SELF-ESTEEM

At the Pan American Games, Greg Louganis was asked how he coped with the stress of international diving competition. He replied that he climbs to the board, takes a deep breath, and thinks, "Even if I blow this dive, my mother will still love me." Then he goes for excellence. At the beginning of each day, how good it would be for each of us to take a deep breath, say, "Even if I blow this dive, my mother will still love me", and then, assured of grace, go into the day seeking a perfect 10!

Keith Brown.

Statistics and Research

Abraham Koramn found that individuals who are told they are incompetent to achieve a certain goal or do a certain task even though they had no pervious experience with the task, will perform worse than those who are told they are competent to achieve the goals and do the task.

Bernard Rosenbaum, How to Motivate Today's Workers, p. 22.