a good first step. However, don’t forget the second part of the quote – “make your optimism come true.”

These last five words are what’s key here. If you want to become the career success you deserve to be, you not only need to be optimistic. You need to do the work necessary to make your optimism come true. That’s practical optimism.  And that’s Jeremy Lin.  He wasn’t drafted by an NBA team.  He was cut to by two of them.  But he kept working and improving his game.  Now he is the toast of New York.

Optimism can put you on the path to success, but hard work is will keep you moving forward. In my book, Straight Talk for Success: Common Sense Ideas That Won’t Let You Down, I talk about the importance of taking personal responsibility for your life and career success.

“It’s simple, really. Career success is all up to you, and me, and anyone else who wants it. We all have to take personal responsibility for our own career success. I am the only one who can make me a career success. You are the only one who can make you a career success.

“Personal responsibility means recognizing that you are responsible for your life and the choices you make. It means that you realize that while other people and events have an impact on your life, these people and events don’t shape your life. When you accept personal responsibility for your life and career success, you own up to the fact that how you react to people and events is what’s important. And you can choose how you react to every person you meet and everything that happens to you.”

The career success coach point here is simple common sense. Optimism coupled with hard work can help you make your life and career success dreams come true. Just ask Jeremy Lin, the newest NBA superstar.  If you want to create the life and career success you deserve, you need to be like Jeremy Lin.  Become a practical optimist. Pay attention to point four in The Optimist Creed. Look at the sunny side of things. Count your blessings. See the glass as half full. Then, take personal responsibility for doing the work necessary to make your optimism and career success dreams come true. Optimism is a great career success catalyst, but it alone will not guarantee your life and career success. You have to do the work – no two ways about it.

That’s my career advice on being a practical optimist. What do you think? Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment. As always thanks for reading my musings on life and career success. I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, please download a free copy of my popular career advice book Success Tweets and its companion piece Success Tweets Explained. One is 140 bits of career advice, all in 140 characters or less. The other is a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail. Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy. You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

PPS: I opened a membership site on last September. It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations. You can find out about the membership site by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.

The college football season finally came to an end on Monday.  Alabama beat LSU for the national championship 21 – 0.  In the run up to the game, Sunday’s New York Times sports section had an interesting article by Pete Hamel, one of my favorite writers, on missed field goals in college football this season.

Pete noted that the first time Alabama and LSU met, there were no touchdowns in the game – only five field goals.  He pointed out that the Alabama kicker made only two of six kicks.   Alabama made five field goals on Monday night – and missed an extra point after a touchdown.

Pete also pointed out that Oklahoma State, Oregon and Boise State probably missed a chance to play in the national championship game because of missed field goals and that Stanford, Georgia and Virginia Tech lost their bowl games because of missed field goals.

These misses were not without consequences off the field.  Boise State kicker, Kyle Brotzman and Alabama kicker Cade Foster had to shut down their Facebook pages after receiving hate mail and death threats.  That’s way out there.  No football game is that important.  Interestingly, Cade Foster didn’t kick for Alabama on Monday.

There is some career success advice that comes from these missed field goals.  Jay Feely kicks in the NFL.  He once was the subject of a satirical skit on Saturday Night Live after he missed three kicks in one game when he was playing for the New York Giants.  He says, “I give myself until Monday afternoon to think about the previous day’s game, and then I move forward.”

Jordan Williamson of Stanford missed two field goals in their bowl game versus the Oklahoma State.  One would have won the game, the other would have sent it into another overtime period.  Jordan seems to be made of some pretty tough stuff.  Stanford Coach David Shaw said, “I’m not worried about this lingering for Jordan.  It’s going to make him tougher and stronger.”

And that’s the career advice to be found in this post about field goals.  Point 7 of The Optimist Creed says, “Promise yourself to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.”

Ann Landers has a great quote on the idea behind point seven in the Optimist Creed…

“If I were asked to give what I consider to be the single-most useful bit of advice for all humanity, it would be this: expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye, and say ‘I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me’.”

I like what Ann Landers has to say here because it is a bit of reality check. She’s right, trouble,  setbacks, failure – and missed field goals — are an inevitable part of life. Self confident people look trouble squarely in the eye and move forward. They are not cowed by their failures, rather they embrace them and use them to move towards their goals.

If you read this blog somewhat regularly, you probably know that I am a big tennis fan. The Australian Open, the first major tennis tournament of the year will start next week.  I’m looking forward to it.  In 2008, I watched two great matches at the Australian Open.

First, James Blake won a great five set match. He lost the first two sets to Sebastien Grosjean. Then he won the next three to win the best of five set match. He was down four games to one in the fourth set, but won in a tie break. He was gritty and refused to quit.

To put it in terms of The Optimist Creed, James Blake was able to “forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.” In this case, it was a very recent past — the first two sets of the match.

At that time, Roger Federer was one of the best players in the world. He still is.  He had a terrible match against Janko Tipsarevic in that tournament. He made 64 unforced errors and lost 16 of 21 break points. If you follow tennis, you know that this is a recipe for losing – just like missed field goals are a recipe for losing in football.

However, Federer won the match in five sets. Afterwards he said, “He (Tipsarevic) was just going for his shots and kept making them. In the end, I just tried to block out all the chances I missed.”

The Optimist Creed shows up again. By blocking out “all the chances I missed” –forgetting about the mistakes he made in the match, Mr. Federer was able to win.

I believe that James Blake and Roger Federer won those matches because of their self confidence, their optimism, and as Ann Landers says, their ability to “look it (trouble) squarely in the eye, and say ‘I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me’.”

The career success coach point here is simple common sense. Successful, self confident people – whether field goal kickers, professional tennis players or you and me — realize that mistakes are part of life. Learn from your mistakes.  Build on this knowledge.  Commit to Point 7 of The Optimist Creed, “Promise yourself to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievement of the future.” If you do this, you’ll be on your way to creating the life and career success you want and deserve.  I have created a .pdf of The Optimist Creed that you can frame and hang in your workspace.  If you want a copy, send me an email with the words “Optimist Creed” in the subject line.

That’s my career advice on lessons learned the hard way and The Optimist Creed.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always thanks for reading my daily thoughts on life and career success. I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, please download a free copy of my popular career advice book Success Tweets and its companion piece Success Tweets Explained.  The first gives you 140 bits of career success advice tweet style — in 140 characters or less.  The second is a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

PPS: I opened a membership site last September.  It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations.  You can find out about the membership site by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.

The college football season finally came to an end on Monday.  Alabama beat LSU for the national championship 21 – 0.  In the run up to the game, Sunday’s New York Times sports section had an interesting article by Pete Hamel, one of my favorite writers, on missed field goals in college football this season.

Pete noted that the first time Alabama and LSU met, there were no touchdowns in the game – only five field goals.  He pointed out that the Alabama kicker made only two of six kicks.   Alabama made five field goals on Monday night – and missed an extra point after a touchdown.

Pete also pointed out that Oklahoma State, Oregon and Boise State probably missed a chance to play in the national championship game because of missed field goals and that Stanford, Georgia and Virginia Tech lost their bowl games because of missed field goals.

These misses were not without consequences off the field.  Boise State kicker, Kyle Brotzman and Alabama kicker Cade Foster had to shut down their Facebook pages after receiving hate mail and death threats.  That’s way out there.  No football game is that important.  Interestingly, Cade Foster didn’t kick for Alabama on Monday.

There is some career success advice that comes from these missed field goals.  Jay Feely kicks in the NFL.  He once was the subject of a satirical skit on Saturday Night Live after he missed three kicks in one game when he was playing for the New York Giants.  He says, “I give myself until Monday afternoon to think about the previous day’s game, and then I move forward.”

Jordan Williamson of Stanford missed two field goals in their bowl game versus the Oklahoma State.  One would have won the game, the other would have sent it into another overtime period.  Jordan seems to be made of some pretty tough stuff.  Stanford Coach David Shaw said, “I’m not worried about this lingering for Jordan.  It’s going to make him tougher and stronger.”

And that’s the career advice to be found in this post about field goals.  Point 7 of The Optimist Creed says, “Promise yourself to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.”

Ann Landers has a great quote on the idea behind point seven in the Optimist Creed…

“If I were asked to give what I consider to be the single-most useful bit of advice for all humanity, it would be this: expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye, and say ‘I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me’.”

I like what Ann Landers has to say here because it is a bit of reality check. She’s right, trouble,  setbacks, failure – and missed field goals — are an inevitable part of life. Self confident people look trouble squarely in the eye and move forward. They are not cowed by their failures, rather they embrace them and use them to move towards their goals.

If you read this blog somewhat regularly, you probably know that I am a big tennis fan. The Australian Open, the first major tennis tournament of the year will start next week.  I’m looking forward to it.  In 2008, I watched two great matches at the Australian Open.

First, James Blake won a great five set match. He lost the first two sets to Sebastien Grosjean. Then he won the next three to win the best of five set match. He was down four games to one in the fourth set, but won in a tie break. He was gritty and refused to quit.

To put it in terms of The Optimist Creed, James Blake was able to “forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.” In this case, it was a very recent past — the first two sets of the match.

At that time, Roger Federer was one of the best players in the world. He still is.  He had a terrible match against Janko Tipsarevic in that tournament. He made 64 unforced errors and lost 16 of 21 break points. If you follow tennis, you know that this is a recipe for losing – just like missed field goals are a recipe for losing in football.

However, Federer won the match in five sets. Afterwards he said, “He (Tipsarevic) was just going for his shots and kept making them. In the end, I just tried to block out all the chances I missed.”

The Optimist Creed shows up again. By blocking out “all the chances I missed” –forgetting about the mistakes he made in the match, Mr. Federer was able to win.

I believe that James Blake and Roger Federer won those matches because of their self confidence, their optimism, and as Ann Landers says, their ability to “look it (trouble) squarely in the eye, and say ‘I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me’.”

The career success coach point here is simple common sense. Successful, self confident people – whether field goal kickers, professional tennis players or you and me — realize that mistakes are part of life. Learn from your mistakes.  Build on this knowledge.  Commit to Point 7 of The Optimist Creed, “Promise yourself to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievement of the future.” If you do this, you’ll be on your way to creating the life and career success you want and deserve.  I have created a .pdf of The Optimist Creed that you can frame and hang in your workspace.  If you want a copy, send me an email with the words “Optimist Creed” in the subject line.

That’s my career advice on lessons learned the hard way and The Optimist Creed.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always thanks for reading my daily thoughts on life and career success. I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, please download a free copy of my popular career advice book Success Tweets and its companion piece Success Tweets Explained.  The first gives you 140 bits of career success advice tweet style — in 140 characters or less.  The second is a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

PPS: I opened a membership site last September.  It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations.  You can find out about the membership site by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.

The legend of Tim Tebow grows. If you’re not an NFL fan, Tim Tebow is the quarterback for the Denver Broncos.  He has won six straight games.  On Sunday, the Broncos were losing 10 – 0 with about two and a half minutes in the game.  Tim led them to 10 points in the final two minutes, and then to a game winning field goal in sudden death overtime.

Like a lot of people, I wasn’t a Tim Tebow fan at first.  While I’ve always known that he is an incredible athlete, I didn’t think he had the right skills to become an NFL quarterback.  It’s early days yet, but he seems to be proving me wrong.  One thing for sure, he’s an incredible leader.

Tim Tebow also is an eternal optimist.  He never gives up.  Think about this.  On Sunday, he completed three of 16 passes in the first 45 minutes of the game – and 18 or 24 in the last 15 minutes.  That’s a remarkable turnaround in my book.  It reminds me of point 7 in the Optimist Creed.

“Promise yourself to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.”

In Sunday’s game, he forgot about all the mistakes he and his teammates made in the first three quarters – they dropped a lot of his passes, and pressed on to win a game the Broncos had no reason to win.

When I think about it, Tim Tebow personifies all 10 points of the Optimist Creed…

The Optimist Creed

Promise Yourself:

• To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
• To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
• To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
• To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
• To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
• To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
• To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
• To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
• To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
• To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Tweet 42 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “Choose optimism.  It builds your confidence.  Believe that today will be better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better yet.”

Like Tim Tebow, I’m a big believer in the power of optimism.  I think it is the foundation of all self-confidence.  You can’t be self-confident if you’re not optimistic.  And, optimism is a choice.  I get up every day believing that good things will happen – and then I go about making them happen.

When I was a kid, I participated in the local Optimist International chapter’s oratory contest.  I won my section, and finished third in the state.  The topic that year was “Optimism, Youth’s Greatest Asset.”  That’s hard enough for a ninth grader to say (think Joe Pesci in “My Cousin Vinnie”), let alone write and deliver a ten-minute talk.

Optimist International is a great service organization.  They help kids build self-confidence and become more optimistic.  The Optimist Creed defines them.  It is powerful stuff.

I love The Optimist Creed.  I have it framed and hanging in my office, just above my desk.  I have made a .pdf of The Optimist Creed that is suitable for framing.  If you want a copy, just go to http://budbilanich.com/optimist.

One thing that you’ll notice about The Optimist Creed is that it is proactive.  It asks you to promise yourself to do ten things that will help you create the life and career success that you want and deserve.  It suggests that optimism is related to action – action you can take to become more optimistic and to build your career success.  I think it is some of the best career advice I’ve come across.  I do my best to live the 10 points in The Optimist Creed every day.  You should too.

I especially like the fourth point – promise yourself to look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.  This point goes directly to the idea of committing to taking personal responsibility for your life and career success.  I know it’s difficult to look at the sunny side of things when you’re mired in a problem or are dealing with a failure.  However, if you look for what you can learn from problems and failures, you’ll be looking at the sunny side.  More important, you’ll be on your way to making your optimism come true.

Tim Tebow started the year as the Broncos third string quarterback.  After they won just one game in their first five, the Broncos’ coach John Fox gave him the opportunity to become the starter.  He has won six of the seven games he’s started.  Tebow looked at the sunny side of things.  When he wasn’t playing, he worked hard in practice and paid close attention to the games.  When he got his chance, he made his optimism come true – six out of seven times.

Optimism works – and not just for athletes.  Christopher Reeve is no longer with us, but he exemplified the idea of looking at the sunny side of things.  Even though he was paralyzed from the neck down after a riding accident, he devoted himself to finding a cure for spinal cord injuries.  I love the way his optimism comes across in this quote…

“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”

Christopher Reeve looked at the sunny side of his injury and did what he could to make his optimism come true.  His foundation carries on the work he started.

The common sense career success coach point here is simple.  Successful people are self-confident.  Self-confident people are optimists.  They follow the career advice in Tweet 42 in Success Tweets.  “Choose optimism.  It builds your confidence.  Believe that today will be better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better yet.”  The Optimist Creed is a great guide to becoming more optimistic and self-confident.  Its proactive approach to life is a great guide to creating the life and career success you want and deserve.  Remember the old saying, “Whether you’re an optimist, or a pessimist you’ll be proven right.”  I choose optimism, and suggest you do too.

That’s my career advice based on watching Tim Tebow’s remarkable run over the past seven weeks.  What do you think?  Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success. I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, please download a free copy of my popular career advice book Success Tweets and its companion piece Success Tweets Explained.  The first gives you 140 bits of career success advice tweet style — in 140 characters or less.  The second is a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

PPS: I opened a membership site last September.  It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations.  You can find out about the membership site by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.

The legend of Tim Tebow grows. If you’re not an NFL fan, Tim Tebow is the quarterback for the Denver Broncos.  He has won six straight games.  On Sunday, the Broncos were losing 10 – 0 with about two and a half minutes in the game.  Tim led them to 10 points in the final two minutes, and then to a game winning field goal in sudden death overtime.

Like a lot of people, I wasn’t a Tim Tebow fan at first.  While I’ve always known that he is an incredible athlete, I didn’t think he had the right skills to become an NFL quarterback.  It’s early days yet, but he seems to be proving me wrong.  One thing for sure, he’s an incredible leader.

Tim Tebow also is an eternal optimist.  He never gives up.  Think about this.  On Sunday, he completed three of 16 passes in the first 45 minutes of the game – and 18 or 24 in the last 15 minutes.  That’s a remarkable turnaround in my book.  It reminds me of point 7 in the Optimist Creed.

“Promise yourself to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.”

In Sunday’s game, he forgot about all the mistakes he and his teammates made in the first three quarters – they dropped a lot of his passes, and pressed on to win a game the Broncos had no reason to win.

When I think about it, Tim Tebow personifies all 10 points of the Optimist Creed…

The Optimist Creed

Promise Yourself:

• To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
• To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
• To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
• To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
• To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
• To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
• To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
• To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
• To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
• To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Tweet 42 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “Choose optimism.  It builds your confidence.  Believe that today will be better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better yet.”

Like Tim Tebow, I’m a big believer in the power of optimism.  I think it is the foundation of all self-confidence.  You can’t be self-confident if you’re not optimistic.  And, optimism is a choice.  I get up every day believing that good things will happen – and then I go about making them happen.

When I was a kid, I participated in the local Optimist International chapter’s oratory contest.  I won my section, and finished third in the state.  The topic that year was “Optimism, Youth’s Greatest Asset.”  That’s hard enough for a ninth grader to say (think Joe Pesci in “My Cousin Vinnie”), let alone write and deliver a ten-minute talk.

Optimist International is a great service organization.  They help kids build self-confidence and become more optimistic.  The Optimist Creed defines them.  It is powerful stuff.

I love The Optimist Creed.  I have it framed and hanging in my office, just above my desk.  I have made a .pdf of The Optimist Creed that is suitable for framing.  If you want a copy, just go to http://budbilanich.com/optimist.

One thing that you’ll notice about The Optimist Creed is that it is proactive.  It asks you to promise yourself to do ten things that will help you create the life and career success that you want and deserve.  It suggests that optimism is related to action – action you can take to become more optimistic and to build your career success.  I think it is some of the best career advice I’ve come across.  I do my best to live the 10 points in The Optimist Creed every day.  You should too.

I especially like the fourth point – promise yourself to look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.  This point goes directly to the idea of committing to taking personal responsibility for your life and career success.  I know it’s difficult to look at the sunny side of things when you’re mired in a problem or are dealing with a failure.  However, if you look for what you can learn from problems and failures, you’ll be looking at the sunny side.  More important, you’ll be on your way to making your optimism come true.

Tim Tebow started the year as the Broncos third string quarterback.  After they won just one game in their first five, the Broncos’ coach John Fox gave him the opportunity to become the starter.  He has won six of the seven games he’s started.  Tebow looked at the sunny side of things.  When he wasn’t playing, he worked hard in practice and paid close attention to the games.  When he got his chance, he made his optimism come true – six out of seven times.

Optimism works – and not just for athletes.  Christopher Reeve is no longer with us, but he exemplified the idea of looking at the sunny side of things.  Even though he was paralyzed from the neck down after a riding accident, he devoted himself to finding a cure for spinal cord injuries.  I love the way his optimism comes across in this quote…

“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”

Christopher Reeve looked at the sunny side of his injury and did what he could to make his optimism come true.  His foundation carries on the work he started.

The common sense career success coach point here is simple.  Successful people are self-confident.  Self-confident people are optimists.  They follow the career advice in Tweet 42 in Success Tweets.  “Choose optimism.  It builds your confidence.  Believe that today will be better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better yet.”  The Optimist Creed is a great guide to becoming more optimistic and self-confident.  Its proactive approach to life is a great guide to creating the life and career success you want and deserve.  Remember the old saying, “Whether you’re an optimist, or a pessimist you’ll be proven right.”  I choose optimism, and suggest you do too.

That’s my career advice based on watching Tim Tebow’s remarkable run over the past seven weeks.  What do you think?  Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success. I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, please download a free copy of my popular career advice book Success Tweets and its companion piece Success Tweets Explained.  The first gives you 140 bits of career success advice tweet style — in 140 characters or less.  The second is a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

PPS: I opened a membership site last September.  It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations.  You can find out about the membership site by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.

Tweet 59 in my career success book Success Tweets says, “Give so much time to building your self-confidence and improving yourself that you have not time to criticize others.”

This tweet has its roots in Point 9 of The Optimist Creed.  “Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.”

Like everything else in The Optimist Creed, this is great common sense.  I know that I have a lot to learn.  There are many things about me on which I can improve.  I’m just guessing here, but I bet that’s true for you too.  That’s why I choose to focus on improving me rather than criticizing others.

I’m not a real religious guy, but I do remember a few Bible stories.  I remember the one where people are gathered to stone a woman who is accused of adultery and Jesus disperses the angry crowd by telling them, “Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone.”

I know I am in no position to be casting stones.  I doubt if you are either.  None of us is perfect.  If we both choose to put our energy into building our self-confidence and improving ourselves – not criticizing others for their failings – we will be happier, more confident and successful, and the world will be a less contentious place.

I first learned about Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs when I was in college at Penn State.  The model was structured as a pyramid with “self actualization” at the top.  Dr. Maslow defined self actualization as “being all that you can be” – something the US Army borrowed for its TV recruiting commercials several years ago.

According to Dr. Maslow, self actualization is an unattainable state, because no matter what you achieve, you soon realize that you can achieve even more.  You can take this one of two ways.  You can see it as negative and frustrating because you’ll never reach the goal of being self actualized.  Or you can see it as positive and inspiring because you’ll always have another dream to chase, another goal to reach.

I choose the latter.  I was telling someone the other day that the whole social media phenomenon has been great for me, because I have begun really learning lately.  I’ve always kept up in my field, but I’ve felt for the past few years that most of my learning was incremental.  I wasn’t making any quantum leaps forward.

However, since I’ve begun blogging and tweeting, I’ve learned a lot – really a lot.  And, as the ninth point of the Optimist Creed points out, I haven’t had the time, or the inclination, to think about what others are doing, much less criticize them.  I’m busy learning and growing – and that’s cool and fun and exciting.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  If you want to build your self-confidence and create the career success you deserve, work on improving yourself and achieving your goals.  Don’t worry about what others are doing, or comparing yourself to them.  Be too busy with your own growth to worry about anyone else.  Follow the advice in Tweet 59 in Success Tweets.  “Give so much time building our self-confidence and improving yourself that you have not time to criticize others.”  This is great career advice.  Criticizing others is a waste of your precious time.  It robs you of the ability to set and achieve your goals and create the life and career success you want and deserve.  Besides that, you’re probably not in the position to be casting stones anyway – I know I’m not.

That’s my take on the career advice in Tweet 59 in Success Tweets.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, please download a free copy of my popular career advice book Success Tweets and its companion piece Success Tweets Explained.  The first gives you 140 bits of career success advice tweet style — in 140 characters or less.  The second is a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

PPS: I opened a membership site on September 1.  It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations.  To celebrate the grand opening, I’m giving away a new career advice book I’ve written called I Want YOU…To Succeed in Your Corporate Climb.  You can find out about the membership site and get the career advice in I Want YOU… for free by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.

Tweet 59 in my career success book Success Tweets says, “Give so much time to building your self-confidence and improving yourself that you have not time to criticize others.”

This tweet has its roots in Point 9 of The Optimist Creed.  “Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.”

Like everything else in The Optimist Creed, this is great common sense.  I know that I have a lot to learn.  There are many things about me on which I can improve.  I’m just guessing here, but I bet that’s true for you too.  That’s why I choose to focus on improving me rather than criticizing others.

I’m not a real religious guy, but I do remember a few Bible stories.  I remember the one where people are gathered to stone a woman who is accused of adultery and Jesus disperses the angry crowd by telling them, “Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone.”

I know I am in no position to be casting stones.  I doubt if you are either.  None of us is perfect.  If we both choose to put our energy into building our self-confidence and improving ourselves – not criticizing others for their failings – we will be happier, more confident and successful, and the world will be a less contentious place.

I first learned about Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs when I was in college at Penn State.  The model was structured as a pyramid with “self actualization” at the top.  Dr. Maslow defined self actualization as “being all that you can be” – something the US Army borrowed for its TV recruiting commercials several years ago.

According to Dr. Maslow, self actualization is an unattainable state, because no matter what you achieve, you soon realize that you can achieve even more.  You can take this one of two ways.  You can see it as negative and frustrating because you’ll never reach the goal of being self actualized.  Or you can see it as positive and inspiring because you’ll always have another dream to chase, another goal to reach.

I choose the latter.  I was telling someone the other day that the whole social media phenomenon has been great for me, because I have begun really learning lately.  I’ve always kept up in my field, but I’ve felt for the past few years that most of my learning was incremental.  I wasn’t making any quantum leaps forward.

However, since I’ve begun blogging and tweeting, I’ve learned a lot – really a lot.  And, as the ninth point of the Optimist Creed points out, I haven’t had the time, or the inclination, to think about what others are doing, much less criticize them.  I’m busy learning and growing – and that’s cool and fun and exciting.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  If you want to build your self-confidence and create the career success you deserve, work on improving yourself and achieving your goals.  Don’t worry about what others are doing, or comparing yourself to them.  Be too busy with your own growth to worry about anyone else.  Follow the advice in Tweet 59 in Success Tweets.  “Give so much time building our self-confidence and improving yourself that you have not time to criticize others.”  This is great career advice.  Criticizing others is a waste of your precious time.  It robs you of the ability to set and achieve your goals and create the life and career success you want and deserve.  Besides that, you’re probably not in the position to be casting stones anyway – I know I’m not.

That’s my take on the career advice in Tweet 59 in Success Tweets.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, please download a free copy of my popular career advice book Success Tweets and its companion piece Success Tweets Explained.  The first gives you 140 bits of career success advice tweet style — in 140 characters or less.  The second is a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

PPS: I opened a membership site on September 1.  It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations.  To celebrate the grand opening, I’m giving away a new career advice book I’ve written called I Want YOU…To Succeed in Your Corporate Climb.  You can find out about the membership site and get the career advice in I Want YOU… for free by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.

I saw a quote from Bill Clinton the other day that I really like. “Pessimism is an excuse for not trying and a guarantee to a personal failure.”  This is some great career success advice.  As I point out in my career advice book Success Tweets, you have to be an optimist to create the life and career success you deserve.

Tweet 44 in Success Tweets says, “Be an optimist.  Believe that things will turn out well.  Don’t sulk when they don’t.  Learn what you can and use it next time.”  In other words, don’t let yourself off the hook by becoming a pessimist.  As President Clinton points out pessimism can be a great excuse for not trying, or for giving up when things get tough.

Did you see the movie, Remember the Titans?  It’s a sports movie about an improbable situation based on a true story.  Denzel Washington starred as the coach of the T. C. Williams High School Titans.  Williams was a newly integrated high school in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1971.  Denzel’s character, Coach Herman Boone, was a black man chosen to be the head coach over a very popular coach who had been the head coach at the high school prior to it being integrated.

The team had a lot of good athletes.  They were undefeated as they entered the State Championship game.  Things didn’t go well in the first half.  In the locker room at half time, Denzel makes a speech in which he congratulates the team on coming so far in such a short period of time.  He tells them that win or lose he is proud of them.  It seems as if he has given up.  It sounds like a speech losing coaches give to teams after a game – not at half time.  After all he and the team have accomplished, he’s become a pessimist.

One of the players speaks up.  He challenges the coach.  He says something like, “We were perfect when this game started.  We’re still perfect until it’s over.  I, for one, want to finish this game like we started it – perfect.”  This impassioned speech rallies the team, and they win the game.  It’s a feel-good movie about a group of young men who learned how to pull together regardless of their differences.

And it makes the first point about optimism and pessimism.  Even when the coach turned pessimistic and seemed ready to give up, one player wouldn’t.  He was an optimist.  He believed they would win.  His optimism was contagious.  The team rallied and won.  I don’t know if things went down exactly that way in the real locker room, but that scene reinforces the power of believing things will turn out well – not in letting yourself off the hook with excuses.

If you don’t believe you can win, if you don’t believe you can create the life and career success you deserve, you won’t.  If you do believe, if you’re an optimist, you’re on the right path to winning and life and career success.

But believing is not enough.  It will set you up for your career success, but you will still find times when you fail along the way.  That’s where the second piece of career advice in Tweet 44 comes in.  Don’t sulk when you fail or lose.  Don’t become a pessimist.  Treat every failure and loss as a learning experience.  Use failures and losses as stepping stones to creating the life and career success you want and deserve.

I was frustrated early in my career.  I saw other people getting promotions for which I thought I was better qualified.  My first job in business was in the training department of a large oil company.  I worked hard, did a good job – and kept getting passed over for promotion.  The reasons were vague – “you’ve only been here a little while,” “the hiring manager thought the other person was a better fit,”  “you need to polish up some of those rough edges.”

So I found another job; this time with a chemical company.  I worked hard, did a good job, got good performance reviews – and no promotions.  I was frustrated.  In my heart of hearts, I knew I was as good as or better than people who were moving ahead while I was standing still.

I decided that maybe more school would be the answer.  I quit my job, and enrolled in a PhD program in Adult Education and Organizational Behavior at Harvard.  Once I got there, I realized that the same thing happens in academia as happens in business.  The hardest workers and best performers don’t always get rewarded and promoted.

I found myself getting pessimistic about my life and career success at this point.  Then I decided that I had an opportunity to use my situation – and my frustration – as a lab.  I chose optimism.  I didn’t sulk.  I chose to learn from my frustrations and failures.  After all, I was at Harvard.  I was surrounded by high performers – people who had achieved a lot at an early age, and seemed destined to achieve even more.  I decided that maybe I should pay some attention to these folks.

I got one of those marble-covered notebooks and made a list of all the people I admired at Harvard.  Then I made a list of all the people in the companies where I had worked who got the promotions I didn’t.  I made another list of the people I knew whom I considered to be positive role models.  I didn’t stop there.  I started reading biographies of successful people.  I created a page for each person.  I wrote down the characteristics that I observed in these people.  When I was finished, I had a notebook full of the characteristics I observed in successful people.

It was a long list.  So I started looking for patterns and groups of behaviors.  When it was all said and done, I found seven distinct characteristics that the successful people I had studied had in common.

They all:

• Had a clearly defined purpose and direction for their lives.
• Were committed to succeeding.  They faced obstacles and overcame them.
• Were self-confident.  They knew they were going to succeed and continue to succeed as they went through life.
• Were outstanding performers.
• Knew how to present themselves in a favorable light.  Other people were attracted to them and wanted to be around them.
• Were dynamic communicators.
• Were good at building relationships.

These are the ideas on which I built Success Tweets, my career success blog posts and my career advice coaching and talks.

Once I finished my degree, I took a job with a very large pharmaceutical company in New York.  I started applying the lessons I’d learned from observing successful people – and I began getting promotions and good assignments.  I became the confidant of several senior executives and I began coaching up-and-comers in the company – teaching them the basic principles I had discovered by writing my observations in that marble covered notebook.

I also kept refining my ideas – making them easier for others to understand and apply.  You never learn something as well as when you teach it.  I became the most sought-after internal career success coach in that company.

In 1988, I was faced with a decision: accept a big promotion, or strike out on my own.  I decided that I have an entrepreneurial bent and chose the latter.  I opened up a small consulting, coaching and speaking business.  The idea was to reach even more people with what I knew about creating their life and career success.

I tell this story not to pat myself on the back, but to illustrate the second point in Tweet 44: When things don’t turn out as you hope, don’t sulk.  Learn what you can, use it next time.  Stay optimistic about the future.  Don’t become a pessimist.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  Successful people are self-confident and optimistic.  As Bill Clinton points out – they don’t use pessimism as an excuse for not trying.  Optimists are not afraid to try.  They believe that things will turn out well, and more important, when they don’t, they use their experiences to learn and grow and do better next time.  Follow the career advice in Tweet 44 in Success Tweets.  “Be an optimist.  Believe that things will turn out well.  Don’t sulk when they don’t.  Learn what you can, use it next time.”  I’m big on optimism.  My optimism has helped me create the life and career success I wanted.  Your optimism can do the same for you.

That’s my career advice for today — prompted by President Clinton’s quote on pessimism.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, please download a free copy of my popular career advice book Success Tweets and its companion piece Success Tweets Explained.  The first is 140 bits of career advice, all in 140 characters or less.  The second is a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

PPS: I opened a membership site on September 1.  It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations.  To celebrate the grand opening, I’m giving away a new career advice book I’ve written called I Want YOU…To Succeed in Your Corporate Climb.  You can find out about the membership site and get the career advice in I Want YOU… for free by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.

The other day, I received an email with the headline “How Confused Optimism Can Kill Your Dreams.”  Naturally, I sat up and paid attention because I am a big believer in the power of optimism and how it can drive your life and career success.  I believe that in order for optimism to help you reach your career success goals you have to be a practical optimist.

I have The Optimist Creed hanging in my office.  I like it so much that I have created a .pdf of it and give it away to my career success coach clients.  You can get a free copy to hang in your office at http://budbilanich.com/optimist.  Check it out…

The Optimist Creed

Promise Yourself:

• To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
• To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
• To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
• To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
• To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
• To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
• To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
• To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
• To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
• To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

The fourth point of The Optimist Creed, “Promise yourself to look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true” can help you avoid becoming a confused optimist and become a practical optimism and career success.

Optimists think of the glass as half full.  A couple of years ago, Cathy and I saw a stage production of the Irving Berlin classic film musical, White Christmas, at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.  There is a number in the show where one of the leading men is comforting a small girl who is having trouble sleeping. In a song, he tells her, “When you can’t sleep, count your blessings, not sheep.” On the way home, we were talking about that song. We know that we are blessed. However, sometimes we forget how much we are blessed. We both decided that we would begin counting our blessings when we felt a little down and depressed.

Counting your blessings and not sheep is a great first step to “look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.” Realizing that you are blessed and that there is a sunny side is a good first step. However, don’t forget the second part of the quote – “make your optimism come true.”

These last five words are what’s key here.  If you want to become the career success you deserve to be, you not only need to be optimistic.  You need to do the work necessary to make your optimism come true.  That’s practical optimism.

Optimism can put you on the path to success, but hard work is will keep you moving forward. In my book, Straight Talk for Success: Common Sense Ideas That Won’t Let You Down, I talk about the importance of taking personal responsibility for your life and career success.

“It’s simple, really. Career success is all up to you, and me, and anyone else who wants it. We all have to take personal responsibility for our own career success. I am the only one who can make me a career success. You are the only one who can make you a career success.

“Personal responsibility means recognizing that you are responsible for your life and the choices you make. It means that you realize that while other people and events have an impact on your life, these people and events don’t shape your life. When you accept personal responsibility for your life and career success, you own up to the fact that how you react to people and events is what’s important. And you can choose how you react to every person you meet and everything that happens to you.”

The career success coach point here is simple common sense. Optimism coupled with hard work can help you make your life and career success dreams come true.  But avoid becoming a confused optimist.  Become a practical optimist instead.  Pay attention to point four in The Optimist Creed.  Look at the sunny side of things.  Count your blessings.  See the glass as half full. Then, take personal responsibility for doing the work necessary to make your optimism and career success dreams come true.  Optimism is a great career success catalyst, but it alone will not guarantee your life and career success.  You have to do the work – no two ways about it.

That’s my career advice on being a practical, not confused, optimist.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always thanks for reading my musings on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, please download a free copy of my popular career advice book Success Tweets and its companion piece Success Tweets Explained.  One is 140 bits of career advice, all in 140 characters or less.  The other is a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

PPS: I opened a membership site on September 1.  It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations.  To celebrate the grand opening, I’m giving away a new career advice book I’ve written called I Want YOU…To Succeed in Your Corporate Climb.  You can find out about the membership site and get the career advice in I Want YOU… for free by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.

James Malinchak is an interesting guy.  He used to be known as “America’s Hottest Young Speaker.”  As the years went by, he dropped the “young” moniker.  Regardless, James is a lot younger than me and is still a great speaker – and speaker coach.  He also has been featured on the ABC primetime TV show, “Secret Millionaire.”

Recently, I saw an acronym he posted on Facebook – he calls it the R.I.C.H. philosophy.  I think this is a philosophy that will lead to your life and career success.  Check it out…

R: Relationships Are Everything

I: Inspire Others With Your Actions

C: Contribute and Serve Others

H: Have a Happy Mindset

The R.I.C.H. philosophy is optimistic – and if you read this career advice blog with any regularity, you know that I am an incurable optimist.  Optimism is the cornerstone of self confidence and self confidence is an important key to the life and career success you want and deserve.  You can’t be self-confident if you’re not optimistic.  And optimism is a choice.  I get up every day choosing to believe that good things will happen – and then I go about making them happen.

When I was a kid, I participated in the local Optimist International chapter’s oratory contest.  I won my section, and finished third in the state.  The topic that year was “Optimism, Youth’s Greatest Asset.”  That’s a hard enough topic for a ninth grader to say (think Joe Pesci in “My Cousin Vinnie”), let alone one on which write and deliver a ten-minute talk.

Optimist International is a great service organization.  They help kids build self-confidence and become more optimistic.  The Optimist Creed is their manifesto.  It’s powerful stuff.  Take a look…

The Optimist Creed

Promise yourself:

• To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
• To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
• To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
• To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
• To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.
• To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
• To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
• To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
• To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
• To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

I love The Optimist Creed.  I have it framed and hanging in my office, just above my desk.  I have made a .pdf of The Optimist Creed that is suitable for framing.  If you want a copy, just go to http://budbilanich.com/optimist.

One thing that you’ll notice about The Optimist Creed is that it is proactive.  It asks you to promise yourself to do ten things that will help you create you life and career success.  It suggests that optimism is related to action – action you can take to become more optimistic, build your career success and become R.I.C.H.  I think it is some of the best career advice I’ve come across.  I do my best to live the 10 points in The Optimist Creed every day.  You should too.

Let’s take a look at how The Optimist Creed and James’ R.I.C.H. philosophy match up…

James says, “Relationships are everything.”  The Optimist Creed says, “Make all your friends feel that there is something in them;” and “Wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.”  Helping people feel good about themselves and simply smiling at others is a great way to build strong relationships.

James says, “Inspire others with your actions.”  The Optimist Creed says, “Be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.”  If you can do these four things, you will inspire others by your actions.

James says, “Contribute and serve others.”   The Optimist Creed says, “To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best;” and “Talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.” If you accept only the best, in yourself and others, you will contributing – in a big way.  If you talk health, happiness and prosperity to others, you will be doing them a great service.

James says, “Have a happy mindset.”  The Optimist Creed says, “Look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.”  If you can see the bright spots in your problems, setbacks and failures you’ll be happier – and you’ll be on the way to creating the life and career success you deserve.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  As James Malinchak points out, there is more than money to being rich.  You’re R.I.C.H. when you: realize that Relationships are everything; Inspire others with your actions; Contribute and serve others; and Have a happy mindset.  James calls this his R.I.C.H. philosophy.  I like it because it comes from a positive, optimistic mindset.  In this post, I’ve tried to illustrate the parallels between the R.I.C.H. philosophy and one of my favorites – The Optimist Creed.  When you adopt the R.I.C.H. philosophy and/or live your life in accordance with The Optimist Creed you’ll be on your way to creating the life and career success you want and deserve.  This career advice blog is one way I demonstrate my commitment to the R.I.C.H. philosophy and The Optimist Creed.  I hope that commitment– and my common sense – shows through in my posts.

That’s the career advice I gleaned from James Malinchak’s R.I.C.H. philosophy and The Optimist Creed.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

PPS: I opened my new membership site on September 1.  It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations.  To celebrate the grand opening, I’m giving away a new book I’ve written called I Want YOU…To Succeed in Your Corporate Climb.  You can find out about the membership site and get your free copy of I Want YOU by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.com.