| People do better when they feel good, rather than when they feel bad. This is a simple fact of life. When you guide your thoughts and others’ thoughts to focus on the positive and constructive, then the self is nourished and enriched. That’s when people feel good. Andrew Carnegie, the first great industrialist in America, understood this concept well. At one point he had 43 millionaires working for him. A reporter asked him how he managed to hire all of those millionaires. He responded that none of them was a millionaire when he hired them. The reporter inquired, “Then what did you do to pay them enough money so that they became millionaires?” Carnegie responded that you develop people the same way you mine gold. He said, “You go into a gold mine and you expect to remove tons of dirt to find an ounce of gold. But you don’t go into the mine looking for the dirt; you go in there looking for the gold.” The point is to look for the good in people and build on it so they feel good. Focus on it. Guide their thoughts to the good, not to the bad. One of the easiest procedures or habits to develop in order to live this principle is as follows: Before you open your mouth to speak to others, ask yourself, “Is what I am about to say prompt the person to feel good or bad?” (This same procedure also applies to your own self-talk.) If you think the conversation will prompt a negative feeling, change what you plan to say so that the person will not perceive the communications negatively. Tip: Always remember that people are like magnets. They are drawn to the positive and are repelled by the negative. People who are effective at work and in life phrase their thoughts and communications in positive terms. | 
