Whether or not you realize it turns out that talking to yourself is actually a quality of highly successful people.

In the book “Think and Grow Rich,” Napoleon Hill, who spent 25 years studying the qualities of highly successful people, talks about how having faith in yourself is one of the most powerful of all the major positive emotions a person can develop.

But, the question is, how do you develop faith if you don’t yet have it?

Well, it’s simple. You develop faith through self talk by using affirmations.

Hill says, “Repetition of affirmations to your subconscious mind is the only known method of voluntary development of the emotion of faith.”

Hill goes on to say, “It is a well-known fact that one comes to believe whatever one repeats to one’s self, whether the statement be true or false.”

This is why repeating affirmations to yourself are one of the most effective tools for quickly becoming the person you need to be to achieve everything you want in your life.

It’s no coincidence that successful individuals like Will Smith, Jim Carrey, Suze Orman, Muhammad Ali, Tony Robbins, Oprah Winfrey, and many more, have all used affirmations as a tool to help them on their journey to success.

Remember, we believe what we tell ourselves. So, if you don’t consciously design your daily affirmations to be more positive, then you will fail to develop the mindset that you need to take any area of your life to the next level.

How you talk to yourself on a daily basis will have a dramatic influence on your level of success in every area of your life, whether it’s happiness, health, finance, love, confidence, etc.

Thanks for your Wisdom Vincent Carlos

For most people, gratitude is often only expressed after experiencing a momentous occasion, such as receiving a promotion at work or getting married to the love of your life.

But gratitude doesn’t need to be reserved only for momentous occasions. You can also be thankful for something as simple as a delicious piece of pie.

And, fortunately for us, this feeling of gratitude can do a lot for you.

In the book “Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier,”  psychologist Robert Emmons shows that people who regularly practice gratitude by taking time out of their day to notice and reflect upon the things they’re thankful for have scientifically been proven to experience a nearly endless list of benefits and advantages.

According to many studies, practicing gratitude has been shown to improve your physical health, develop a stronger immune system, reduce symptoms of depression, increase one’s well-being and happiness, enhance empathy, improve quality of sleep, enhance self-esteem, increase mental strength, and help you experience more positive emotions such as joy in your life. (and improve your business as well! Sara Ohara).

So, the question we should all be asking ourselves is, how can we practice gratitude so that we can experience all these benefits as well?

Well, there are nearly infinite ways to show our gratitude, but one of the most popular and proven gratitude exercise available is journaling.

Journaling is probably the easiest gratitude exercise available because it’s the most simple. All it requires is a pen and paper.

Here’s how it works: Every morning, think back on the day before, and try to write down 3 things you were especially grateful for that day.

It can be something as little as a cup of coffee at your favorite coffee shop, or as grand as the love of your significant other.

But keep in mind as you’re doing this exercise that the best way to reap the benefits of gratitude is to notice new and fresh things that you’re grateful for every day.

While you might always be thankful for your great family, just writing “I’m grateful for my family” day after day doesn’t keep your brain on alert for fresh grateful moments.

Get specific by writing “Today my significant other gave me a shoulder massage because she knew I was really stressed” or “My sister invited me over for dinner so I didn’t have to cook after a long day.”

By doing this, you’ll start to train your mind to focus less on the bad things that happened in your day and more on all the good things that happened to you.

This will start to slowly change the way you perceive situations by adjusting what you focus on a daily basis.

So, try it out. Do this exercise every day. Over time, you will start to see the profound effects gratitude will have on your well-being and your outlook on life.

Thanks for your Wisdom Vincent Carlos

Attitude is everything – my dad used to say those words to me when I was being a sore loser after losing in a game or sports. As I got older and wiser, like most of us do, I started to realize that my dad was absolutely right about that fact. And, I also started to realize that that lesson applied to more than just sports or activities.

Having the right attitude is key in all areas of life. Keep reading to learn why that is, and a few key attitudes that are must haves if you want to live a life of joy, fulfillment, and success.

Why Your Attitude Is So Important

“Control the controlable” – that’s a statement that makes every control freak shutter with disdain. At its core, what it’s saying is that we need to focus our energy on controlling the things we can actually control in some way, shape, or form, and not fret about those things that are out of our control. And if we’re being completely honest, there aren’t many things that we can control in life. But, one of the few things that we can always control is our attitude. And it’s vitally important that we do so. The reason why is because your attitude influences your actions. And we all know that it’s our actions that determine our success.

As the saying goes, “your attitude determines your altitude.” Meaning that, the type of attitude you approach life with will significantly impact the level of success you will or will not have. Typically, when someone has a bad attitude, it negatively affects their action. These are the naysayers, doubters, and negative Nancies of the world. I don’t know many of those types of people who are out there just killing it. In fact, those tend to be the people who, because of their frustration from a lack of results and success in their own lives, troll and try to tear down those who are trying to create success in theirs.

On the other hand, when you have a positive attitude and outlook, you’re much more likely to take action and get things done. And, not only that, having a positive attitude makes you much more likely to be supportive of others and helpful to them in whatever it is that they have going on. So, an added benefit of a positive attitude is that you’re able to foster better relationships. I don’t know of many millionaires or billionaires that walk around with bad attitudes. In fact, it’s usually quite the opposite. They tend to have great attitudes and outlooks in life, which has allowed them to create the success they’ve achieved.

Now that we know why your attitude is so important, let’s look at a few must-have attitudes that you need in your life.

3 Must Have Attitudes in Life

1. Attitude of Positivity

Let’s take a moment to view your attitude as a pyramid – something that is systematically built over time. At the base of the pyramid would be positivity. Positivity is the prerequisite for all of the other attitudes you need to have in order to, as the Lifehack mission says, “live your best life without sacrifice.”

Positivity has a direct relationship with possibilities. People who are negative tend to have a fixed mindset, and are closed off to all of the possibility that exists in life. Negativity and a victim mindset go hand in hand. Conversely, when someone has a positive outlook and attitude, they are much more likely to have a growth mindset and are open to the abundance that exists within the world.

As I mentioned above, whether you have a positive attitude or not, will affect the action you take. When we take action and achieve a desired outcome, we further expand our mind to possibilities, which furthers our positivity. And you’ll see why, in just a moment, that having a positive attitude is necessary for you to be able to have the other two attitudes we’re going to discuss.

2. Attitude of Gratitude

In this social media society that we live in, where comparison is a common trap to fall into, it’s very easy for someone to have a negative attitude. Someone might feel angry that they didn’t get the “lucky breaks” that the people they follow online did. Or, they may start to feel like a victim, who’s powerless to control their own destiny and achieve the results they desire in life. And once someone gets to that point, that’s when action becomes seemingly impossible, and people give up on the pursuit of their goals, dreams, or aspirations.

This phenomena is prevalent in lower income or disadvantaged communities. Young people grow up not seeing any models of success in their immediate environment. They are also fed limiting stories, from those closest to them, about their inability to ever be able to create a great life for themselves. So, they grow up with a fixed mindset about their potential. And those limiting stories, which often create their reality, leave them feel jaded and like life isn’t fair. All of that coupled together puts them into a state of negativity, which solidifies their inability to create a better life for themselves.

If you’re not careful, comparison will rip your life apart. That’s why an attitude of gratitude is so important. It takes you out of focusing on what you don’t have (i.e. being stuck in comparison mode and a negative attitude), and helps you to focus on all that you do have.

When we think about life from an energetic perspective, there’s nothing that raises our vibration more than gratitude. Focusing on consciously adding more gratitude into your life will be one of the most transformative things you will do, and will positively impact all areas of your life.

3. Attitude of Greatness

One of the things about having a good attitude is that it’s a matter of choice – you have to choose to have a good attitude. Because of the need to survive experienced by our ancestors, our minds naturally have a bent towards the negative. It was a survival mechanism. And, although we don’t have to worry about a saber tooth tiger jumping out of a bush anymore, our brains are still wired that way. So we have to consciously choose to be positive.

Another thing that is a choice in life, and something that will positively impact your life, is becoming great at something. If you take a step back and look at the relationship between a positive attitude and becoming great at something, you’ll see that it’s a symbotic, two-way relationship. Becoming great at something will give you a boost in confidence, which will positively impact your attitude. Looking at it the other way, it typically takes having a positive attitude to want to become great at something.

One key thing to add here is that you need to make sure that you’re pursuing greatness at something that you actually enjoy and that fulfills you. Otherwise, you won’t get that two-way benefit we just discussed. I always did really well in school, but I didn’t enjoy it much, so I didn’t go into it with a great attitude. Luckily, I had a huge why for being successful in school, and that carried me through. But in order to avoid that, set yourself up for success by choosing to become great at something you enjoy.

Think of any great athlete – they aren’t walking around with a bad attitude. They may have a chip on their shoulder, and be hyper-competitive, but they tend to be positive people. And that positivity opens them up to possibility, which deepens their drive to be great. As they continue to pursue greatness, they become more confident, which partner fuels their beliefs about possibilities. And the cycle continues. So, if you’re struggling with a bad attitude, seek to become great at something and see if that doesn’t change.

Bottom Line

Your attitude is everything – don’t try to fight against that truth. Accept it, and allow it to guide you in consciously choosing the attitude you want to have on a daily basis. In particular, be sure to have attitudes of positivity, gratitude, and greatness. Doing that will allow you to live a great life.

Thanks for your Wisdom Justin Aldridge

Hello self Put away your cell phone and other electronic devices. Get a pad of paper to write on.

Objectives What are the 3 main objectives you want to achieve today? Not 33. Just 3 — that should be specific and obtainable.

Plans What are your plans to achieve those objectives? What resources are needed to achieve them? You may not want not to do this, but it is very important.

Encouragement Tell yourself, “This is great; I know I can do them. I’m ready to start my day.”

This is a wonderful way to feel like you have accomplished something every day.

Thanks Dr. Cindi Britton for your Wisdom

But he hasn’t used his success or his age as reasons to rest on his laurels.

“Every morning, I am rising, I am grinding, I am learning,” says Cuban

1. Start the day with a positive attitude

“My rise and grind is to get up every morning knowing how I am going to kick everybody’s a–, first of all, and then get after it,” Cuban says.

The Pittsburgh native grew up in a working-class family. His father installed upholstery in cars and his mom worked any number of odd jobs. But he’s always had a can-do attitude, he says.

“People thought I might go work at a mill. My mom wanted me to learn how to lay carpet because she was concerned about my future.

“Nobody had high hopes for me,” Cuban says in an interview on “Shark Tank.” “But I was a hustler.”

2. Tackle his email inbox

“Usually, I will do my emails — spend about an hour doing that.”

Cuban conducts almost all his business over email.

“No meetings or phone calls unless I’m picking up a check. Everything is email,” Cuban says “Love it. Live on it. Saves me hours and hours every day. No meetings. No phone calls. All because of email. I set my schedule.”

That’s important to Cuban because the entrepreneur considers time the most valuable resource. “You can’t buy it. You can’t find it. You can’t store it. You can’t trade it,”

3. Get up to speed on current events

“Then, I will catch up on all the news.”

Cuban tweets regularly about current events, and for a time, was on a short list of potential presidential candidates for 2020.

“If I was single, I would do it. For sure,” says Cuban, during a court-side interview at a Mavericks team practice in October.

4. Educate himself by reading

Cuban is relentless about staying on top of new trends.

“Then, I start reading. Right now I am learning all about artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, that is the wave of the future. So when I have a topic that I think I need to get up to speed on to stay ahead of everybody,” he reads about it.

Cuban says the first trillionaire will be an AI entrepreneur and everybody should be educating themselves on the topic.

“Whatever you are studying right now if you are not getting up to speed on deep learning, neural networks, etc., you lose,” says Cuban, speaking at SXSW in 2017. “We are going through the process where software will automate software, automation will automate automation.”

Thanks for your Wisdom Catherine Clifford

My brother has a radio show each Tuesday at the college where he used to work and he always ends the show with this – quite a wise guy I’d say!