There is a story told about a young man who, in frontier days, was looking for a place to settle down. As he approached the outskirts of a small western town, he came across an elderly rancher and asked, “What kind of people live here?” “What kind of people did you find in the last place you lived?” asked the old man. “Oh, they were a selfish and unfriendly bunch,” replied the youth. “You’ll find the same here,” said the old man.
A few days later, another young traveler passed near the ranch and, seeing the old man, he put the same question to him: “What kind of people live in this town?” Again, the old man replied with the question, “What kind of people were in the town from which you came?” Answered the young man, “They were a good group of folks: honest, sincere, friendly. I was sorry to leave them.” “You’ll find the same here,” said the old man.
A ranch hand,, who had heard both conversations, questioned the old man: “How could you give two different answers to the same question to two different people?”
“Son,” said the old man, "Everyone carries within himself the environment in which he lives. The one who found nothing good about his previous town will find the same here. The young man who found friends in his former town will find friends here. People and circumstances are to us what we find in them. Seek -- from within yourself-- and ye shall surely find.”
Most of us try to change other people. To reach our goals, we don’t have to change others, we need to change ourselves. Others change as we change our thoughts about them.
Changing attitudes is not a simple process. It involves the formation of new habits which can take days, weeks, months, and even years before they become an integral part of our lives. The task is not easy, but it can be done.
Remember that attitudes and habits are changed when they cease to provide us with the amount of satisfaction that we would like to have.
There is one more condition that affects your ability to change attitudes, and that is your attitude toward change itself.
All new experiences carry with them some degree of anxiety, doubt, or fear. Change is no different. You may find yourself resisting change at first, and that is quite natural. Some understanding of that resistance to change will help you overcome it. On the whole, there are basically three reasons why people resist change: fear, conflict, and lack of purpose.
Without a personal goals program and a specific direction for the future, there would appear to be no reason to change attitudes. Planning a goals program produces enthusiasm and excitement which, in turn, sparks the beginning of change in attitudes.
People who have no goals, have no direction. They may be constantly busy, always moving, but they go around in circles never arriving or achieving.
To lead without a plan is sheer folly. It’s impossible to give directions to get to a place you know not; to lead from somewhere you’ve never been!
Where there are goals, there is progress!
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