I was talking with my son last night about a science project he’s working on. He’s developing a hypothesis related to the Mozart effect and how it affects spatial intelligence; then he’ll need to try and prove it with an experiment. Our discussion revolved around his poor efforts digging in to the initial stages of the project.
Like a lot of 12 year-old boys, he’s very focused on baseball right now. He’s a rabid NY Yankee fan and can quote just about any stat you’d care to hear (and more than a few you probably don’t!) What amazes me is his ability to focus on a task. When he’s zoned in, he’s like a laser beam. Last night, though, it was more like a car headlight.
“Our limitations and success will be based, most often, on our own expectations for ourselves. What the mind dwells upon, the body acts upon.” – Denis Waitely
He was clearly frustrated. We talked about how important it is to give everything you do 100% effort and more, if at all possible. We touched on what it means to be a leader, like his idol Derek Jeter, who always gives excellent effort and gets excellent results in return. Good effort produces good results. Poor effort, well…he got the idea. He settled in and worked through the initial steps of his project and when he was done exclaimed with some surprise, “That wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.”
It’s amazing how simply changing your attitude can alter the outcome of a situation from poor to excellent. How’s your attitude? Are you giving excellent effort in everything you do? If not, try an attitude adjustment.
My son says the results are excellent.
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