Positive self-expectancy is the first, most outwardly identifiable quality of a top-achieving, winning human being. Positive self-expectancy is pure and simple optimism: real enthusiasm for everything you do... [while] expecting the most favorable result from your own actions. There never was a winner who didn't expect to win in advance. Winners understand that life is a self-fulfilling prophecy. And they know that you usually get what you expect in the long run.
Interpretation
Positive self-expectancy is crucial for achieving success, as it embodies optimism and enthusiasm for one's actions.
In this quote, Denis Waitley emphasizes the importance of positive self-expectancy as a fundamental trait of successful individuals. He argues that winners are driven by optimism and a strong belief in favorable outcomes, which often leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy where one's expectations shape their reality. The quote highlights that to achieve victory, one must first expect to win, suggesting that mindset plays a pivotal role in personal and professional success.
In practice
This quote can inspire students at a graduation ceremony to believe in their future success.
Procrastination is the fear of success. People procrastinate because they are afraid of the success that they know will result if they move ahead now. Because success is heavy, carries a responsibility with it, it is much easier to procrastinate and live on the "someday I'll" philosophy.
Winners have the ability to step back from the canvas of their lives like an artist gaining perspective. They make their lives a work of art - an individual masterpiece.
Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past and enjoy working in the present toward the future.
The easiest thing to do in the world is to neglect the important and give in to the urgent.
You are an uncut gemstone of priceless value. Cut and polish your potential with knowledge, skills and service and you will be in great demand throughout your life.
Expect the best; convert problems into opportunities; be dissatisfied with the status quo; focus on where you want to go, instead of where you're coming from; and most importantly, decide to be happy, knowing it's an attitude, a habit gained from daily practice, and not a result or payoff.
When they say the sky's the limit to me that's really true
Don't give up. Don't ever give up.
For every finish-line tape a runner breaks -- complete with the cheers of the crowd and the clicking of hundreds of cameras -- there are the hours of hard and often lonely work that rarely gets talked about.
I've learned you can always achieve more than you thought you could. There are moments when I've walked off the court, and I'm like, 'I don't know how I won that match.' It was actually impossible, but it happened, and then you realize that you can push yourself much further than you ever thought, and you can make the impossible happen.
God doesn't require us to succeed, he only requires that you try.
Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly, and try another. But by all means, try something.
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