The five poisons holding you back.
I was reading a great ebook recently, Self-Discipline in 10 days. It outlines what in the author’s opinion, are the five mental poisons that hold people back.
These were:
- cynicism
- negativism
- defeatism
- escapism
- delayism
As I read the book I couldn’t help but notice how much I agreed with each point. At the end of the day, we ALL have 24 hours in every day and 7 days in every week. Yet look around you, no matter who or where you are, you’ll find that there are others who are doing more, A LOT more than you are. Whether this be on the personal or professional plane, whether it be on a hobby or family. Some people get a lot of things done, and others complain that they’re too busy, too tired, they’ll do it when they have time, its not worth doing because it wont amount to much etc.
All of these mental poisons are pretty equally dangerous and can be the cause of self defeat, broken/unrealized dreams and all kinds of other failures, big and small. In the next few posts I’ll be talking about each… but let me share a few thoughts in general here right now:
First of all, these mental poisons are viral – they can travel and attack and infect others. Don’t believe me? Look around your workplace or other setting… if someone is overly negative or a cynic, all of a sudden it gives the people around that person to be the same way, it becomes an acceptable attitude and then it spreads. That’s why strong leaders don’t tolerate such poisons in their organizations, its just too dangerous. It can destroy morale, it can literally sap the strength of any group.
Do we want everyone to drink the kool-aid and put on the rose colored glasses? No… notice skepticism isn’t on the list, nor should it be. Healthy discussion, debate and review are necessary and should be welcomed. There’s really no other way to prevent groupthink. However its when this positive trait is abused with no facts that it can transform into one of its poisonous forms. More on each of these soon.