Positivite thinking ‘A’ misconception

How often are you told to “just be positive” or “focus on the positive”? I’m guessing daily by everyone offering such easy advice. Do you believe they think it is good advice or is it just easier to give someone 50% of the advice they actually require? Perhaps this is a form of avoidance, by the person offering the advice. If you just tell them to be positive, they will think you are being supportive and you will not have to delve into the problem further, tell them the hard truth or advise them on what to do next. Whatever the reason you have for your misguided advice, it is weak, feeble, cowardly and irresponsible. What you put out, is what you get back and it would be well advised to remember that the influence of a single individual can impact the lives of millions if not billions. Nelson Mandela, Ghandi and Buddha to name a few.

When you are offering advice to others, be sure that you are qualified to do so. Giving bad, misleading or incorrect advice may often lead to disappointment, disbelief or worse. I have seen and experienced this so many times and in most cases it leaves people confused or it takes them backwards or they just stand still and do nothing.

If you are advising someone based on personal experience, then be sure your advice led you to a similar desired goal. However, should you be advising someone based on something you have read or heard be sure to revisit your source before sharing untested knowledge with other people.

I immigrated to South Africa 20 years ago and spent most of my teenage years growing up in Cape Town. After dropping out of high school at 16, I went straight to work in sales seemed like the right fit for me. After two years I needed a change of scenery and thought the grass was green on the other side in the UK. I felt more positive about career prospects there than I did in South Africa and I was not alone. Over the last 20 years or so there was a surge of South Africans flooding into different international destinations, one million alone to the UK, all thinking the grass would be greener. This is still happening today only the numbers are lower. However, as time has gone on many have returned to start businesses or seek employment or just because they missed their home. Many returned home with a positive attitude towards South Africa and its future including yours truly. Not only had this happened but the South African population started to talk about a positive future in South Africa. There were blogs, forums, facebook groups and twitter pages all talking positively about South Africa’s future. So for the average Jill/Joe to follow suit it just made sense, let’s all be positive about South Africa and we will flourish as a nation. Ok I will be the first to admit that there are a very small percentage of people out there who are actually following through with ACTION.

There I said it, the missing ingredient ACTION! This is the misconception of POSITIVITY. You can be as positive as you like; whether it is just you or an entire nation, but if you’re positive thoughts are not transformed into positive Action, the change you wish to see will not occur.

I know for some this is a very simple lesson or even commonsense. Unfortunately commonsense is not that common anymore.

The reality is that there is a very large percentage of the world’s population who do not understand this simple life lesson.

This is why I cannot stress the importance enough of understanding the lessons, which one chooses to teach. We live in a time where news travels across the globe in seconds; any one person is likely to be connected to between a thousand and several million people through their social networks. As human beings we have a moral duty to ensure the advice we offer is accurate and effective.

I am passionate about South Africa and very POSITIVE about the future of our country, each day I take small ACTION steps to contribute towards building a better South Africa. When the Positive people in South Africa transform their thoughts into actions, then all our small steps will quickly turn into giant leaps.

I promise to share this message with as many South African’s as I can.

 

Positive thoughts + positive Action = Results

 

“Don’t just think about the change you want to see in the world, take action and become the change you want to see in the world”