Lesson 1: Attitude is everything

Author's note: I am a compulsive advice-giver-always have been.  When my own son was in high school, he wasn't interested in his old man's advice so I wrote it down in the hope that he might change his mind one day.  What follows is one piece of the that advice.  I trust it applies to all of us, regardless of age.

If you don't like something, change it.  If you can't change it, change your attitude.  Don't complain.
   
                                                                                                -Maya Angelou

Your attitude is the prime factor in some of the most important things in your life: personal happiness, success in your career, the quality of personal relationships, effectiveness in getting what you want, ability to deal with problems, and how others view you.

Let’s take a fresh look at what’s rightly been called “the magic word.”

For the record, Houghton Mifflin’s American Heritage Steadman’s Medical Dictionary defines attitude as: “A relatively stable and enduring predisposition to behave or react in a certain way.”

Think about the phrase “relatively stable.” Your attitude doesn’t change with each situation. It generally holds true wherever you are and whatever you’re doing.

This next bit is one of life’s greatest lessons, elegant in its sheer truth and simplicity:

A great attitude will result in a great life.

A lousy attitude will result in a lousy life.

You have complete and total control over your own attitude, so choose wisely.

The single greatest thing you can do for yourself is to adopt and keep a positive attitude about everything in your life. Wouldn’t you rather enjoy life than trudge through each day with a dark cloud over your head, dreading the next hour, wishing for something you can’t define? You can have that good life. You just have to make the decision, and then put it into practice every day.

Studies have shown that the one trait that’s always present in highly successful people is—you guessed it—a great attitude.

Almost all of the lessons to follow relate in some way or other to this one. Burn it into your subconscious. Believe it. Live it, and you cannot fail.