It’s summer time – watermelon is just coming into season.  I had a big bowl of watermelon before I went for a bike ride yesterday.  It was great.  Of course, I am a big fan of watermelon, something I inherited from my dad.  That’s why Wally Amos’ Watermelon Credo caught my eye in the Costco Connection magazine. Wally Amos is the founder of Famous Amos Cookies and Uncle Wally’s Muffin Company.

Wally Amos says the Watermelon Credo is a “guide that has helped me and others through rough times.  I share it with you in the hope that it will help you through these rough times.”  If you are an optimist, you readily acknowledge that these are tough times.  Yet, you know in your heart of hearts that tough times will end.  They will end quicker if you stay positive.

So, in the hopes of helping you stay positive and optimistic in these tough times, I offer you…

The Watermelon Credo

W – Whatever you believe creates your reality.  Believe that life is a positive experience and it will be.

A – Attitude is the magic word.   Your greatest asset is your attitude.  Be positive regardless.

T – Together everyone achieves more.  There are no limits to what we can accomplish together.  I am more that I am but less than we are.

E – Enthusiasm is the wellspring of life.  There is no limit to what can be accomplished with enough enthusiasm.

R – Respect  yourself, as well as other.  When you begin to respect yourself, your whole world changes.

M – Make commitments, not excuses.  There is overwhelming power in the words “Yes I will.”

E – Everyday can be a fun day.  Fun is the lubricant that keeps life moving forward.  Laugh a lot.

L – Love is the answer.   Whatever the question, love is the answer.  It’s the greatest force in the universe.

O – One day at a time.  How do you eat an elephant?  One bit at a time.  All of life happens in increments of one.

N – Never give up or become a victim.  You are guaranteed to lose if you give up.  Winston Churchill was right, “Never, never, never give up.”  It works if you work it.”

The Watermelon Credo is fun, inspirational and a great reminder for us to always live life from our highest self.  Do not allow yourself to be overwhelmed by events.   Let w-a-t-e-r-m-e-l-o-n remind you that you are larger than events.  You have the power to create and change events by what you believe.

I believe in being an optimist.  Optimism is the foundation on which you can build your self confidence and success.

The common sense point here is simple.  Self confidence is a key to career and life success.  Successful people are self confident.  Optimism is the foundation of self confidence.  Wally Amos, founder of Famous Amos Cookies and Uncle Wally’s Muffin Company, says it well in his Watermelon Credo.  “Whatever you believe creates your reality.  Believe that life is a positive experience and it will be.”  Optimists believe that life is a positive experience.  I believe that life is a positive experience.  Of course, I’m a relentless optimist.  How about you?

Self confidence is one of the keys to career and life success that I discuss in Straight Talk for Success and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success.  If you want to become self confident you need to do three things.  First, become an optimist.  Second, face your fears and act.  Fear is the enemy of self confidence.  Action cures fear.  Finally, surround yourself with positive people.  Find and befriend positive, self confident people.  Jettison the negative people in your life.

Dictionary.com defines optimism as, “A disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome.”  Self confident people expect the most favorable outcome – and they are often proved correct.

I came across several quotes about optimism last week.  I’d like to share them here…

• “The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy.”  Dietrich Bonhoffer
• “Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.”  Mary Lou Retton  
• “The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser - in case you thought optimism was dead.” Robert Brault  
• “The optimist sees opportunity in every danger; the pessimist sees danger in every opportunity…I am an optimist – it does not seem to be much use being anything else”  Winston Churchill  
• “Health, happiness and success depend upon the fighting spirit of each person. The big thing is not what happens to us in life - but what we do about what happens to us.”  George Allen

George Allen’s quote doesn’t mention optimism, but I think it captures its essence.  Optimistic people realize that bad stuff happens.  They also realize that they have it within their power to choose to react positively and to make good things happen.  Like Winston Churchill, they see opportunity in tough times.

I did a talk for the Colorado Chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association last Saturday.  The talk was titled, “How to flourish, Not Just Survive in These Tough Times.”  My goal was to help my fellow alums apply my Four Cs of Success model.  I wanted to show them what they could do to ensure that they were least likely to get laid off and most likely to get promoted. 

I spent a lot of time discussing self confidence and optimism.  I borrowed a page from Dietrich Bonhoffer.  I stressed the fact that optimism “is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope…It enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself."

I talked about how facing your fears and acting – even if you fail – can help you hold your head high and claim the future for yourself.  Every time you look your fears in the eye and act, you are becoming a more self confident and optimistic person.  You are daring to try.  Only an optimist can do that.

After the talk, several people approached me to thank me for my words about self confidence and optimism.  They said that things had been getting them down lately, and that they were about to give up on some of their dreams.  They said that my talk gave them the will to keep on trying and to do whatever they have to do to make their dreams a reality.

The common sense point here is clear.  Successful people are self confident.  Self confident people are optimistic.  They take action, even when they are not sure of the outcome.  By facing your fears and acting you become more self confident and optimistic.  You become more self confident because you dared to act – something that is not always easy.  You become more optimistic if you succeed because you have conquered a personal demon.  You become more optimistic even if you fail, because you learn one of the great truths of life – failure is seldom fatal.

Self confidence is one of the keys to career and life success that I discuss in Straight Talk for Success and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success. 

The internet is a great place to meet positive people.  A couple of weeks ago I met Linda Salazar.  She sent me an email asking for my experience with a vendor.  We had a great conversation, and decided to exchange books.  Linda is the author of a great book called Awaken the Genie Within: A Handbook to Help You Silence Your Gremlin, Manage Your Emotions and Bring Out the Best of Who You Are.  That’s a mouthful, but the book lives up to its title.

Linda says we all have our own personal Gremlin…

“The aggressive, internal critic voice that you have been conditioned to listen to and believe for many years.  This voice keeps your fears alive.  It believes it is doing you a service by protecting you from making a mistake.  The Gremlin is strongly invested in keeping your Genie (the gentle internal voice, of your inherent wisdom who knows your truth, champions you, and is your ally and best friend) in the bottle.  I have found that naming my Gremlin gives me more power over it, and I invite you do to the same.  My Gremlin’s name is Gertrude.”

Linda says that your ego is your Gremlin’s best friend because it gives you a false sense of power and self.  She says that when you step outside of your ego, amazing things start to happen.

• You give and receive love more easily.

• Life’s roller coaster ride evens out.

• You become more accepting of others and their opinions, and they of you and yours.

• You take things less personally.

• You actually hear what others have to say that can benefit you.

• You stop creating stories around the highs and lows in life, experiencing less drama.

In other words, you become more optimistic.  When you become less controlled by your ego and Gremlin, it is easier to follow the advice of The Optimist Creed:

Promise Yourself:
• To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
• To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
• To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
• To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimist come true.
• To think only of the best, work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
• To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
• To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
• To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature a smile.
• To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
• To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, to strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

You can’t live by these ten points if your Gremlin is in charge.  You can once you let your Genie out of the bottle.

Linda Salazar suggests naming your Gremlin to give you power over it.  I have named mine “Tom” -- someone who once told me that I am “pathetic.”  On the other hand, I think it is a good idea to name your Genie – not to give you power over it, but to befriend it and honor its presence in your life.  I have named my Genie “Stephanie”-- someone who has given me great support and advice as I change my business model.

The common sense point here is clear.  Successful people are self confident.  Self confident people are optimistic; they face their fears and take action; and they surround themselves with positive people – and imaginary people like their personal Genie.  They tune out the negative messages that come from their personal Gremlin and tune into the positive, helpful messages that come from their personal Genie.

That’s my take on self confidence, gremlins and genies.  What’s yours?  Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.  If you want a .pdf of The Optimist Creed that you can hang in your workspace, please go to http://BudBilanich.com/optimist.

Make it a great week.

Self confidence is one of the keys to career and life success that I discuss in Straight Talk for Success and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success.  If you want to become self confident you need to do three things.  First, become an optimist.  Second, face your fears and take action.  Third, surround yourself with positive people.