Your Secret Weapon

 

I believe that there is nothing more important to the Scout or Scouter than a positive attitude. I am not talking about some unrealistic, pie-in-the-sky type of thinking that refuses to see problems or difficulties. People with a genuinely positive attitude see the issues and challenges, but they know that there are answers to everything. You need to be open to finding solutions. The hugely successful businessman W. Clement Stone said, “There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.”

A positive attitude gives us hope for tomorrow and power for today. Scouts must learn that you cannot move forward with a negative attitude. It takes a positive belief in your dream and your ability to achieve that dream, that gives you the power and energy to go on. Helen Keller said, “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” The positive person knows – not hopes or wishes – but knows they will succeed. That fact gives them the ability to do what they must to achieve their dream.

“Possessing a great attitude is like having a secret weapon.”

John C. Maxwell

Author

 

A positive attitude takes work and effort. It is easy to be negative and worried about life. You must choose to be positive and to be hopeful. It is a decision you make every day. It is not dependent on our circumstances or what is going on in the world. You alone hold power to your attitude. Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl, a man who went through the horrors of the Nazi prison camps, kept a positive attitude as his last real freedom. “The one thing you cannot take away from me,” Frankel said, “is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance.”

Scouts must be positive people at all times. They look at solutions not at problems; they see the best in people, not their difficulties. It is the dreams of the positive person that is achieved. They are the ones who realize that every day is a gift, and their gratitude for that gift seems on their face and hears in their words.

Scouting Out of Uniform is a personal blog based on the lessons learned from Scouting that relate to personal development and success principles and is not an official site of The Boy Scouts of America. John Patrick Hickey does not represent or speak for the Scouting program; however, he does completely support and encourages Scouting for both young and old. John Patrick Hickey is an author, speaker, Personal Development Coach, and proud Scouter. To read more from John Patrick Hickey or to get his books, training and book him to speak to your church, business, or group, visit our website at www.johnpatrickhickey.com.   © 2020 John Patrick Hickey