A positive attitude + A powerful mind

A positive attitude

+ 

A powerful mind

June 7, 2014

By: Gina Yoryet Roman

I am now getting back from ‘Actitudes Poderosas,’ a motivational talk in which Francisco González Martínez, author of ´Reinventa tu vida,’  was one of the guest speakers. He was by far my favorite one, the other speakers were good too but Francisco’s words really enticed me to reflect since I am always too hard on myself even for the smallest things. 

I liked him for the following reasons.

1. He is a very attractive man. LOL! That was definitely a plus but that was not the main reason.
2. He was very energized and smiled all the time, 
3. He got the audience involved by assigning a small exercise. 
4. He used prompts and questions
5. He delivered a message of hope based on his own experience.
6. He emphasized that we must never give up based on life's setbacks. No matter how low we feel, we have to bounce back and face our fears. 
7. He was very genuine and honest because he established rapport with us. 
8. He was able to connect with us and that got us emotionally involved. 
9. As opposed to only talking he asked questions to be able to read us, he showed interest by asking what we were going through without getting into details. Based on that, we worked together on small tactics to learn to let go of our past. 

Once we were through with the interacting exercise, he went on telling us something very important. 

“It is normal to make mistakes but when that happens, we have to take time to reflect to know when and how we failed, learn from those flaws, let go, and take action to avoid making the same mistakes. Don’t beat yourself for that, don’t be too hard on yourself, instead, take time to praise yourself of how hard you are working to be better. 

Do that and don’t hold a grudge on the past because life is full of opportunities to be better people.” 

He also reiterated this:

“Don’t be daunted by life’s mishaps, why not you face your fears, overturn the negative feelings and do the best you can with them?”

He talked about his initiation as a writer and speaker, when he was in school he always failed all his writing classes and on top of that, he wasn’t a good public speaker. When he graduated from college, he went to look for a job at a middle school and ironically one of the classes he had to teach was advanced composition. To make the story short, he was bullied by the girls in his class to the point that he lost all power and control over them. One day they made him sit down on his chair, then all the girls in the class cornered and surrounded him started touching him and took off his belt and tie while the only young man in the class was holding him down so he couldn't move. Coincidentally the principal walked into the room at that precise moment and needless to say, he was fired. His heart was torn into pieces, he felt like a failure and it took him two years to recover from that unpleasant and humiliating incident. 

Once he had gotten over that, he decided to tackle his fears and went back to that same school to ask for a job again. He was given another opportunity and excelled. Now he is one of the most influential Mexican speakers because he has faith, a positive attitude and a powerful mind. Not everyone retaliates against the daunting obstacles in life. We let our circumstances hold us back. 

Francisco is not one to let life play with him, that's why his positive attitude is still resonating in my mind. This event was just the boost I needed after the unwanted outcome of a couple of events in my life that I had no control of and which I kept beating myself for. I want to know more about him and his marvelous and touching words through writing, so the next step is to buy his book, ‘Reinventa tu vida.’