A habit is something you do unconsciously, without thinking. Similarly, an attitude is a habitual way of thinking. Attitude determines to a large extent your health, happiness, and success. A negative attitude produces negative results just as surely as a positive attitude paves the way toward success and happiness. More than any other quality, your attitude exerts a profound effect on your self-image, accomplishments, and success.
Everything derives from attitude – friendships, relationships, commitments, faith, healthfulness, and achievements. Since mental transformation involves changing the way you think, any sort of forward growth or progress begins with your thought process. And, because all things begin with thought; attitude literally is everything.
A person with a positive attitude and average skill is preferable to an employee with a good deal of skill and a negative attitude, according to many organizational leaders. One department manager put it this way: “I can train someone to do what we need done, but I cannot change an employee with a negative attitude into a positive and productive team player. I just don’t have the time.”
Your attitude is the key element of your personality that will either help you move ahead or hold you back. Your attitude cannot be controlled by anyone else. Only you can determine the attitude you bring to your workplace.
But what is an attitude? Is it a mindset, a reaction, or a response to what is happening? Is attitude a way of thinking? These answers are partially correct, but a clear, concise definition of attitude is, simply stated: Attitude is a habit of thought.
Put on Your Thinking Cap
Thought precedes action. This fact brings up an important question: Is it easier to act your way into a feeling, or to feel your way into an action? And, which is most effective?
Most effective individuals act their way into feelings. For them, feeling their way into an action is like moving in reverse. Everything begins with a conscious thought; you cannot start with feeling!
- If you feel bad, act as if you do not feel bad, and you will quickly feel good.
- If you feel insecure, act as if you feel secure, and you will.
- If you are upset or irritated, act in a calm manner, and your frustration will decrease.
We all act our way into situations or circumstances of our own choosing. Only you can allow external situations or circumstances to dictate your thinking; the circumstances and situations have no power to affect you without a conscious choice on your part.
How do your attitudes, motivation, behavior, and feelings affect your work? How do they affect your life? First, these success essentials help you be more productive. All four combine to make a positive or negative impact on other people with whom you work. In contrast, negative attitudes, low motivation, inappropriate behavior, and ill feelings always stand in the way of accomplishment.
Motivation affects your work in positive or negative ways, depending on the motive you possess. This does not mean that you and your team members must have the same motive, but each member of the team should share an appropriate motive.
Behavior determines habitual responses to on-the-job circumstances, situations, and events. Of course, some responses are productive, while others are not. Feelings, or emotions, determine your level of responsiveness to things that happen in the workplace. Typically, we control our feelings through the generation of thoughts. This is the reason why it is easier to act your way into a more positive feeling than to feel your way into a more positive action. Actions and feelings are both generated through the process of thought.
Our feelings are unique to us, and as individual as your fingerprints. Indeed, we own our feelings; they do not belong to anyone else. If we own our feelings, it follows that we can choose to change, discard, or accentuate them at our pleasure. That is why exercise helps you feel better during those times when you feel bad. When you do something to translate your thoughts into positive action, you feel better as a result.
The phrase, ”mind over matter,” points to the power of thought over circumstance. The nature of experience in any situation, whether at home or work, is the result of initial thoughts and the reactions that follow.
LMI Journal
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