Why You Need To Learn To ACT

by C. Pratt
www.Life-With-Confidence.com

ACT Attitude Changes Things

ACT stands for Attitude Changes Things. It’s an eye opening “aha” moment when you realize that it’s your attitude that will decide your future more than just about anything else. For example, if you’re trying to become so successful with a goal that it eventually turns into your career, there’s two attitudes you need to know about. One is the attitude of the professional and one of the amateur. To tell which attitude you have, answer the following question:

“If you have twenty minutes available before you have to do something else, what do you do?”

A.     Not enough time to do anything, I’ll quickly check emails or watch tv. I'll work on "it" later. ("it" being your goal)

B.     Just enough time to get one more thing done (towards achieving your goal).

A professional will choose Answer B every time. Instead of thinking of those few minutes as not enough time, they figure out ways to make use of every spare moment they get. Every minute you dedicate to achieving your goal takes you one minute closer to achieving it. If you're serious about becoming successful, don't waste your time on things that don't move you in the right direction. This means changing your attitude and deciding that your time is precious and you'll make time to work on your goal.

Don't end up wishing you'd worked on your goal more. Work on it now, even if it's just for 10 minutes. Those ten minutes add up quickly.

“Finishing things is the key to much in life.”

Andrew Mayne from

How to Write a Novella in 24 Hours: And other questionable & possibly insane advice on creativity for writers (#ad)

Here’s one more question. “You run into problems with getting your idea off the ground. It’s feeling overwhelming. What do you do?"

A.     Give up. It was a dumb idea anyway. Besides, nothing ever works out anyway.

B.     You believe you’ll figure it out. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

It’s pretty easy to see which attitude is going to be making headway and which one will end up giving up before they even start.

And, you might think these are too obvious but listen to what you tell yourself the next time you run into obstacles. You might be surprised at how easily disappointments or obstacles throw you off. It's your attitude which influences your reaction to problems and it's your attitude which will ultimately decide whether you're successful or not.

Here's some more subtle ways that your attitude may be sabotaging your goals.

How Your Attitude Affects Your Energy

Do you undermine your own energy flow by thinking of all the things you need to do rather than just focusing on one thing at a time?  Instead of depleting your energy with overwhelming thoughts, think about your goal and how you're going to "work on 'X' today" with 'X' being a specific aspect of your goal whether it's writing or painting or exercising or anything you want to do. Make it your fixed goal and something you make a priority. First thing in the morning, try to plan it in your mind and see yourself doing it before you even let yourself think about anything else you need to do that day. Then you're keeping your focus on what's important, not how overwhelmed you feel. Don't let your goals be something you do when you get some free time because you'll never find enough time doing it that way.

The other benefit of focusing on your goal first is that you won't feel like you're being dragged along by all the things on your to do list. Instead, you've made a plan and by doing this you now become in charge of your time and your day. It makes you feel more empowered and in control. So, remind yourself to ACT (Attitudes Changes Things and also take ACTion) and you'll instantly feel far more energetic and excited about your day.

You'll be amazed at how this simple change in attitude changes your entire perspective.

But, what about if you're already feeling overwhelmed and like you don't have enough energy. ACT can help you here too.

How Your Attitude Affects Your Health

How do you see yourself? Do you see yourself as being too tired to work on your goal? Or unhealthy or rundown or burned out? If you find yourself feeling too tired most of the time, you could try a suggestion that Barbara Sachs Sloan told me. Her advice was, "Tell yourself 'I'm healthier than I think'.  Adjust your own self-perception to seeing yourself as "healthy and with energy" instead of too tired.  Make the decision to dedicate whatever energy you have to doing those things you enjoy and want to get done. Yes, there'll still be those things you "have to do" but you know you'll get those done because those type of activities end up being done even when you're dragging on the floor simply because there's no choice. Use that other energy you have for you". By following this advice you're then using that valuable energy for achieving those goals that will make your soul come alive with excitement and enthusiasm thus creating even more energy for yourself.

Or What About Your Mood?

It's the end of the day, and you're tired, and everyone seems to be wanting your time and attention. You think about working on your goal and think, "I'm not in the mood right now." This is a common pitfall for a lot of people especially if your goal requires you to be creative. You might believe that you can't work unless you're in the right frame of mind. Well, here's a great quote I heard in a Udemy.com course.

"You don't get in the mood to write. You write to get in the mood." - Ryan Wiley.

Switch out the word "write" for whatever it is you want to do. The advice is the same. Don't wait to feel inspired or until you feel like working on your goal. Start working on your goal and you'll find yourself in the right mood.


So, be aware of your attitude and how it's influencing you. It's about realizing that if you change your attitude, it's like suddenly being given a helping hand.  Things won't seem as hard or as overwhelming. You've made your goal a priority and suddenly you've also made yourself a priority. You've just learned how to ACT.

Related Articles

Overcome Self-Doubt
Don't let self-doubt ruin your life. Learn this simple trick.


6 Ways To Bounce Back From Failure
Don't let failure get you down. 6 easy ways to deal with it fast.



<-- All Articles

DMCA.com Protection Status