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As a young Scots boy, Andrew Carnegie came to America and started doing odd jobs.
He ended up as one of the largest steel manufacturers in the United States.
At one time he had 43 millionaires working for him. Several decades ago, a million dollars
used to be a lot of money; even today it is a lot of money. Someone asked Mr. Carnegie
how he dealt with people? Andrew Carnegie replied, "Dealing with people is like digging
gold: When you go digging for an ounce of gold, you have to move tons of dirt to get an
ounce of gold. But when you go digging, you don't go looking for the dirt, you go looking
for the gold."

What is your focus? Become a digger for gold. If you are looking for what is wrong with
people or with things, you will find many. What are you looking for? Andrew Carnegie's
reply has a very important message. There is something positive in every person and
every situation. Sometimes we have to dig deep to look for the positive because it may
not be apparent. Besides, we are so used to looking for what is wrong with other people
and situations, we forget to see what is right. Someone once said that even a stopped
clock is right twice a day.
Remember when you go looking for gold, you have to move tons of dirt to get to an
ounce of gold. But when you go looking, you don't go looking for the dirt, you go looking
for the gold.

Negative People will Always Criticize

Some people criticize no matter what. It does not matter which side you are on, they are
always on the other side. They have made a career out of criticizing. They are "career
critics." They criticize as if they will win a prize at a contest. They will find fault with every
person and every situation. You will find people like this in every home, family, office.
They go around finding fault and telling everybody how bad things are and blaming the
whole world for their problems. We have a name for these people. They are called
energy suckers. They will go to the cafeteria and drown themselves in 20 cups of tea and
coffee and smoke to their hearts' content with one excuse: they are trying to relax. All
that they are doing is causing more tension for themselves and for others around them.
They spread negative messages like a plague and create an environment conducive to
negative results.
Robert Fulton invented the steamboat. On the banks of the Hudson River he was displaying his new invention. The pessimists and the skeptics were gathered around to
observe. They commented that it would never start. Lo and behold, it did. As it made its
way down the river, the pessimists who said it would never go, started shouting that it
would never stop. What an attitude!

SOME PEOPLE ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE NEGATIVE

There was a hunter who bought a bird dog, the only one of its kind in the world. That
could walk on water . He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw this miracle. At the
same time, he was very pleased that he could show off his new acquisition to his friends.
He invited a friend to go duck hunting. After some time, they shot a few ducks and the
man ordered his dog to run and fetch the birds. All day-long, the dog ran on water and
kept fetching the birds. The owner was expecting a comment or a compliment about his
amazing dog, but never got one. As they were returning home, he asked his friend if he

15 of 15 had noticed anything unusual about his dog. The friend replied, "Yes, in fact, I did notice
something unusual. Your dog can't swim."

Some people always look at the negative side. Who is pessimist? Pessimists

¨ are unhappy when they have no troubles to speak
¨ feel bad when they feel good, for fear they will feel worse when they feel better
¨ spend most of their life at complaint counters
¨ always turn out the lights to see how dark it is
¨ are always looking for cracks in the mirror of life
¨ stop sleeping in bed when they hear that more people die in bed than anywhere else
¨ cannot enjoy their health because they think they may be sick tomorrow
¨ not only expect the worst but make the worst of whatever happens
¨ don't see the doughnut, only the hole
¨ believe that the sun shines only to cast shadows
¨ forget their blessings and count their troubles