The BIGG Successs Show
The Single Most Destructive Thought You Can Have
Find out what it is and how to combat it. Listen & read here.
Welcome to our 38th Big Success Show. Today, we'll talk about the single most destructive thought you can have. The Big Success Show with George and Mary Lynn. Here we are, Mary Lynn, back at work, first, first work day of the year after the holidays. Ah, the holidays are over, but weren't they fun? Yeah, they were. But here it is, that new year, like you said, time for change, a fresh start. We can make some things happen this year. Well, I'm looking forward, we wanted to start this year by talking about the single most destructive thought that you can have. And as you think about people in your life, we're going to give some traits here. And just think about people you may know who have these traits. Do you know someone who needs constant recognition? Yeah, do you know someone maybe they're often angry, or if they're not angry, they're depressed. They complain about how unfair life is, what was me? And there's those people that, you know, they seem like they're scared to death to take any risk at all. Sometimes even just to make a simple decision. People who are serially unsuccessful, you know, attempt after attempt at a job, you know, they do, they hop from job to job. There's always something wrong with where they were at, it's not them. Well, and do you know people that, you know, you just kind of get the idea that they're afraid to trust anybody, you know, they don't have very many friends. They're afraid to be in criticized, they don't want to put themselves out there, they're scared to death. Someone gets to know them that they're not good enough to get to know. You know, people who are emotionally unhealthy, and I mean that unhealthiness actually leads to physical ailments. And the last one is this, do you know people who have a problem with addiction? It could be alcohol, drugs, gambling, you know, shopping, there you go, you know, but addiction is often one of the indicators. Now here's the thing that often causes these traits, and it's the single most destructive thought that you can have. What is it? That thought is you think you're not solely in control of your life. And why would people think that? I mean, why would people choose, you know, these negative traits over taking responsibility and being more positive? Well, I think one reason, Mary Lynn, is oftentimes, I think it's kind of the easy way out. Yeah, it's easier to place blame, you know, blame the boss, blame your parents, you know, the adults who still blame their parents for all their problems. But yeah, I mean, you just push that off onto somebody else. You blame God, you blame, you know, your spouse, your kids, you know, you name it. There's circumstances, you know, it's always some reason other than yourself. It's easier. And I think the other reason is because we sometimes look at being in control as a burden, you know, that there's... It's another responsibility. Exactly. There's a responsibility and there's duty that goes with it. But the thing is, that's the wrong way to look at it. Being in control of your life is not a burden, it's a blessing. And it's a blessing because it gives you freedom. Freedom to create the life that you want, and that empowers you. Okay, but, you know, I think you are kidding yourself to think that you can possibly be in control of everything. Or you're a control freak if you think that. I mean, come on. Well, wouldn't it be nice, right? Yeah, it would. Actually, maybe it wouldn't. Well, we're not saying that you control everything, so hear the difference here. It's not you control everything, it's that you control your life. But here is what you can always control how you respond. And Stephen Covey in 7 Habits, great book, says, "We are responsible." You can always control how you respond. And coming up the story of a man who dealt with the most extreme circumstances and the freedom that came from being in control of his own thoughts. I became acquainted with this book, Mary Lynn, in a social psychology class. And the book's called "Man's Search for Meaning." It's written by a gentleman by the name of Victor Frankl. An amazing story, Victor Frankl was a prisoner in the concentration camps in World War II. And here's what he says about his experience. He says, "They took away my clothes, they took away my family, they took away my dignity, they took away everything that you can possibly imagine." I was treated as inhumanely as possible. I saw others treated inhumanely. But here's the one thing that I learned from that. And that was, they couldn't control what I thought. They couldn't control my internal processes. And because of that, I found freedom. Freedom because I could control how I responded to this situation. And what he ended up doing was he would imagine himself in another place. He would imagine himself in better circumstances. He used his imagination. He used his thoughts to create freedom where freedom didn't exist. It is truly an amazing story. I don't know how one man could be so strong mentally to be able to do that. It's absolutely incredible and we do recommend the book. Right, and we've got a link to that book on our blog today at Big Success along with the written summary of today's show. Let's get a big quote in for the day. A quote today comes from the author and speaker Roger Dawson who said this, "The most self-destructive thought that any person can have is thinking that he or she is not in total control of his or her life. That's when why me becomes a theme song." So you and you alone write the song that makes the whole world sing. Make your life a melody and enjoy inner harmony. Yes, Barry Manolo will be in my head for the rest of the day. Perfect. Can't smile without you baby. Next show we're going to talk about why shy people make the best networkers. And until then, here's to your big success. The Big Success Show at B-I-G-G Success.com [Music] [Music] [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]