In the Entrepreneurial Mindset class, the first of the eight life’s lessons is “It’s your choices not your circumstances that control the outcome of your life.”  For each of us, our mind is the one and only area over which we as humans each have total control.  What we’ve learned after four years of Entrepreneurial Mindset and two years of Fab Lab ICC is that, through our thoughts and related choices and decisions, we have much more control over our life’s outcome than our society has led us to believe. 

We can greatly influence our outcomes in all facets of our lives—work, school and personal—by the way we think.  Much of what we think about comes to pass, whether positive or negative.  Thinking you’re going to flunk that big test will influence you toward failure.  Thinking you’re going to do well, especially if you’ve prepared, will influence you toward success.  (BTW, what’s the real life-long significance of whether you pass or fail any particular test?  That’s a subject for another discussion.) 

The power of positive or negative thought does influence our lives.  In a conversation with a couple of our ICC students the other day they both said, in so many words, “I always expect the worst.”  Both have had plenty of “the worst” over the past few months.  Now I know why. 

We’re bombarded every day with dozens, maybe hundreds of messages encouraging us to expect the worst.  Some, like the pharmaceutical commercials are blatant “You may be sick with a disease you didn’t even know about. Ask your doctor about xyz to see if it’s right for you.”  Some are more subtle “Watch out.  If you do badly on these tests, you’ll do badly on your ACT or SAT tests.  Then you won’t get into one of a hand full of good colleges and your life will be ruined.” 

Our message needs to be “Expect the best and much of the time you’ll get it.”  When we get less than the best, we can learn how to do better next time.  These lessons lead to happier, more productive and fulfilling lives.  It’s all about expecting the best and learning to respond in a positive way to the “less than the best.” 

Does positive thought mean we’ll never have flat tires, broken down cars, flunked tests or even illness?  No, but we will have fewer of those kinds of things and the positive thoughts and attitudes can help our lives benefit even from life’s challenges. 

There are thousands of books on positive thinking, but three that have been of great influence to millions of people are:  “Who Owns the Ice House?”, “The Power of Positive Thinking” and “Think and Grow Rich.” 

Jim Correll can be reached at (620) 252-5349 or by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of Fab Lab ICC or Independence Community College. Archive columns and podcasts at www.fablabicc.org.