I'm calling this “Inspiration From On High Week.”

Tom Hood and I had the privilege recently of interviewing one of the great business minds of our time — Tim Sanders, best-selling author of Love Is The Killer App, The Likeability Factor and Today We Are Rich. Time being what is is, though — namely, in short supply — I'm just now getting around to transcribing that interview.

And man, did he ever say some killer stuff in those 19 minutes — too much, I'm just now realizing, to boil down in one blog post.

So let's make a week of it, shall we? One nugget of Tim Sanders wisdom each day this week.

In Today We Are Rich, Sanders quotes Foundations of Faith author William Arthur Ward as follows: “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” With Thanksgiving on the horizon, this seems as good a time as any to say, “Thanks, Tim.”

So here's Lesson No. 1 from Sanders: 

The secret to overcoming change and complexity, he says, is confidence. And what's the first step to achieving total confidence?

“Be accountable for our lifestyles and what they do to our thinking patterns,” Sanders said.

In other words: The things we read, the shows we watch, the people we hang out with — all of them affect our state of mind. If we want to be more confident, we need to start feeding ourselves stuff that will make us more confident.

Step No. 1: Eliminate the crap.

“Henry Ford once said, 'If you think you can do it or you think you can't do it, you're right.' Our thinking patterns determine our attitudes and behaviors, and they shape consequences in our lives,” Sanders said. “Your thinking patterns are a product of what you put into your head. You should be as judicious about what you put into your head as what you put into your mouth.

“Be very careful about what you read,” he added. “You need to be very conscious about how much cable television news you take in, for instance. The answer, in my opinion, is, 'None.' You need to be very, very cautious about the people you hang out with. Don't hire depressed, unhappy, down-on-their-luck people, because once the honeymoon is over, they will spread that attitude around your organization, and your organization will come down with a funk. We must treat people who spread bad news like we respond to people in airplanes who sneeze in our face, instead of rewarding them for being the most paranoid person at the office.

“Improve the lines of information you take in and stop obsessing about the bad news. Face the worst case and realize that almost all of what you call 'bad news' in your life is really 'You're going to have to get busy and change' news. That's really where the opportunities lie.”

What are you going to do to improve your thinking patterns?

While you're thinking, watch our interview with Sanders in its entirety: