The attitude of a successful person is the can do attitude. When a problematic project is given to a successful person, she takes up the task and finds ways to overcome the difficulties. In contrast, the unsuccessful person’s response to a similar project is a series of excuses and discussions about the barriers which will stop him from a successful execution with the conclusion that he should not take up the task.Of course the can do attitude is the attitude of a confident person, and confidence is the result of many successful accomplishments. There seems to be a paradox here: one needs confidence to be successful, but one has to be successful first to gain confidence. For this reason, one needs to start with smaller tasks that have a higher chance of success to build up confidence. Then one can then take on more complicated projects. There are bad managers who hand over difficult tasks to inexperienced employees who are not prepared for the job. This may destroy the employees’ confidence for good and kill otherwise successful careers.
Another hidden message to those of you who are parents: if you want to have successful children, build up their confidence. More importantly, do not destroy their confidence with negative comments such as, you are just dumb!