Attitude IS Everything – Jeff Keller

INTRODUCTION

The Night That Changed My Life
The greatest discovery of my generation is that human
beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of
mind.
—WILLIAM JAMES

In 1980, I graduated from law school and thought I’d be a lawyer for the
rest of my life. After all, that’s what I’d wanted to do since my early
teenage years.

At first, everything went according to plan. After lots of studying that
summer, I passed the Bar Examination and was admitted to practice law in
New York. My personal life was also on the upswing. In early 1981, I
married Dolores, a law school classmate. I was on my way to much success
and happiness.

Or so I thought.
But, after practicing law for a few years, I realized I wasn’t happy at all.
Sure, there were some things I liked about being a lawyer. I enjoyed
helping people resolve their disputes, especially when I could save them the
agony of lengthy court proceedings.

Yet, there were so many things about being an attorney that I disliked—
and that just seemed to drain the life out of me. Mounds and mounds of
tedious paperwork and motions to be filed. Constant delays and
postponements. It was not uncommon for a trial to be postponed 10 times.

I Dreaded Going To Work
I continued to grind out the work but grew more and more dissatisfied as an
attorney. I was frustrated and very depressed. To put it bluntly, I didn’t like
my life, and saw no way that things were going to improve.

Have you ever had a job where you dreaded going to work most days—
where you felt the “weight of the world” on your shoulders each day?
Well, that’s how I felt. I was literally hunched over … and in pain, both
physically and emotionally. I looked much older than my years. I began to
get headaches all the time, and my stomach was constantly churning.

Fearing that I had some serious health problem, I saw some doctors and
they ordered a battery of tests. Every test came back with the same result—
they couldn’t find anything physically wrong with me. One of the doctors
suggested that I take Maalox to calm my upset stomach.

Spiritually, I was dead. Nothing in my life had much meaning. This day
to-day drudgery was also affecting my appearance. Although I was in my
late 20s, I looked like I was 40!

In the early part of 1985, shortly after I had turned 30 years old, I was
burned out. And, one particular evening, while sitting alone in my den, I
knew that something had to change. Not knowing what to do, I simply said
out loud,

“There’s got to be more to my life than this … there’s got to be more than
this misery and unhappiness.”

Help Comes From An Unlikely Source
Later that night, I was watching TV in the den. It was around 1:00 am, and
my wife, Dolores, had already gone to bed. But I was feeling so down I
couldn’t sleep. I “channel surfed” looking for something to occupy my
time. I tuned in to, of all things, an infomercial.

Normally, I would have changed that channel in a fraction of a second,
but for some reason, I listened.

The product being peddled was called The Mental Bank and was
endorsed by actress Florence Henderson of Brady Bunch fame. The Mental
Bank was a home-study course that explained how everything we achieve
in life is based upon our subconscious beliefs.

You are not what you think you are. But
what you think — YOU ARE!