Maintaining a Positive Mind Set- Lessons from The Little Engine That Could

Prepared byJim Messina, Ph.D.

What is the Can Do Attitude?

Committing to the “Can Do” attitude of The Little Engine that Could so you will be able to help your organization change its culture and climate

Committing to helping your organization to become more connected and caring so that it becomes legendary in its productivity, profitability, and employee morale

Committing to extending yourself beyond your current comfort zone so that you become more than you ever expected yourself to become in your current organization

So What is the Story About?

We find a little Engine at the beginning of the book chugging, puffing, and “ding donging” along as a happy little train bringing good things to kids on the other side of the mountain

She was happy because she was carrying a full load of things which were good for these little girls and boys

She had cars filled with toy animals, dolls, toy clowns, toy engines, airplanes, tops, jack-knives, puzzles, and books

Our Engine Becomes Down & Out

She also was carrying cars filled with good things for girls and boys to eat like oranges, apples, creamy milk, fresh spinach, peppermint drops and lollypops

Then ALL OF A SUDDEN she stopped with a jerk and she could not get her wheels to turn any longer she became Down & Out!

OH Boy! What were all the good little girls and boys on the other side of the mountain going to do without all these goodies the engine was carrying?

Here she is: DOWN and OUT

What was the Mission of Down and Out?

Down & Out was doing a service for others. She was not just delivering items. She was in the process of enhancing and enriching the lives of the girls and boys on the other side of the mountain

Down & Out was not just doing a job, she was in the process of making life better for others

Down & Out was being a Legend to those on the other side of the mountain for the good she was providing them

Down & Out did not feel like she was working a j.o.b. She felt like she was on a mission!

But our little engine became Down & Out

Are you Down and Out?

Has your organization been experiencing: Low employee morale High employee turnover Low productivity Low profitability Poor customer retention Poor market share in your community If so then you need to become a NEW

ENGINE to pull the train of your Organization to achieve its mission

First up was Shiny the new passenger engine The first to appear after Down & Out

broke down was the Shiny New Engine The toys on the train pleaded to Shiny to

pull their train over the mountain so that the girls and boys on the other side of the mountain would have toys to play with and food to eat

Shiny said: “I am a Passenger Engine entitled to only carry the finest of cars and people and there is no way I would pull the likes of your train! Indeed not!”

SHINY

Are You a SHINY? Do you believe like Shiny that you are

entitled to be given good things without putting yourself out to get them?

Are you not open to doing more than a j.o.b.? Are you not at all committed to a mission of

caring for people? Are you more focused on what you

accomplish and not on how others benefit from what you do?

Are you self-absorbed with your Brilliance”? Are you a Shiny New Engine who can’t?

Well maybe BIGGIE the Freight Engine will help!

After Shiny went to the round house where engines that are not busy go, along came BIGGIE a Big Freight Engine

Again the toys and dolls asked him to bring the train over to the other side of the mountain to give the good little girls and boys things to play with and food to eat

Well BIGGIE said he was a Freight Engine who had just done major work of great importance and that he would not pull the likes of the children’s train and he puffed off indignantly to the roundhouse

BIGGIE

Well are You a BIGGIE? Are you filled with self-importance and

wait for others to recognize your worth and value without extending yourself to others?

Are you so full of yourself that you can only think of your needs and not the needs of others with whom you work and serve?

Are you always on the defense lest someone ask you to do something that you feel is beneath you?

Are you a BIGGIE who is a “little nobody who thinks of self as being a big somebody” but is one who can’t think outside of him or herself for others?

Maybe Rusty, the old engine will do it!

As BIGGIE rolled into the roundhouse, the toys and dolls waved to a dingy, rusty old engine and asked for help

But Rusty sighed and said that he was so tired that he had to rest his weary wheels

Rusty went on to say: I cannot, I cannot, I cannot!...

Rusty

So are You a Rusty? Are you so burned out and tired that you do

not have the energy or desire to change even if the opportunity is great and rewarding in the end?

Are you so blind by your being a “victim” that you cannot see yourself being a “winner?”

Are you so worn out from the day to day work you do that you have lost any vision or imagination of how things could get better?

Are you Rusty who cannot, cannot, cannot?

Along come Little Blue Little BlueLittle Blue was chugging along merrily

when asked by the toys and dolls to carry their train over to the girls and boys on the other side of the mountain

Little BlueLittle Blue was honest with them saying that she was not very big and had never been over the mountain and that she was only used for switching trains

Little Blue

Little Blue has a Heart for People

Little BlueLittle Blue listened to the request of the toys and dolls and she was moved when she saw the tears in their eyes as they explained how the children on the other side of the mountain would not have any good things to play with or good foods to eat!

Little BlueLittle Blue thought about the poor children on the other side of the mountain who would be going without and she…

Little BlueLittle Blue said “I think I can!”

Little BlueLittle Blue hitched herself to the little train and tugged, pulled and slowly started off!

Puff, puff, chug, chug Little BlueLittle Blue started off Little BlueLittle Blue was saying as she went: I think I

can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can… Up, up, faster and faster she climbed until

she reached the top of the mountain, down in the valley was the city with the little girls and boys…

Little BlueLittle Blue proclaims “I thought I could”

“Hurray” cried the clowns and dolls at the top of the mountain-the little girls and boys in the city would be happy because Little BlueLittle Blue helped the little train achieve its goal!

Little BlueLittle Blue smiled and said I thought I could, I thought I could, I thought I could…

So are you like Little Little BlueBlue? Do you have your mind and heart open to

“possibility thinking” rather than “impossibility thinking?”

Do you allow yourself to put yourself out for others knowing that you are extending yourself well beyond your comfort zone?

Do you allow yourself to be optimistic in your outlook and set aside the negatives in your life which could hinder your attitude and perspective on life?

So are you like Little Little BlueBlue? Are you able to take risks to change the

way you think, feel, and act in situations like Little BlueLittle Blue or are you stuck like Down & Out, Shiny, BIGGIE, and Rusty?

Are you able to “step out of yourself” and show concern for others in need?

Do you want rewards which are visible or can you be as happy with knowing you are doing good like Little BlueLittle Blue was feeling once she came down the mountain to the city with the train for the little girls and boys?

So are you like Little Blue?

Are pay, benefits, and bonuses the only way you feel rewarded at work or are you like Little Blue who is rewarded by knowing that you have done a good job which benefits others?

So can you be like Little Blue and take on the “can do attitude?”

Believe you Can Do like Little Blue!

You can help your organization grow into being a connected and caring Team

You can help yourself to become more positive and more optimistic in your outlook which will spill over into all aspects of your life

You can become mission driven to be there for others and just being there for yourself

You can change as long as YOU THINK YOU CAN!

Additional Lessons to learn1. Love is why we are here2. The most important day is today3. If you always do your best, you will have no

regrets4. Sometimes a wrong turn will bring you to

exactly the right place5. For all your accomplishments, nothing will

bring you more happiness than the love you find

Reference:

The Little Engine that Could by Walter Piper. Grosset & Dunlap 1978

The Website Home of The Little Engine that Could: http://us.penguingroup.com/static/packages/us/yreaders/littleenginetc/books.htm

References on Coping.us Power of Self-Affirmations:

http://coping.us/toolsforpersonalgrowth/selfaffirmationsthatwork.html

Handling Fear of Success: http://coping.us/toolsforpersonalgrowth/handlingfearofsuccess.html

Accepting Personal Responsibility: http://coping.us/toolsforpersonalgrowth/acceptingpersonalresponsibility.html

Handling Pride: http://coping.us/toolsforpersonalgrowth/handlingpride.html

Handling Need for Approval: http://coping.us/toolsforrelationships/handlingneedforapproval.html

Overcoming Role of Victim and Martyr: http://coping.us/toolsforrelationships/victimvsmartyr.html