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| Attitude Adds Value In a typical work week, we spend forty or more hours with our co-workers and other business associates doing what we do to earn a living. That’s a lot of time together. Our attitude can either make it pleasant or painful. Since we all need to provide for our self and our families, let’s try making the time we spend together pleasant rather than painful.
What is Attitude?
According to Wikipedia, the word attitude is a construct of our likes/dislikes and it comes from judgments. American Heritage Dictionary defines attitude as a state of mind or a way of carrying one self. Attitudes are developed. They don’t just happen. They are learned over time based on what happen to us and around us. How we internally process these events affects our attitude.
For example, Rob showed up late for the meeting. As he entered the room, his attitude conveyed he didn’t really want to there. In addition, he rolled his eyes at every suggestion made during the meeting. Was his attitude positive or negative? How do you think the other people felt in the meeting?
Now let’s look at another example. Rosi arrived to the meeting early. She was ready to take notes. She smiled and said hello as others joined the meeting. After a suggestion was made, Rosi responded with “that’s a great idea”. Was her attitude positive or negative? How do you suppose others felt in this meeting?
Attitude influences others. It’s our choice whether we use this influence for good or not. The beauty of attitude is it can change. Just because we may have a bad attitude now, doesn’t mean we have to stay in that condition. With the right focus, we can change our attitude and become more positive.
Why is Attitude Important?
Most importantly attitude can determine the quality of our life. If we allow our self to remain negative and bitter about things in our life, assuredly we will not enjoy the precious gift of life we’ve been given. Attitude will shape our relationships. Let’s face it, who wants to hang around a negative person?
Secondly, attitude is important to employers. Recently employers have changed their hiring strategies to include attitude as a major consideration for hiring a candidate. Take for example JobEQ article . In addition, public schools are now emphasizing the importance of character to encourage and develop a positive attitude about working collaboratively with others, which is another important hiring criterion.
How to improve Attitude?
First step in improving our attitude is to remember all things we have to be thankful for. When we cultivate gratitude in our thinking, our attitudes automatically improve. It’s hard to be negative when we are thankful. One way of creating gratitude is make a list of everything good in our life. Use a 3x5 inch index card and write across the top “I am grateful for…” Then list things like, my health, my family, my job, my house, my God, etc. Whenever a negative mood strikes, whip out the index card and review the list. It’s a great way to change our attitude for the better.
Second step in improving our attitude is to switch our mental gears when negative thoughts strike. Instead of dwelling on a negative thought and letting it spiral us downward, we change the thought channel. This takes a little planning and a lot of practice. Start by deciding in advance what thoughts we want focus on when a negative one hits. For example, if an “I’m so stupid” thought comes up switch to “I’m created in the image of God and God is not stupid”. Next, practice this process every time a negative thought appears. In time, our mind will switch automatically to the positive thought and reject the negative one.
Third step in improving our attitude is to treat others how we would want to be treated. A good place to start is with our words. Use words that build others up and encourage them, rather than criticizing and cutting them down.
In conclusion, attitude is important due to its influence on others. We each have to decide whether we want to have a positive or negative affect on others. What would you do?
© Elizabeth Marks has 20 years business experience in sales, marketing, operations, Six Sigma project management, and business planning and web development areas. She enjoys sharing her knowledge to benefit others’ development and growth. | |
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