Erudite Relics of Loc Huu Ho

Can the choice of atti­tude in your life have an affect on the things that hap­pen to you? I’m a firm believer that it can. Time and time again I’ve been wit­ness to these effects. Both with me and with oth­ers. When­ever I choose to have a good atti­tude, I real­ize that the level of neg­a­tive stress in my life is greatly reduced. At the same time, I notice that I rec­og­nize more oppor­tu­ni­ties pre­sent­ing them­selves when I have a bet­ter or pos­i­tive atti­tude.  On the flip side, it’s inter­est­ing how peo­ple who choose to have a bad or neg­a­tive atti­tude seem to have more “bad luck” occur­ring in their lives. Why is that?

A fel­low in one of the offices I work in has an issue.  He has a dis­tinct prob­lem see­ing any­thing pos­i­tive in his life.  Both in him­self and in any of the sit­u­a­tions he’s involved in, he is the first to point out the prob­lem and pro­ceed by com­plain­ing about it. Using phrases such as, “Can you believe they left it like that?” or “What were they think­ing when they did that?” or even a phrase such as “I don’t know why we should con­tinue to put up with that?” (for the nth time).  I’m sure no one read­ing this post knows of any­one like that.

With that in mind, I decided to do some research­ing online for sites and arti­cles about how to have a bet­ter atti­tude. Below are some of the ones that had some valu­able infor­ma­tion on the sub­ject. Enjoy them and pass it on! Read the rest of this entry »

Original Source: Ben’s Blog

At Engineers Without Borders I have the great privilege of working with the most inspiring and motivated people I know.

EWB overseas volunteer staff member Thulasy Balasubramaniam pores over plans for a rural enterprise with her colleagues in Zambia

EWB overseas volunteer staff member Thulasy Balasubramaniam pores over plans for a rural enterprise with her colleagues in Zambia

So what keeps them going? What keeps them asking the tough questions, and not settling for easy answers? What keeps them up at all hours, working for little or no pay to achieve the millions of little “wins” that will be required for the change we seek?

I don’t always sit back and reflect on those questions, so consider this post a bit of professional development for yours truly as I try to disaggregate what I’ve learned about helping to create this motivating environment at EWB!

I’ve come up with three concepts, each with their own pithy description! Read the rest of this entry »

Achieving your goals is hardly ever an easy journey. If it were easy, we’d all already be there. One of the keys to success is, without a doubt, perseverance. With improved perseverance you’ll have that extra push from within to try, try again.

Humans have the tendency to want to control everything. Since there are always situations that can’t be controlled, suffering occurs. Unfortunately, this suffering can’t be escaped. Your goal should never be to avoid mistakes at all costs and seek control. Your goal should be to strengthen your perseverance by effectively dealing with the situation when things go awry. Read the rest of this entry »

PROBLEMS! Why can we not get over this for good? And why the heck am I writing about it, have I run out of issues worthy of concern? I guess not. In fact this is the most important issue I must address because most people are making a huge mistake on how they perceive the true nature of problems? Read the rest of this entry »

We all come to a certain point in our creative endeavors when we run out of ideas. When this happens most of us gets anxious. We believe the feeling that all our creative juices have dried up and entertain the fear we can’t deliver anymore: in the fields of blogging and writing many end up quitting because they can no longer compose good topics to publish. These are our automatic responses when we reach the end of our ropes. Our mind prompts us to accept this lies as facts, and unconsciously we abide—unaware of our power to command the situation. Read the rest of this entry »