What's your attitude?

Success with investing is determined largely by your mindset and to a much lesser extent by mechanics. I see many intelligent people with mediocre investment returns largely because they lack the right mindset and attitude.

If you study success stories you'll notice that nearly all successful people have a burning desire to succeed. Your frame of mind and attitude is a big determining factor in achieving your desired outcomes. Age, location, ethnic origin, gender, education or religious belief tend to have no consistent effect on your outcome.

With any endeavor in life, your attitude plays a large role in determining what you end up achieving. As Zig Ziglar said, "your attitude determines your altitude".

The good news is that even if your attitude is not as robust as you would like it to be, you can improve it. One of the fastest ways to transform your attitude is to change the language you use. For example, you need to replace "I can't" with "I will find a way", "I don't have the time" with "I will make the time", "I am afraid of" with "I am learning about" and "I doubt it" with "that sounds amazing!". Your words shape your attitude.

Closely related to your attitude is whether you are naturally optimistic or pessimistic. Optimists believe there is enough to go round for everyone and that they can get their fair share while pessimists believe that there is always a chronic shortage and the only way that they can have something is to deprive someone else. It is the difference between having an abundance mentality or a scarcity mentality.

To check your attitude, try this exercise. Twice a day, pull out a piece of paper and write down whether you were in a state of abundance or a state of scarcity. Set an alarm to remind you to do this if needed. If you do this for seven days you will notice a pattern which will let you determine whether you have an abundance consciousness or a scarcity consciousness. If you have a scarcity consciousness then take steps to correct it.

To move from a scarcity consciousness to an abundance consciousness, associate with optimistic people, read uplifting articles and if you must watch television watch optimistic programs. Don't watch depressing newscasts or sitcoms. Instead do things that make you laugh and that inspire you. When you do this you will start to believe that you can achieve more, and the sky will be the limit.