How High You Fly Depends On How Well You Access Your Internal Navigation
We are just on 1 year since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, and since that time, we humans around the world have changed a great deal. As Charles Darwin told us we would, we have adapted to survive. It started with an attitude of adaption.
Our attitudes are the “power center” to achieving anything in our lives.
Henry Ford was quoted as saying: “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you are correct.”
Another of my personal favorite quotes is from Zig Ziglar, “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.”
I understand from these quotes that the difference between our success and failure (or survival or extinction) isn’t tied to how you look, how you dress, or how much education you have; it’s based on how you think!
Our Attitude Affects Others and So On
There is more to this than how your life is affected. Attitudes and mindset affect us but also how they impact those around us.
My wife and I watched a brilliant movie the other evening called Stage Mother. One of the best lines in the movie (and there were lots of them) was when Jacki Weaver’s character talked to Lucy Liu’s character. She thanked Lucy Liu for heading to the San Francisco airport to meet and collect Jacki’s sister, Yvette.
Jacki, “This is very kind of you to go pick up my sister.”
Lucy, “So if Yvette doesn’t see me, what does she look like?”
Jacki, “Just look for a woman with the pained expression on her face as if life isn’t worth living.”
Lucy, “That’s her?”
Jacki, “No, that’ll be the woman who sat next to her on the plane. She can point her out to you.”
Your Attitude is Contagious
Great leaders have one thing in common. They know that a positive attitude is contagious. If we are going to influence and impact those around us in the workplace, we must display a positive attitude daily. After all, if we expect others to display positive attitudes, we should model such behaviors for them.
The truth of the matter is that every day we choose to display a positive or negative attitude. Daily, we encounter negative attitudes at work and in our personal lives. My belief is if you remain positive amid negativity, you are the one that can be contagious. If you think you need an attitude adjustment, try on these practices:
Practicing Your Attitude
Be enthusiastic – people love to be around enthusiastic people. Enthusiasm is contagious and draws others to you like a magnet.
Associate with positive people – if you want to stay positive, stay away from people that drag you down. Associate yourself around like-minded people.
Smile – smiling makes it all better. Smiling releases endorphins and serotonin, which are known as the feel-good hormones. It’s a lot easier to adopt a positive attitude when you feel good!
Change your thoughts – positive thoughts lead to a positive attitude, while negative thoughts lead to a negative attitude.
Stop complaining – limit your complaints. Whining and griping about anything and everything will not create a positive attitude. When you are complaining, you’re spreading negativity.
If you want more success in your role and positively impact your students, then make certain your attitude is worth catching.
Great Resources I Recommend
Several years ago, I had the privilege of hearing the late Stephen Covey speak in Vancouver, BC. While explaining his 8th Habit work, he spoke about Joseph LeDoux’s research in New York and the advances made in understanding how the brain works. LeDoux’s research features his insights into the power of positive psychology (The Emotional Brain). Daniel Goleman’s groundbreaking book, Emotional Intelligence, followed and attributed LeDoux’s research as fundamental to the concepts.
I have written here before about The Growth Mindset and the Fixed Mindset. Dr. Carol Dweck is credited with starting the global understanding of how each mindset can affect our lives (and those around us) so massively in her own book, Mindset.
And finally, as if you needed any more research to prove what we already know about how attitudes and emotions are infectious, there is Martin Seligman’s work documented brilliantly in his bestselling, Learned Optimism.
