Attitude is altitude. This is THE most important thing in the entire world. An attitude is more important even than a job, education, billions of dollars and time. You'll lose it all with a bad attitude.
As John C Maxwell writes in his 1993 book "The Winning Attitude: Your Pathway To Personal Success" your attitude is what determines your performance and therefore your success in life.
What Is An Attitude?
If you want to win in life, you need to have a winning attitude. What is a winning attitude? First of all, do you know what an attitude is? It's an inward feeling expressed by behaviour. An attitude can be seen without a word being said. Typically a smile indicates a good attitude and a frown indicates a bad one.
You can try and cover up a bad attitude with a smile but it won't last long. And maybe it'll look like a grimace too. It won't work if behind the smile is a mind full of negative thoughts. Before long, your bad attitude will show itself through negative words, complaints and frustration.
Words Influence Attitude
Words are important. The saying "sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me" is FALSE. Words can and will cause damage to your thinking, your self esteem, your outlook and your attitude.
The main thing that sets your attitude is your mind. How you perceive yourself and the world. If you're always the victim and the world is out to get you, that's a terrible attitude to give yourself. If that's the case, you'll find you've built that prison of discontentment with your own hands.
Combat Negative Thinking
The best way to combat negative thinking is to get away from negative people. Instead of filling your mind with negative content from TV, newspapers, internet and radio, choose to watch and read positive content from successful people with great attitudes. These are people who want to help you, not drag you down and create fear and panic in you like mainstream society and the mass media.
Maxwell says a winning attitude is selfless, secure and of service. I think a core part of a good attitude is gratitude. A winning attitude says "The cup is half full and isn't it great to have a drink right now? This is high living."
Alan Frye