My friend Rick Salmeron recently shared this video with me.  I am grateful for the reminder that the only road to success is through repeated failure. 

We hear all the time about the power of positive thinking, but what about the power of positive speaking?  No matter how bad our thoughts may be, at least we can keep them to ourselves. Words, on the other hand, can never be taken back.  Who can forget the sting of words that hurt?  Negative words, even offhanded remarks directed at nobody in particular, can weaken our bodies and deflate our spirits. In his book The No Complaining Rule, author Jon Gordon reveals this about the power of negative words:

• Negativity increases stress and pain, and reduces energy and success.
• Ninety percent of doctor’s visits are related to stress, a consequence of negativity.
• One negative person can create a miserable environment for everyone else.
• Negative people have fewer friends.
• Costs the U.S. economy between $250 and $300 billion per year in lost productivity, according to the Gallup poll.

Our communication style even reflects our spiritual health (visit my extended post on SustainLane.com to learn why).  As a practical matter, positive communications is a necessary life skill, an essential part of emotional intelligence, a way to get ahead, and a way to be decent to others.  Positive communications also boosts your influence. Here are some powerful statements on the power of positive words from a very diverse set of leaders:

Well, it’s been three weeks since I started this blog. If I’m so excited about it (which I am), then what is keeping me from posting more frequently?  For starters, staring at my blank screen and all of these categories. I wonder how I will ever create a blog as great as the one by my agent Rachelle Gardner.  How will I find the words (or even the time) to enrich my readers? Better yet, how do I find readers at all??? 

I remember these fears.  They are the same ones that I had going into writing almost three years ago.   At that time, my friend Nancy gave me a wonderful book by the amazing Anne Lamott.  In Bird by Bird, Lamott gives the best advice on writing I have ever heard. Here are a few nuggets: 1) when you have a daunting writing project in front of you (such as a book report covering every species of bird) break it down into manageable pieces.  Take it “bird by bird” so to speak.  And 2) all first drafts are bad.  A bad first draft doesn’t make you a bad writer - everyone has them, so get over it.   Reading that book marked a turning point for me.  Not long after that I published my first articles.  A year later I had my first book contract, and now I’m on to working on my second.