Choose the Right Attitude and You Will Find the Aptitude
We cannot change our past . . . we cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude . . . I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you . . . We are in charge of our attitudes.”
—Chuck Swindoll
Sometimes I find myself in the unfortunate circumstance of meeting people who are energy sappers. You know the people I am talking about, the ones who are sallow faced, sitting in the corner (usually wrapped in a winter coat, which they keep on during the whole meeting), and who always have some drama or other that means their life is difficult at the moment. They also have to explain all the difficulties that are in their life, “oh woe is me”, to anyone who is in the vicinity whether that person wants to listen or not. Perhaps, if you have never encountered a person like this, you are the energy sapper! I recently encountered an energy sapper who attended one of the workshops I was facilitating, sitting hunched in the corner exuding their life sucking negativity. This person had recently had an accident and, of course, the workshop provided the perfect opportunity to tell everyone all the awful dramas that occupied their life and the accident ‘on top of everything else’ gave further cause for seeking sympathy. At the end of the session, I was approached by the energy sapper with a view to bringing me up to speed on all the woes that were befalling this put-upon individual and how this might affect their ability to perform to the expectations I had set out at the beginning of the session.
I am not a nasty person, and generally I am sympathetic to people who have genuine difficulties. The problem was, having spent eight hours having to work hard to overcome the stream of negative comments output that she chipped in at every opportune moment to avoid the black cloud engulfing all the other participants, I just wanted to shake the energy sapper by the shoulders and shout “GET A PERSPECTIVE!” In the same group of participants was a lady who was in the middle of radiotherapy to combat cancer that was in all likelihood terminal. This participant, who had an incredibly sunny perspective and was, contributing positive, innovative, and creative ideas had decided to continue with the program because she wasn’t going to let her life be determined by her illness and she was fed up of not living a normal life. This attitude is world beating. Nothing, other than death itself, will ever stop this lady from being everything she chooses to be because her attitude is that she can.
A Positive Attitude Is World Record Breaking
On 6th May 1954, Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile barrier, running a mile in 3:59:40. Up to that point experts were saying it was physically impossible to run more than a quarter of a mile a minute. The theory was that if someone were to run faster than that, they would either break their femur or their brain would explode from the CO2 build up. Today, given the athletic feats we witness, this attitude is really quite incredible and pretty daft. It is the epitome of the idea that you really don’t know until you try. Eighteen months after Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile barrier, 17 other people did the same. Attitude toward what appears to be possible is everything. When you choose an attitude of positivity, you have the energy and a natural striving mechanism that overcome the fear of failure. If you have an attitude that says all things are possible, then quite literally all things are possible. This isn’t the same as having a false hope. Declaring I can fly and then jumping off a skyscraper without a wingsuit, that’s just stupidity. No, having a positive attitude is about seeing the good things and having a perspective that seeks out opportunities. It is a positive attitude that makes the lemonade out of lemons.
Disney chooses to recruit its employees on attitude, because they believe that you can teach someone the skills required to a job, but it is hard to change attitude, and many practitioners in recruitment circles subscribe to this view. Research in social psychology shows that attitude is an important, distinctive, and indispensible concept, but attitudes are only relevant if they are considered alongside the social context or organizational environment in which they are being expressed. Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) sought to develop a theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior; Fishbein and Ajzen (1991) argue that behavior was determined by a person’s intention to engage in that behavior, and intention was determined by attitude, subjective norms, and perceived controls. Further research has established that both these theories provide reasonably good accounts of the relationship between attitude and behavior. However, when it comes to predicting behavior, then nothing can be taken for granted.
Attitude Is a Choice
Attitude is extremely important in how successful you are in your career. It is more important than the circumstances of your background, the qualifications you have, or your financial situation. In your career progression, it will be your attitude that will help you win promotions, more so than your skill and knowledge. You attitude will make or break your career and determine the future that you have. Your attitude has the potential to be one of the greatest strengths you have to play in being able to win the challenge and be instead of do.
But let’s be clear—attitude is a choice. You can choose to be negative or you can choose to be positive. You can choose to think of yourself as a failure or choose to believe that it is possible for you to be successful. You can choose to view a situation as a problem or you can choose to view the same situation as a challenge, but an opportunity for you to shine. Attitude is something you can choose. Therefore, choose wisely. Are you going to be an energy sapper or a world-beater?
Manage Your Career Tool #14 – Ten Positive Things
The next time you find yourself in a situation that you find challenging or you feel negatively about, take a deep breath and list ten positive things about the situation. Once you have completed the exercise, read what you have written and meditate on it. Allow the positive elements of the situation become something that you believe are actually possible, as you do so notice how your attitude toward the situation begins to shift.