- **Symptoms:** Shrugging shoulders, drifting without purpose, believing effort isn’t needed. - **Cure:** *Pour everything you have into every action.* Treat every task as an experiment that either opens opportunity or reveals a better path.

- **Symptoms:** Chronic anxiety that harms health, relationships, and finances. - **Cure:** *Eliminate the habit.* The speaker spent a year deliberately dropping worry, learning that life can be challenging yet free of needless anxiety.

Overcoming Attitude Diseases: A Guide to Personal Success

Q: 2. Indecision (Mental Paralysis)

- **Symptoms:** Stuck on the fence, fearing the wrong choice. - **Cure:** *Pick a direction and move.* Any side is better than none; wrong choices provide valuable experience.

Q: 3. Doubt (Especially Self‑Doubt)

- **Symptoms:** Constant questioning of ability, worth, and future success. - **Cure:** *Flip the coin to belief.* Cultivate self‑worth and become a believer in your own potential.

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Summary Date: 2025-12-02 03:49:30

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2 min read

Overcoming Attitude Diseases: A Guide to Personal Success

Introduction

In a world full of hidden traps, the biggest obstacles to achievement are often internal—what the speaker calls "attitude diseases." These mental habits sabotage ambition, health, and wealth. The talk walks through each disease, shows how to recognize it, and offers practical cures based on personal experience.

1. Indifference

Symptoms: Shrugging shoulders, drifting without purpose, believing effort isn’t needed.
Cure: Pour everything you have into every action. Treat every task as an experiment that either opens opportunity or reveals a better path.

2. Indecision (Mental Paralysis)

Symptoms: Stuck on the fence, fearing the wrong choice.
Cure: Pick a direction and move. Any side is better than none; wrong choices provide valuable experience.

3. Doubt (Especially Self‑Doubt)

Symptoms: Constant questioning of ability, worth, and future success.
Cure: Flip the coin to belief. Cultivate self‑worth and become a believer in your own potential.

4. Worry

Symptoms: Chronic anxiety that harms health, relationships, and finances.
Cure: Eliminate the habit. The speaker spent a year deliberately dropping worry, learning that life can be challenging yet free of needless anxiety.

5. Overcaution (Timid Approach)

Symptoms: “What if?” thinking that paralyzes action; the “language of the poor.”
Cure: Embrace risk as inevitable. Recognize that every life choice—marriage, business, investing—is risky; avoiding risk carries its own, often larger, cost.

6. Pessimism

Symptoms: Focusing on problems, counting reasons why something won’t work, seeing the glass as half empty.
Cure: Shift perspective. Adopt optimistic thinking; understand that thoughts shape reality more than facts do.

7. Poor Thinking Habits

Symptoms: Feeding the mind with negative news, gossip, or “trash,” which contaminates the mental “factory.”
Cure: Guard the mind’s door. Choose constructive inputs, read uplifting material, and treat thoughts as ingredients for a prosperous life.

8. Complaining (Whining, Murmuring)

Symptoms: Frequent griping drains time and creates “economic cancer.”
Cure: Stop the habit. Five minutes of complaining wastes five minutes of productive life and erodes future success.

Strategies for a Healthy Mental Life

Commit to action: Whatever you do, give it your full effort.
Decide quickly: Choose a path and learn from the outcome.
Believe in yourself: Replace self‑doubt with confidence.
Practice risk‑acceptance: View risk as a natural part of living.
Cultivate optimism: Focus on possibilities, not obstacles.
Curate mental input: Feed the mind with positive, useful information.
Eliminate complaints: Replace whining with problem‑solving.

Final Thought

The speaker frames life as a war against these internal diseases. Winning requires daily vigilance, purposeful action, and a mindset that fuels growth rather than decay.

The most powerful weapon against failure is a disciplined mind: recognize and eradicate indifference, indecision, doubt, worry, overcaution, pessimism, poor thinking habits, and complaining, and replace them with purposeful action, confidence, risk‑embracing, optimism, and mindful thought.

Full Transcript

There's a lot of things that can wreck
your chances to do well. We live in a
rather dangerous world. So, you got to
be not only wise, you got to be careful.
And attitude diseases are deadly. I
mean, they'll destroy all the good
things you start. So, we'll go through
those attitude diseases. How to spot
them, how to look for them, what they
are, and and the cure. And I'm a pro on
these cuz I've had them all. So, I can
give you excellent advice on these.
Here's the list. Attitude diseases.
Number one is indifference.
The shrug of the shoulder. The guy's not
even concerned. He's just drifting.
There's one problem with drift. You
cannot drift to the top of the mountain.
The guy says, "Well, I can't see getting
all that worked up." Well,
to be any kind of winner, you got to get
worked up. Here's the key to the good
life. Learn to put everything you've got
into everything you do.
Whatever you are doing, pour it on. It
will quickly open up into opportunity or
quickly disclose to you that you ought
to be doing something else.
The delusion is if I had a better job,
I'd really pour it on.
See, that's delusion.
Wherever you are, pour it on. See,
that'll help change your life. Get rid
of this disease. Here's the next
attitude disease. Indecision.
Mental paralysis. The guy can't make up
his mind and it becomes a disease.
Pretty soon he knows he's got it. The
guy says, "Well, I know I'm on the
fence."
But he says, "What if I get off on the
wrong side?" Listen, after a while, it
doesn't matter. Just get off.
Any side will do. Here's the best way to
live. One way or the other, that's best.
Pick a direction and go with everything
you got. Just pick one and go.
Somebody says, "Yeah, but what if it's
the wrong direction?" You'll find out
quicker.
A life full of adventure is a life full
of many decisions. The ones that turn
out to be wrong give you better
experience to make better decisions. So
don't see how many decisions you can get
out of. See how many you can get into.
That's where the adventure is. So shake
off this disease, indecision.
The next one is doubt.
Doubt's like a plague. And one of the
worst is self-doubt. There are many, but
that's one of the worst. The guy doubts
himself. Doubts if it'll last that long
for him. Doubts if he can do that well.
Doubts if he can make that much. Doubts
if he can accomplish all that. A chronic
excellent self-doubter.
You can imagine what damage that does to
your future. So, here's the key. Turn
this coin over and become a believer.
And there's many things to believe in.
One of the majors is yourself.
The understanding of selfworth is the
beginning of progress.
Now, if those three don't get you, this
one will. Worry,
that's a devastating disease. Worry.
Worry causes health problems, social
problems, personal problems, family
problems. It's devastating.
Worry long enough, it'll drop you to
your knees.
could reduce it to begging.
I know how bad this one is. I used to
have it bad.
I used to be known as a super worrier.
Not a super warrior. No super worrier.
My family wished I'd have been a
warrior.
I got those years to make up for.
But I tell you what, my advice to you is
do what I finally did on worry.
Give it up.
Who needs it? I'm not saying it's easy.
I'm saying it's worth it.
It took me almost one year to kick the
worry habit. And it was not an easy
year. It was one of the toughest years I
ever spent. But I finally got that
monkey off my back. And I discovered you
could live the most incredible life free
of worry.
Not free of challenge, not free of
difficulty, free of worry. I learned how
to do it. And you can
here's the next attitude disease
overcaution.
Some people never will have much.
They're too cautious.
Now you can also be too reckless, but
you can also be too cautious.
This is called the timid approach to
life.
And my caution was always the risk. Risk
used to drive me right up the wall. I
used to say, "What if this happens?"
It's called the language of the poor.
What if this happens? And on top of
that, if this was to happen, look at the
fix I'd be in. I better not try.
I could always ace myself out.
Then I'll tell you what changed my whole
life when I finally discovered it's all
risky.
The minute you were born it got risky.
If you think trying is risky, wait till
they hand you the bill for not trying.
If you think investing is risky, wait
till you get the tab for not investing.
See, it's all risky. Getting married is
risky. Having children is risky. Going
into business is risky. Investing your
money is risky. It's all risky.
I'll tell you how risky life is. You're
not going to get out alive.
That's risky.
The Englishman says, "Well, if that's
the way it's going to work out, let's
give it a go." Right? That's what it's
for. Give it a go.
Somebody says, "Yeah, but I'm looking
for safety and security." Fine, then
huddle in a corner.
We'll cover you with a sheet, bring you
three meals a day, and we'll protect
you, feed you. look after you, care for
you, we won't let anything happen to
you, and you'll probably live to be
100."
The guy said, "Well, yeah, I'd live to
be 100, but what a way to live, right?
What a way to live safe and secure.
Don't ask for security. Ask for
adventure.
Better to live 30 years full of
adventure than 100 years safe in the
corner.
Here's
the next attitude disease. We're almost
through with this mly list. In fact,
we're almost through. Hang on.
The next one is pessimism.
Pessimism. The deadly disease of always
looking on the bad side, the problem
side, the difficult side, checking all
the reasons why it can't be done. The
poor pessimist leads an ugly life.
He doesn't try to figure out what's
right. He tries to figure out what's
wrong.
He doesn't look for virtue. He looks for
faults. And when he finds them, he's
delighted. How ugly.
This is the poor guy looks through the
window, doesn't see the sunset. He sees
the specks on the window.
And this is the poor guy, right, who
rushes up, takes such leave of his
senses. This guy rushes up and he says,
"I've got five good reasons why it won't
work." He's so dumb. He doesn't know.
All he needs is one. He's got five.
To the pessimist, the glass is always
half
empty.
To the optimist, the glass is half full.
Why would the same measure affect people
two different ways? answer. It all
depends on how you look at it. Our lives
are mostly affected by the way we think
things are,
not the way they are. The way we think
they are affects us most.
There's a subject we don't have time to
get into tonight called better thinking
habits.
One of the major things Cha taught me
when I met him, he said poor thinking
habits keeps most people poor. Not poor
working habits. Most people work hard
but they don't think hard.
And Schae taught me that the mind is
like a factory, a mental factory. And
whatever you think about all day long
pours ingredients into this mental
factory. And that's what builds the
economic, social,
financial fabric of your life.
As you think, so you become.
How awesome.
When he talked about poor thinking
habits, he had me. I used to start the
day reading the morning newspaper.
I mean, you can believe that or not. I'd
get a cup of coffee and read the paper.
I'd load up on wars and riots and
murders and stabbings and killings and
bank robberies and muggings and car
wrecks and tragedies. I'd even read the
back pages. I seem to like that stuff
for some weird reason. I'd load up on
all that and then I'd start the day. You
can imagine the kind of days I used to
have. You walk around on your financial
knees. They call you economic pee-wee.
The guy says, "I want to be a great
leader." Wonderful. The first thing we
do is follow him to his house. When we
get there, we walk in and check his
library.
Number one,
somebody says, "Well, why check his
library?"
The reason is because what a man reads
pours massive ingredients into his
mental factory and the fabric of his
life is built from those ingredients.
You would not believe what some people
have got in their house to read.
You would not believe. One of the best
dressed up words I know for a lot of it
is trash.
Can you imagine dumping a barrel of
trash into this mental factory every day
and coming out with a rich, dynamic,
positive life? It can't be done.
You might as well try making a cake with
cement.
The kids back in Danbury, Connecticut
high school, they're asking me questions
one day. I'm talking to the kids. Kids
got good questions these days. One of
them said to me, "Mr. Ron, how do you
build the good life?"
I said, "It's simple.
It's not easy, but it's simple. Here's
how you build anything. Select the right
ingredients. Keep out the wrong
ingredients. And it starts with thought.
Everything starts with thought. So, you
must be wise and careful what you think
about because that starts everything.
I asked the kids,
"What would happen if somebody dropped
sugar in my coffee?" They said, "Well,
you'd be okay." I said, "What if
somebody dropped strick nine in my
coffee?"
They said, "Well, you'd be dead." I
said, "Correct. Lesson one. Life is both
sugar and strick nine.
You got to be careful.
I said, "What if my worst enemy drops in
the sugar?" They said, "Will you be
okay?" I said, "What if my best friend,
even by accident, drops in the strick
nine?" They said, "Well, you'd be dead."
I said, "Correct." Lesson two, watch
your coffee.
You got to be careful. See, it doesn't
matter who hands you the bad stuff. It
doesn't matter where you get the bad
stuff. It'll still do its damage on your
bank account wherever you get it.
Mr. Schae gave me one of the greatest
phrases when I first met him when he
said, "Jim, every day, stand guard at
the door of your mind."
How important.
stand guard at the door of your mind
and you decide what goes into your
mental factory. Don't let anybody just
dump anything they want to in your
mental factory cuz you've got to live
with the results. Okay, here's the last
disease and we're through with this
list. The last subject is very brief.
The last disease, but this one is
deadly. Engage in this when indulge in
it even slightly and you might as well
forget the future because it's going to
forget you. Complaining,
crying, whining, griping, a Bible word
called murmuring. See, that'll ace your
future.
Spend five minutes complaining and you
have wasted five. And you may have begun
what's known as economic cancer of the
bone.
Surely they will soon haul you off into
a financial desert and there let you
choke on the dust of your own regret.
I hope I said that well so you won't
forget. It's a deadly disease. Just be
on the lookout of the things that can
destroy all the good you start. The war
is on. And this evening, tomorrow,
mentally, personally, socially,
economically, you got to make sure
you're winning the war. And this is part
of it.

Summary

Overcoming Attitude Diseases: A Guide to Personal Success

Introduction

1. Indifference

2. Indecision (Mental Paralysis)

3. Doubt (Especially Self‑Doubt)

4. Worry

5. Overcaution (Timid Approach)

6. Pessimism

7. Poor Thinking Habits

8. Complaining (Whining, Murmuring)

Strategies for a Healthy Mental Life

Final Thought

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