Have An Orientation of Positivity

This is chapter eight of the Quit Giving Up ebook. You can get the whole thing in our shop now!

This is different than Day 5 when we had talked about positive thought placement. What if we did not need to change the thoughts we were having from negative to positive, but instead our natural inclination was to be positive?

Here’s an example of what I mean.

The 1976 movie Rocky features a nobody boxer who, against all odds, gets a shot at the world heavyweight championship. The whole strategy of Rocky through the six movies is that he takes a hit and keeps on ticking. Sure, he’s not the fastest, strongest, or even most skilled. But he’s determined and that determination is due to his positivity.

In the movie, Rocky boils down his very essence of who he is with his determination into one short scene. Before you read the quote, you really should cue up Eye Of The Tiger to play in the background.
(Here’s a link to a YouTube clip if you need it.)

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that.

Rocky Balboa (Rocky)

You are going to face times where it feels like your ministry is that mean and nasty place where it hits you hard.

• You come up with this great idea to write for your book or blog, get the website setup, and then you start to find you do not have a ton of time to devote to it. Three months go by and not a word has been written down.
• A volunteer quits because you gave a specific job to someone else who was not the senior member but was more experienced.
• You put in a budgeted line item for an upgraded soundboard as your current one is from the 70s and your pastor says it is definitely time to get a new one. The board removes it immediately, says what you have now is good enough.

Even worse might be that you’ve experienced these shortcomings and no’s before and decided to stop taking risks or putting yourself out there for your ministry. It’s not going to work, so why even try. Nobody wants a Debbie Downer.

Cowards do that and that ain’t you.

• You say you don’t have enough time to blog but know it’s important to you. A quick assessment of what you did last week includes 5 hours of XBox, 9 hours of social media, and 11 hours of YouTube and television. You’ve decided this is more important and have just gained 25 hours of writing time.
• Your volunteer quit, but if they gave up that easily over a decision you made, imagine if you had given them the more important job and they quit for something so petty. At least they showed you what they really thought now when they have a job that isn’t mission critical. Go find someone to replace the spot and keep moving forward.
• You did not get the soundboard. If you thought ahead or are able to attend a follow-up budget meeting, put it on the board what will happen when, not if, the soundboard goes out and they do not have a couple thousand dollars of emergency money. Further, track that no to encourage them to say yes at a later date.

It Takes Practice To Develop An Orientation

Do not expect to read this and assume that things will magically fall into place. A positive orientation is something that takes time to develop. Even further, you have to undo that long run of practicing negativity and old habits which will require even more effort.

LeBron James may have a ton of raw talent, but his dedication to training, eating healthy, resting as hard as he plays, and always improving his craft has led to him to do amazing stuff. The same goes for Walt Disney who at the age of 22 was fired from a Missouri newspaper for “not being creative enough” and bankrupted his company before Disney World, called Laugh-o-gram Studios. Here is a quote of Disney’s about moving forward that was memorialized in the movie Meet the Robinsons.

Around here we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

Walt Disney

Besides you, what else is holding you back? How can a positive orientation change your entire ministry?