YOU HAVE FULL CONTROL OF YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD LIFE

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will 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% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
― Charles R. Swindoll


The above popular quotation by Charles Swindoll, evangelical Christian, pastor, author, educator and radio host, was forwarded to me by a friend recently. It got me thinking about how "attitude" is ideally applied in our lives.

Attitude is one of the most important factors in helping you get through the highs and lows of life. Since attitude spells how a person copes, whatever perspective you may hold will invariably have an effect in your performance and the way you handle rejection.

In one’s state of mind, it is often easy enough to generalize than to invest in careful analysis of a particular event. Thus, a person who suffers consecutive rebuffs may believe that all other potential partners will likely reject him or her again and again.

Inherently, attitudes have a basic structure and are essentially formed by us. Espousing a specific thought for a long time will inevitably make it a permanent entity in one’s mind—may it be for better or for worse. That is to say, that once a particular attitude is formed, it is highly likely that it is what often comes out of a person. Believe me, I have learned the hard way that if you approach an undertaking with a halfhearted attitude you will end up with less than desirable results.

Living life requires a predominantly positive attitude due to its nature of high and low cycle. Few people, if any, remain at the top their whole lives. It is unavoidable that one will undergo phases of trials and tribulations.

Even before any difficulty happens, a person’s mindset must be able to possess a certain level of positivity and realism. Although nobody can ever have absolute control in what occurs throughout their life, the attitude and approach they choose in handling life’s obstacles is fully within control.

Forming the Right Attitude

Our attitude about any state or condition in our life is always within our power to choose. Attitudes are rooted in one’s own beliefs and are unique across most individuals. They do not form overnight but rather, throughout the course of one’s life.

Moreover, certain attitudes create a negative impact to one’s life and may even cause it to fall apart. This is why it is an important task for each person to help themselves take on the proper attitude direction. Do remember that a person whose heart is not in what he or she is doing will never be half as productive as someone who has the right attitude.

It is simple really, a positive attitude produces much more favorable results while negative attitudes only serve to generate failure. We all have within us the power to respond to any given situation in any way we want regardless of the circumstances and this is why you can either choose to react positively or negatively.

According to a Stanford Research Institute study, the path to success is comprised of 88% attitude and only 12% education. This doesn’t imply that education is of little importance, but it only goes to show how vital it is to foster the proper attitude n regards to a person’s success. Once you have arrived at the right attitude, it then becomes much easier for things to just fall into place.

Much like walking, writing, playing sports and acquiring any other skill, attitude can also be learned. Having already mentioned that attitude develops from one’s own personal experiences and interactions throughout life, we have already accumulated several different attitudes on different things or instances which can be both negative and positive.

It is important to recognize a negative attitude right away as it hinders growth and success. Much like how we can learn them, we are also able to unlearn them and develop new and more positive ones.

Although one’s attitudes are initially nurtured from one’s environment, we nonetheless always have a choice on what to keep or discard in the long run. It is vital to develop a positive attitude since it will be very difficult to retain a certain kind of integrity without directing your perspective for a higher meaning or purpose.

In my next post on Wrights Lane I will talk about the importance of character in our lives.  Just as we can have good and bad attitudes, we can have good and bad character. It's all about application.