Golden Attitude

I recently had an experience that showed me tangibly how important, how powerful, attitude is. The job I have is a lot like panning for gold. The gold is the goal, and I and my coworkers have various streams in which to find the gold. We are given a goal for the day - find x amount of gold - and we are expected to meet or exceed that goal.
I've been at this job a couple of months, and I was having difficulty meeting my goal. There was always something in the way. Following is the list of 'obstacles' I was encountering:
     I don't have the right equipment
     People around me aren't doing their job, which impacts on      mine
     My coworkers are lying when they report how much 'gold'        they have mined
     I find nothing but garbage in all of my 'streams'
     The goals are stupid
This was my basic list of obstacles, or reasons (excuses) why I couldn't meet my goal.
I have been taught that the most important aspect of me that I bring to any situation is my attitude. I know this, but it is difficult to practice sometimes. One of my shortcomings seems to be that I can easily find what's wrong in any given situation. That seems to come naturally to me. What is challenging is finding what's right or what's good about any given situation.
Jesus said, "Seek and you will find." I interpret that to mean that whatever I'm looking for, I will find. So, if I'm expecting to find garbage in my stream and no gold, that's what I'm going to get - garbage, no gold (or very little).
So, over the couple of months that I've been at my job, I've been endeavoring to change the way I look at my job through setting my intention and prayer. At first, I just intended to reach my goal. That wasn't enough, because of the obstacles (listed above) that were in my way. So what I learned to do first was to doubt the obstacles. All of my obstacles were subjective judgments on my part and weren't necessarily the truth. With that came some acceptance - acceptance that this is the way things are where I work, and I'm not going to change it, so I better get ok with it. 
Yesterday at work I finally made the goal. I had overcome the last obstacle, which was "I find nothing but garbage in all of my streams." This is the most challenging obstacle for me to overcome, because it requires me to look past the 'facts'. It requires me to stretch my beliefs. It requires me to doubt my own perception of the way things are. It means that what Jesus taught really is true, that my life is not what happens to me or what goes on around me, but is what is going on inside of me.
This is a powerful lesson for me. It shows me that if I can set aside my own doubts about my ability to succeed, no matter where those doubts come from or how long I've had them, that I can succeed.
I am grateful today for the willingness and courage to continue to move forward and actually apply the principles I've learned.

Namasté,

Ken