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“I’m my own worst enemy,” she said.

“It seems everywhere I turn I sabotage my own success.”

Friends describe her as pessimistic. She thinks of herself as being a realist. Like most of us, she thinks she sees things as they really are. Sadly, she thinks things are really bad.

And she’s right.

Henry Ford is credited with the famous quote, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.”

So what do we do to help ourselves? What can we change to improve our self-talk and our mindset? Are we doomed to maintain an outlook on life – on our life – that sabotages our future success?

People can improve. We can change. We can learn.

Questions are worth asking…and perhaps more importantly, they’re worth answering. Let’s dive into them together to see if we can help ourselves.

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Duke basketball fans are legendary. Just like Coach K and their years of fielding great teams. Speedo Guy was a student whose goal was to distract opposing players shooting free throws. His goal was to distract players away from their talent to successfully shoot free throws.

Universal wisdom tells us that distractions are counter productive. Focus, intensity and attention to detail. These are the tools of success. Distraction destroys these things. Don’t let yourself get distracted.

Well, universal wisdom isn’t true wisdom. It’s wrong! And we all know it.

Not all distractions are created equal. And they don’t all hinder us. Today, I’ll toss distractions into two categories and hopefully I’ll give you a few things to think about as you chase your dreams, try to solve your problems, build your business and try to simply live better.

Have you found a distraction that delivered high value to you?

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Shel Silverstein is my kinda guy. He wrote the wildly successful book, A Light In The Attic.

There’s a light on in the attic.
Though the house is dark and shuttered,
I can see a flickerin’ flutter,
And I know what it’s about.
There’s a light on in the attic.
I can see it from the outside.
And I know you’re on the inside… lookin’ out.

Then there’s this…

Last night while I lay thinking here
Some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
And pranced and partied all night long
And sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I flunk that test?
Whatif green hair grows on my chest?
Whatif nobody likes me?
Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?…

I’ve loved going up into the attic since I was a kid. Dusting off boxes, opening them up to see what hidden treasures they contained was fascinating. I’d look at stuff and wonder about the past. Getting lost in thought and memory was fun. Dreaming about the future was equally fun. How can you not think of the future when you’re remembering the past?

For some weeks now I’ve been wanting to pull out the stairs to the attic here. Today I went up there, turned on the light, dusted off a few boxes and opened them up to see what I might find. My hope was to dig out a few memories, connect a few dots and think about the future. Attics have often helped me do that…so I figured it was time.