Mr. Achievement - Stanley F. Bronstein - Personal Development BlogPersonal Development Blog of the Founder of the Achievement IQ Movement and Creator of the Laws of Positioning

Law #17

Position Yourself To Be Constructive

The roster of Nobel Peace Prize winners, though it has some strange people on it from time to time, tends to feature folks who fought for social justice in a nonviolent and constructive way somehow. (Guy Burgess)

Roster - Any list, roll, or register. A list of persons or groups.

Nobel Prize - Any of various awards made annually, beginning in 1901, from funds originally established by Alfred B. Nobel for outstanding achievement in physics, chemistry, medicine or physiology, literature, and the promotion of peace.

Winners - One who succeeds by striving or effort. One who gains victory. One who overcomes an adversary.

Strange - Unusual, extraordinary, or curious; odd.

People - Persons, whether men, women, or children, considered as numerable individuals forming a group.

Time - A limited period or interval, as between two successive events.

Tendency - A natural or prevailing disposition to move, proceed, or act in some direction or toward some point, end, or result.

Feature -Something offered as a special attraction.

Folks - People in general.

Fought - To engage in battle; to attempt to defend oneself against or to subdue, defeat, or destroy an adversary.

Social - Living or disposed to live in companionship with others or in a community, rather than in isolation.

Justice - Rightfulness or lawfulness. The moral principle determining just conduct.

Nonviolent - Freedom from an unjust or unwarranted exertion of force or power.

Constructive - Helping to improve; promoting further development or advancement (as opposed to destructive).

Destructive - Tending to destroy; causing destruction or much damage. Tending to overthrow, disprove, or discredit.

Way - A method, plan, or means for attaining a goal.

Somehow - In some way not specified, apparent, or known. In an undetermined way; by any means possible.

Source: Dictionary.com

What Is This Quote Suggesting?

It starts out by asking you to examine the list of Nobel Prize winners, which by most people’s accounts is usually thought of as a pretty impressive list of people. After all, the Nobel Prize is one of the most prestigious awards handed out.

He then admits that occasionally, that list will have some oddballs on it.

Next he observes that despite the occasional oddball, the list is overwhelmingly filled with people who fought to make the world a better place. They lived their life in a manner that was disposed to doing things that benefited the community in a moral and just way.

In other words, everything they did helped to improve or otherwise develop or advance the needs of mankind, They found a method or plan to attain their goals, sometimes in unspecified, ways that were not always apparent.

In other words, they were constructive!

What Were The Positive Traits To Be Embraced That Were Suggested By The Quote?

Being a winner

Fighting for socially just causes

Being nonviolent

Being constructive

What Were The Negative Traits To Be Avoid That Were Suggested By The Quote?

Being unusual (although that is not necessarily bad)

Not fighting for socially just causes

Being violent

Being destructive

So What Should We Do?

If you have examined the Laws of Positioning™ in any great detail, you will notice that every single one of the laws is positive, rather than negative. The Laws of Positioning™ were designed to embrace positive character traits and eliminate negative ones.

With that in mind, you goal should be to help improve and develop the world so that the entire human race can advance from its present position (i.e., anything that makes the world a better place). Conversely, you should seek to avoid doing anything that destroys, damages or upsets the world (i.e., anything that makes the world a worse place).

In other words, BE CONSTRUCTIVE, not destructive.