Picture used with permission
of David Singer

We’ve all heard of Murphy’s Law. We’ve all LIVED through Murphy’s Law. We’ve all despised Murphy’s Law and its variations at one time or another, because they can be quite painful.

Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.

Wow. How uplifting is that?

But have you ever stopped to ask yourself: Who is Murphy?

Actually, that question requires a stronger statement: Who in the HELL is Murphy?

I’ve wanted to write an article with that title for years. Who is (was?) this person who brought us this delightfully optimistic saying?

I’m not going to go into detail here, because it ends up that the story of Murphy is quite controversial. Evidently, there are three possible authors for the Law. It could have been Captain Ed Murphy Jr., a development engineer, who actually said, ”. . . if there is any way to do it wrong, he will.” (”He” refers to a technician who had inaccurately wired some strain gauge bridges. See the link above for the full story.)

Or, the Law might have come from George Nichols or Colonel John Paul Stapp who worked with Murphy back in the 1940s.

The purpose of this post isn’t to get into the story of Murphy, which you can read above. Instead, I want to talk to you about the power of positive thinking.

If you tell a child over and over again that he or she is dumb and will never be any good in school, how can you expect the child to excel in school? You can’t. If you tell a child that he or she is lazy, he/she will be lazy. If a teacher tells a child that the child is a problem, and if the teacher tells other teachers about this “problem child,” what do you think this child’s chances for doing well in that school are? What if it’s a problem with the teacher instead?

My point is, you have no boundaries other than the ones you set for yourself. Don’t tell me that you can’t do something because you aren’t qualified (or whatever). If you need to learn more, study harder.

Nothing comes on a silver platter. It takes hard work to become a success. Do you think the CEO of General Electric got to where he is by working a 9 to 5 job?

Believe in yourself. Listen to your self talk. YES, you CAN optimize a Web page. YES, SEO really DOES work. YES, you CAN create a Web page of captivating content and get it found at the top of the search engines, and YES, you can get conversions through that page. YES, you can replicate that process over and over again.

Whatever will go wrong doesn’t HAVE to go wrong! Murphy didn’t know everything. Heck, no one is even sure if Murphy said that crazy law!

Have confidence in you. Talk to others who have confidence in you. Continue to learn every day. Every day should be a learning experience. Be happy in life. It’s the only one you’ve got, and you have no idea how profound that statement really is.

So Murphy was negative. You don’t have to be! Let’s face it: no one wants to be around negative people. They zap our energy. Let’s be positive. Life is much more productive (and certainly more fun) that way.

Robin