Business is a microcosm of Life. To stay competitive, be successful and overcome barriers standing in your way, you need to regularly assess where you are and what you want to achieve. Your mental attitude can make the difference between reaching or not reaching your goals.

If your business has suffered a setback or you have an employee facing personal or professional challenges, maybe it's time for some rehabilitation. Many of the same approaches used to get a person back on track after a physical injury are also key to keeping your business and employees moving forward. One good example of how rehabilitation can work is to apply the characteristics of a Positive Mental Attitude (PMA).

Gary Faris, a corporate trainer, learned first-hand how PMA works. Since he was a kid, he loved to run. A few years ago Gary, 38, was practicing for a quarter mile race in the Masters category. While training on a quiet country road, he was suddenly hit from behind by a pickup truck going 60 mph. The driver had not seen him because of a small rise in the road. The driver tried to stop but Gary was knocked 120 feet into a farmer's field.

The prognosis was not good. If he lived, he would never walk normally and he would have to forget about ever running again.

During his painful recovery, Gary applied his understanding of how to create success in business and decided to search for the core characteristics of a successful rehabilitation.

The Six Characteristics of a Positive Mental Attitude Gary discovered are as applicable to all aspects of business as they are to helping someone recover from an injury or setback.

There is a science to creating a positive attitude of achievement. It is made up of very specific elements. They are presented here in a sequence, but it is the simultaneous interaction of them working together that creates the chemistry for a winning attitude and success in just about any endeavor.

Read over this list. Then, follow the exercise at the end.

1. Set Your Inner Motivation

Inner motivation happens when you are clearly motivated toward a very specific goal and away from the unpleasant consequences of not achieving it.

2. The Value of High Standards

Set your own high standards. This means achieving anything less is unacceptable. Personally dedicate yourself to this level.

3. Chunk Down Your Goal

Break down your goal into manageable, bite-size chunks. The benefits are:

1. You'll focus on small tasks you can and will do.
2. This creates a sense of satisfaction in completing each small step towards achievement.

4. Combine Your Present and Future Time Frames

Think vividly and fully in the positive future. At the same moment you are concentrating on achieving the task at hand, you can also see the big bright picture of your future accomplishment drawing you forward.

What step can you take right now to reach your next milestone? Fully experience the present and take action toward your future.

5. Personal Involvement

Get involved in your own success. Don't wait for it to happen to you. When you participate, you influence what's going on. It increases your commitment, focuses your intensity, and makes you more determined. Personal involvement leads to owning a bigger stake in your own future.

6. Self to Self-Comparison

How do you judge your performance? Traditionally we compare ourselves to others, judging success and failure.

Try looking solely at your own progress, comparing yourself to yourself. What progress have you made since yesterday, since last week, last month, last year? Achievement is about moving from where you were to where you are now and on to where you are going in the future.

In the physics of motion, these Six Characteristic elements are like spokes on a wheel. Together they support the hub of your life as you roll towards manifesting your dreams, your goals and your future achievements.

Now, try this exercise.

Choose one of your goals and take it through the Six Characteristics.

TIP: To be successful in any endeavor you need first to know your specific goals or outcomes.

1. Do you have both specific outcomes to achieve and clear negative consequences of not reaching your goal?
2. Have you set a high standard for yourself?
3. Have you chunked your goal down to manageable steps?
4. Is your visualized future accomplishment presently drawing you toward it?
5. Are you taking action or waiting for it to happen to you?
6. Lighten up! Compare yourself to yourself. Use others as inspiration, not comparison.

Using these Six Characteristics and a lot of determination, Gary Faris was able to get through two years of painful rehabilitation and is now running again. Amazing! Apply these Six Characteristics to your business, to a struggling employee, or to your health, and notice your increased effectiveness. Let me know how it works for you!

(This model was originally developed by Gary J. Faris, Senior NLP Trainer and Consultant.)