I have heard a lot of quotes about attitudes over my career. “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”- Winston S. Churchill. Take charge of your attitude. Don’t let someone else choose it for you. – Dale Carnegie. Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. – John C. Maxwell
When you think about a person’s attitude, what comes to mind? Positivity, negativity, determination, happiness, doubt, anger, may be a few thoughts that come to mind. We all have an attitude, and it probably changes throughout the day based on what is going on around us. There are many factors that play into our attitude. Our family upbringing, personal experiences, prejudices, media, work environment, and our health are some of those things.
Have you had someone tell you to change your attitude, or tried to get someone else to change theirs? Even though it is possible, it may not be easy. I like to think of it more as a habit. The more you repeat a behavior, the more it becomes a habit that you do not need to think about. Think about areas of your life where you want to change your attitude and put together a plan to change it. I refer to my faith and think about what type of attitude God would want me to have in a situation.
Recently, I was having a conversation with a coworker about a meeting he was in where he was getting very frustrated and borderline angry about what someone was saying. It continued to build up inside and when they took a short break, he knew he needed help. He told me he said a prayer during the break asking for God’s help to calm the situation. The response was to take the focus off the person and what they were saying and to focus on God. He said that when he went back into the meeting, he was able to not let any of the conversation negatively affect his attitude anymore.
We must realize things will not always go as we would like them to. Negative things will happen in our lives. Whether at work, with our health, financial issues, or in our relationships, we must put them all into perspective. They will pass over time. I will not let that define me. I will not let them change my focus on trying to do what my faith has taught me to do. I have worked around others that I totally disagreed with their management style and could have easily been frustrated and quit. I could have given in to that approach and changed my style, but I didn’t. I stayed true to my faith and leaned on God to get me through the situation. Later in my career, I could look back and be proud of my “attitude” along the way.
Philippians 4:9 says What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me; practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. That speaks volumes to me. As I build a closer relationship with God, I learn more about what His expectations are of me. I have developed habits tied to those expectations and know that He will always be there for me. That gives me peace. No matter what goes on around me that can influence my attitude, I can keep peace in my mind. I relate it to the eye of a hurricane. It is calm and peaceful in the eye of the storm even with the devastation going on around it.
Concentrate on building the habit of having a good attitude regardless of what goes on around you. It will make a big impact on your life and those around you.
