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.

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.

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.

It’s July 5 – back to work in the USA after the Independence Day holiday weekend. I hope you enjoyed your long weekend as much as I did mine. I spent some time on my bicycle, enjoying the beautiful Denver weather. Here is my first post Independence Day bit of career advice.

Novak Djokovic won the men’s title at Wimbledon on Sunday. He has been incredibly dominant this year. He has lost one match – the French Open semifinal to Roger Federer – while winning 48 matches and eight titles. He is now the Number 1 tennis player in the world.

After the match, he said that he credits his losses to Federer and Rafael Nadal for helping him get where he is today…

“I give credit to them for my improvement as well, because I’ve played so many matches against Federer and Nadal, especially at the big tournaments, big matches, big stages and I was losing most of those big matches, but now it has turned around, because I started believing I could win.”

Tweet 44 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “Be an optimist. Believe that things will work out well. Don’t sulk when they don’t. Learn what you can and use it next time.” By replaying his bog match losses to Federer and Nadal in his mind and learning from them, Novak Djokovic became more optimistic about his ability to beat both of them. He now has beaten Nadal five straight times.

Just like Novak Djokovic If you don’t believe you can win, if you don’t believe you can create your life and career success dreams, you won’t. If you do believe, if you’re an optimist, you’re on the right path to winning tennis tournaments — and, more impoirtant, creating your life and career success.

But believing is not enough. It will set you up for career success, but you will still find times when you fail. That’s where the second piece of career advice in Tweet 44 in Success Tweets comes in. Don’t sulk when you fail or lose. 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.

Novak Djokovic personifies this career advice. He credits his losses to Federer and Nadal as giving him the motivation, self confidence and insight into himself to raise his game to a really high level.

Self confidence was important in Djokovic’s win on Sunday. But as I listened to his interviews on the court immediately after the match and with John McEnroe in the locker room, he mentioned the words “hard work” at least 10 times. Yes, he is more confident these days. Part of his confidence comes from winning, but a lot of it comes from improving his game due to a lot of hard work.

Tweet 100 in Success Tweets says, “Care about what you do. If you care a little, you’ll be an OK performer. If you care a lot, you’ll become an outstanding performer.” Novak Djokovic cared about winning Wimbledon so much that he picked a few blades of grass from center court and ate them right after the match.

Let’s switch sports for a minute.  The Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2009. After that game I wrote a blog post about Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin. The day after the Super Bowl he said that because the Steelers were in the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl, he was “a month behind getting ready for the next season. We’ve got to be thoughtful in how we prepare our football team.”

I posted….

Some may say, “Chill, Mike, savor what you’ve just accomplished.” However, Mike Tomlin knows that outstanding performers don’t rest on their laurels. They care about what they do, and they care about their life and career success. High performers always set higher goals and look towards greater achievements. The Optimist Creed urges us to “Press on to the greater achievements of the future.”

That’s what Mike Tomlin was doing the day after he won the Super Bowl, and that’s what all outstanding performers do. They set high goals and meet them. Then they set higher goals and meet them too.

Novak Djokovic is the same way. On Monday, before leaving England to spend some time at home in Belgrade Serbia he said…

“I want to improve. The example for me is Nadal. A few years ago we all knew how dominant he was on clay but maybe not so much on the other surfaces. Nobody thought he could get any better but he did. Me too, I still consider myself as a player with something to prove and to improve my game.

“I’ve never been number one in the world so I don’t really know what it feels like yet. But I’m going to experience that in this next period of my career. They say it’s harder to stay number one than to get to number one. I will see if that’s true or not but I will definitely try to stay there as long as I can.”

Novak Djokovic is a great example of someone who lives the career advice in tweet 100 in Success Tweets. He cares. Immediately after winning Wimbledon and becoming the Number 1 player in the world, he’s talking about working hard to improve. That’s what successful people do and what you should do if you want to create the life and career success you deserve.

Tweet 30 in Success Tweets says, “Success is a journey, not a destination. When you accomplish one goal, reach higher and set a new one.” Novak Djokovic isn’t treating his victory at Wimbledon as a destination – even though it the tournament he visualized himself winning as a child. He has set a new goal of staying Number 1 in the world as long as he can.

“For now the goal is to have some time for myself and enjoy the victory. Then I want to come back and win more titles, more majors. I’m a professional and that is what I’m made for. The U.S. Open is the next big thing. Hard courts are still my best surface.”

The career success coach point here is simple common sense. Self confidence is an important key to life and career success. Novak Djokovic won Wimbledon and became the Number 1 tennis player in the world after he figured out how to use his losses in major tournaments to build his self confidence. But self confidence is not enough. You have to do the work. Point 4 of The Optimist Creed says, “Look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.” In other words, believe in yourself, but do the work. Finally, as Tweet 30 in Success Tweets says, “Success is a journey, not a destination. When you accomplish one goal, reach higher and set a new one.” Successful people don’t rest on their laurels. They focus on how they can get better. That’s what Super Bowl winning coaches and Wimbledon winners do – and that’s what you need to do if you want to create the life and career success you deserve.

That’s the career advice I found in Novak Djokovic’s Wimbledon victory. What do you think? Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us by leaving 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, 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.

It’s July 5 – back to work in the USA after the Independence Day holiday weekend. I hope you enjoyed your long weekend as much as I did mine. I spent some time on my bicycle, enjoying the beautiful Denver weather. Here is my first post Independence Day bit of career advice.

Novak Djokovic won the men’s title at Wimbledon on Sunday. He has been incredibly dominant this year. He has lost one match – the French Open semifinal to Roger Federer – while winning 48 matches and eight titles. He is now the Number 1 tennis player in the world.

After the match, he said that he credits his losses to Federer and Rafael Nadal for helping him get where he is today…

“I give credit to them for my improvement as well, because I’ve played so many matches against Federer and Nadal, especially at the big tournaments, big matches, big stages and I was losing most of those big matches, but now it has turned around, because I started believing I could win.”

Tweet 44 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “Be an optimist. Believe that things will work out well. Don’t sulk when they don’t. Learn what you can and use it next time.” By replaying his bog match losses to Federer and Nadal in his mind and learning from them, Novak Djokovic became more optimistic about his ability to beat both of them. He now has beaten Nadal five straight times.

Just like Novak Djokovic If you don’t believe you can win, if you don’t believe you can create your life and career success dreams, you won’t. If you do believe, if you’re an optimist, you’re on the right path to winning tennis tournaments — and, more impoirtant, creating your life and career success.

But believing is not enough. It will set you up for career success, but you will still find times when you fail. That’s where the second piece of career advice in Tweet 44 in Success Tweets comes in. Don’t sulk when you fail or lose. 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.

Novak Djokovic personifies this career advice. He credits his losses to Federer and Nadal as giving him the motivation, self confidence and insight into himself to raise his game to a really high level.

Self confidence was important in Djokovic’s win on Sunday. But as I listened to his interviews on the court immediately after the match and with John McEnroe in the locker room, he mentioned the words “hard work” at least 10 times. Yes, he is more confident these days. Part of his confidence comes from winning, but a lot of it comes from improving his game due to a lot of hard work.

Tweet 100 in Success Tweets says, “Care about what you do. If you care a little, you’ll be an OK performer. If you care a lot, you’ll become an outstanding performer.” Novak Djokovic cared about winning Wimbledon so much that he picked a few blades of grass from center court and ate them right after the match.

Let’s switch sports for a minute.  The Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2009. After that game I wrote a blog post about Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin. The day after the Super Bowl he said that because the Steelers were in the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl, he was “a month behind getting ready for the next season. We’ve got to be thoughtful in how we prepare our football team.”

I posted….

Some may say, “Chill, Mike, savor what you’ve just accomplished.” However, Mike Tomlin knows that outstanding performers don’t rest on their laurels. They care about what they do, and they care about their life and career success. High performers always set higher goals and look towards greater achievements. The Optimist Creed urges us to “Press on to the greater achievements of the future.”

That’s what Mike Tomlin was doing the day after he won the Super Bowl, and that’s what all outstanding performers do. They set high goals and meet them. Then they set higher goals and meet them too.

Novak Djokovic is the same way. On Monday, before leaving England to spend some time at home in Belgrade Serbia he said…

“I want to improve. The example for me is Nadal. A few years ago we all knew how dominant he was on clay but maybe not so much on the other surfaces. Nobody thought he could get any better but he did. Me too, I still consider myself as a player with something to prove and to improve my game.

“I’ve never been number one in the world so I don’t really know what it feels like yet. But I’m going to experience that in this next period of my career. They say it’s harder to stay number one than to get to number one. I will see if that’s true or not but I will definitely try to stay there as long as I can.”

Novak Djokovic is a great example of someone who lives the career advice in tweet 100 in Success Tweets. He cares. Immediately after winning Wimbledon and becoming the Number 1 player in the world, he’s talking about working hard to improve. That’s what successful people do and what you should do if you want to create the life and career success you deserve.

Tweet 30 in Success Tweets says, “Success is a journey, not a destination. When you accomplish one goal, reach higher and set a new one.” Novak Djokovic isn’t treating his victory at Wimbledon as a destination – even though it the tournament he visualized himself winning as a child. He has set a new goal of staying Number 1 in the world as long as he can.

“For now the goal is to have some time for myself and enjoy the victory. Then I want to come back and win more titles, more majors. I’m a professional and that is what I’m made for. The U.S. Open is the next big thing. Hard courts are still my best surface.”

The career success coach point here is simple common sense. Self confidence is an important key to life and career success. Novak Djokovic won Wimbledon and became the Number 1 tennis player in the world after he figured out how to use his losses in major tournaments to build his self confidence. But self confidence is not enough. You have to do the work. Point 4 of The Optimist Creed says, “Look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.” In other words, believe in yourself, but do the work. Finally, as Tweet 30 in Success Tweets says, “Success is a journey, not a destination. When you accomplish one goal, reach higher and set a new one.” Successful people don’t rest on their laurels. They focus on how they can get better. That’s what Super Bowl winning coaches and Wimbledon winners do – and that’s what you need to do if you want to create the life and career success you deserve.

That’s the career advice I found in Novak Djokovic’s Wimbledon victory. What do you think? Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us by leaving 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, 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.

Today is the Fourth of July; Independence Day in the USA.  I hope you have a safe and happy holiday.

If you read this blog with any regularity, you know that I’m a big believer in the power of optimism.  The Fourth of July always makes me reflect on those folks who signed the Declaration of Independence way back in 1776.  As a group, they had to be among the most optimistic people ever.

I think it optimism is the foundation of all self-confidence – an important key to creating 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 believing that good things will happen – and then I go about making them happen.  I follow the career advice in Tweet 42 in my career success book Success Tweets. “Choose optimism.  It builds your confidence.  Believe that today will be better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better yet.”

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, become more optimistic and get them on the road to life and career success.  The Optimist Creed defines them.  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.  I’m making a gift of it to you this Independence Day.  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 — and career success –  come true.

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 career success coach point here is simple common sense.  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.”  Just like that group of men in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776 I choose optimism, and hope you do too.

That’s my career advice on the power of optimism this Fourth of July.  If you’re in the USA, I hope you’re enjoying the holiday.  Be safe if you’re playing with fireworks.  Please let us know what you think about today’s career advice by leaving a comment.  Thanks for reading as always.  I really appreciate you for reading my daily musings on life and career success.

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.