Positive self-expectancy is the first, most outwardly identifiable quality of a top-achieving, winning human being. Positive self-expectancy is pure and simple optimism: real enthusiasm for everything you do... [while] expecting the most favorable result from your own actions. There never was a winner who didn't expect to win in advance. Winners understand that life is a self-fulfilling prophecy. And they know that you usually get what you expect in the long run.
Interpretation
Positive self-expectancy is crucial for achieving success, as it embodies optimism and enthusiasm for one's actions.
In this quote, Denis Waitley emphasizes the importance of positive self-expectancy as a fundamental trait of successful individuals. He argues that winners are driven by optimism and a strong belief in favorable outcomes, which often leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy where one's expectations shape their reality. The quote highlights that to achieve victory, one must first expect to win, suggesting that mindset plays a pivotal role in personal and professional success.
In practice
This quote can inspire students at a graduation ceremony to believe in their future success.
Procrastination is the fear of success. People procrastinate because they are afraid of the success that they know will result if they move ahead now. Because success is heavy, carries a responsibility with it, it is much easier to procrastinate and live on the "someday I'll" philosophy.
Winners have the ability to step back from the canvas of their lives like an artist gaining perspective. They make their lives a work of art - an individual masterpiece.
Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past and enjoy working in the present toward the future.
The easiest thing to do in the world is to neglect the important and give in to the urgent.
You are an uncut gemstone of priceless value. Cut and polish your potential with knowledge, skills and service and you will be in great demand throughout your life.
Expect the best; convert problems into opportunities; be dissatisfied with the status quo; focus on where you want to go, instead of where you're coming from; and most importantly, decide to be happy, knowing it's an attitude, a habit gained from daily practice, and not a result or payoff.
Human beings are the only creatures who are allowed to fail. If an ant fails, it's dead. But we're allowed to learn from our mistakes and from our failures. And that's how I learn, by falling flat on my face and picking myself up and starting all over again.
All good men and women must take responsibility to create legacies that will take the next generation to a level we could only imagine.
There is no such thing as failure. There are only results.
To win the big stakes in this changed world, you must catch the spirit of the great pioneers of the past, whose dreams have given to civilization all that it has of value, the spirit that serves as the life-blood of our own country – your opportunity and mine, to develop and market our talents.
Never give up! Failure and rejection are only the first step to succeeding.
I determined never to stop until I had come to the end and achieved my purpose.
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