Are you Open-minded??

Have you ever made the decision to do something you normally would not do? How did it feel like afterwards? Did you like or enjoy it? Or did you regret your decision? Often times I have discovered that we tend to have rigid principles on various topics, unconsciously most of the time, and this limits our ability to explore, discover and find out new and interesting things. We even believe we are open-minded when in reality we are not.

Open mindedness is defined thus by http:www.yourdictionary.com online: "Open minded. [ō′pən mīn′did] adjective. The definition of open minded is a willingness to try new things or to hear and consider new ideas. An example of an open minded person is one who listens to her opponent in a debate to see if the information makes sense or if she can change her mind."

Note that it indicates that an open-minded person is one who listens to another to see if the information will make him or her change the mind-set they already have. It is often said that the best habit to imbibe when communicating, is to listen to understand, not listen to simply give a reply. Take for instance, oatmeal is one type of food I never thought I could take, I couldn’t stand the slippery taste in my mouth. In-fact, severally, I had attempted to take it in different ways to see if I would love it, I would add lots of sugar or I would add plenty milk, thinking if it is very sweet, I wouldn’t mind the slippery taste, and I would enjoy it. It never worked. But earlier this year in January, I made up my mind to have oatmeal for breakfast every morning, although I find that I prefer it without sugar, I must say I have fallen in love with it. It’s been 5 months, and I absolutely love my oatmeal every morning, this morning for instance, I woke up late and was in quite a hurry to get to work, I still made cooked my oats, but then I thought, to sit and consume it would waste more time, so I packed it and brought it to the office where I had my tasty oatmeal for breakfast.

What am I saying in essence? I have realized that persistence and determination goes a long way to assist one in having an open-minded personality. Just imagine the numerous success stories that failed lots of times before succeeding. Here are some quotes and thoughts from some great people to put you on the right track:

• "Failure provides the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently." ~ Henry Ford (An example is having my oatmeal without sugar and enjoying it more).
• "Only those who dare to fail greatly can achieve greatly."  ~ Robert F. Kennedy (I dared to consume oatmeal over and over again, eventually i succeeded).
• "I don't believe I have special talents, I have persistence … After the first failure, second failure, third failure, I kept trying." ~ Carlo Rubbia, Nobel Prize winning Physicist (I kept trying to consume oatmeal over and over again until i could).
• "There is something to be said for keeping at a thing, isn't there?"  ~ Frank Sinatra (I kept at it - my oatmeal i mean).
• 12 publishers rejected J.K. Rowling's book about a boy wizard before a small London house picked up Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
• 27 publishers rejected Dr. Seuss's first book, To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.
• English crime novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books.
  

My favourite quote for the day is thus: If you don't have the time to do it right, you must have time to do it over!! (Just imagine all these years i battled with oatmeals). I finally got it right at 28years old. Hmmm!!

Reference

http://www.uky.edu/~eushe2/Pajares/OnFailingG.html