ATTITUDE=100%? Give me a break!

We have been motivated for more than three decades or so by this message: Assigning each letter of alphabet a numerical value, starting with 1 for the letter A. And so, we have heard that attitude is the greatest virtue of all because….

 L+U+C+K=12+21+3+11=47%

This sounds fair to me, but I think it is not correct. I don’t think that I have a 47% chance to success if I only depended on luck. In our world, even a 5% chance if taken, can take you places!

L+O+V+E=12+15+22+5=54%

!!! Would you believe that? Love just accounting for 54%? I think this system is flawed. The greatest quote I have heard about love comes from one great visionary called Apostle Paul. He said:

“If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love”.

Think about that!

M+O+N+E+Y=13+15+14+5+25=72%

Do you believe that money in your life is just 72% important?

 V+I+S+I+O+N=22+9+19+9+15+14 =88%

Do you believe that this favorite word of mine is just 88% important in life?

K+N+O+W+L+E+D+G+E = 11+14+15+23+12+4+7+5=96%

This sounds great, and shows how important knowledge is. However, while we are at it, let me hasten to add that this does not necessarily translate to the world of academia…VERY important to note.

L+E+A+D+E+R+S+H+I+P =12+5+1+4+5+18+19+8+9+16= 97%

It sounds like leadership is way more important than Money. Have you ever thought about a combination of the two?

 H+A+R+D+W+O+R+K=8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11=98%

This makes lots of sense to me. The Ballon d’or winner in 2013, Christiano Ronaldo said the following, as recent as this month:

 “I’ve always watched the players who had the best performance and realized one thing: what makes the difference between good players and stars is the work. The difference between good players and best players can be in those details.”

That being said, is hard work alone the key to success? Try combining it with vision and see!

A+T+T+I+T+U+D+E=1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 =100%!

This is where the motivator gets it all wrong! He trashes all the other virtues and elevates attitude as if it is the only important of them all. I love the word attitude because it is a great determinant to your Life Signature.

Here is why I think that this method of motivation is flawed:

1. The importance of a letter of alphabet is not directly proportional to its assigned numerical value!
2. The important thing is not the combination of the letters in each word, but the blend of the different virtues and values!
3. One virtue alone is not enough. In our case, have you ever seen a successful visionary with a good attitude and no hard work? How about this: Have you ever seen a successful hater? (No love)
4. Some negative virtues such as LACKADAISICAL can score as high as 86%, nearly twice as much as LOVE.

Yet, in our day and age, I believe there is one more virtue that even trumps ATTITUDE hands down. I believe with all of my heart that if you get a combo of all these attitudes and some, and put just this one as the pivot point, 2014 will be the greatest turning point for your Life Signatures.

Are you ready? Here goes:

A+T+T+E+N+T+I+O+N =1+20+20+5+14+20+9+15+14=118%!!

Bruce Lee said the following:

“The successful warrior is the average man with a laser-like focus”

Here is the thing: Spending 5 Hours straight on something is NOT the only way it qualifies to being focused! This is where most people go wrong. Someone thinks that they do not have 2 Hours in a day to read a book, so they do not read the book altogether. The same person will spend 30-45 minutes on his social media timelines.

The following is how you can easily bring attention to detail in your life:

1.   Schedule:

Mike Murdock says,

“Schedule your pleasure because your pain will schedule itself”.

If you schedule your activities, it inherently gives you the freedom to approach each with total attentiveness. This means that you schedule even the things that might be seen as ‘purpose busters’, such as hours on end on social media.

2.   Prioritize:

Brian Tracy wrote a very powerful book titled, “Eat That Frog”. It is a one stop center for nuggets on personal planning. Prioritizing your activities to do the most important of them first is key. Sometimes you know it is the most important activity if you do not feel like doing it.

3.   Discipline:

It is one thing to schedule, and yet quite another to follow. In order to follow through your plans for the day, you need discipline. This simply means that you put your feelings aside and be as objective as possible. A disciplined person seldom uses feelings to fuel their action, but the good feelings normally show up during the action.

4.   Switch Off:

Today, we even have seminars where Managers are taught how to handle meetings where their attendees come with all their gadgets. I love multitasking but then again, it is not the best if you want complete attentiveness. Multitasking for me is when I am traveling and at the same time reading. It is not when I am writing this article and at the same time checking feeds from social media. Therefore, switch off all other things including Facebook, twitter, emails, news, gossip and all…and just for this fifteen minutes, focus on this one thing, UNTIL the fifteen minutes you scheduled for it are over…then gladly move to the next activity.

Question: What is your greatest virtue in terms of reaching out for success? Please share with us.