Attitude is Everything

Two shoe salesmen were given a new territory on a Pacific island. Immediately upon arrival, the first sales­man placed an urgent call to the home office:  "Get me out of here. No one on this island wears shoes."

The second salesman sent an e-mail request to the factory, "Please put everybody on overtime. Will need as many shoes as you can manufacture. No one on this island has any shoes."

Attitude determines the difference between shoed or shoeless. Attitude is more critical than events. It's more significant than what's happened or what's hap­pening. Attitude is more consequential than the past, than genetics, than education, than money. Attitude is more important than what other people think... say, or do. It is more important than appearance or tal­ent. Attitude will make or break an individual, a home, a company, or a country.

Whether we are running hot, running cold, or sim­ply running on overload, we can take charge of our atti­tude by choosing enthusiasm. Corporate presidents voted enthusiasm the most valuable personality trait. Enthusiasm is the biggest single factor in successful selling. Enthusiam wins ball games. Inspires audiences. Enhances learning. Builds team spirit. Propels careers.

Because attitude determines whether we are happy or unhappy, the positive perspective assures us that we can never fail. A hopeful attitude guarantees internal success. Attitude—the altitude adjuster—determines whether we fly high or low, crash or soar, glide or slide.

Attitude Aphorisms

Whether we are running hot, running cold, or sim­ply running on overload, we can take charge of our atti­tude by remembering these aphorisms:

• Success has more to do with our emotional disposition than with our social position.
  
• Kites rise against the wind, not with it.
  
• A rubber band becomes effective only when it's stretched.
  
• More opportunities exist than there are people willing to seize them.
  
• What matters is what happens in us not to us.
  
• You can tell when you are on the road to success.  It's uphill all the way.
  
• When Goliath appeared, David said, "He's so big, I can't miss."
  
• Wait until the lows pass and you will feel on top            of things.
  
• Choices, not circumstances, determine how we think.
  
• Because action cures misery change your motion to create positive emotion.
  
• Where there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present.
  
• To accept failure as final is to be finally a failure.
  
• Failure is the line of least persistence.
  
• Others can stop us temporarily, but we are the only ones who can stop ourselves permanently.
  

The Power of Optimism

A fishing guide once said that catching a trout depends more on who's holding the pole than the bait that's on the hook. "Optimists catch more fish," he said. "They believe they're going to catch 'em and they catch 'em."

Optimism helps athletes. Swimmers were given a psychological test that measured attitude. Those who scored high on optimism performed better after a defeat. Swimmers who scored low on optimism performed worse after a defeat.

Optimism helps students. Psychologists gave col­lege freshmen tests to measure optimism. Four years later, the psychologists found that optimism predicted grades better than SAT scores or high-school grades.

Optimism helps sales people. About three quarters of insurance, salesmen quit in their first three years. Guess what? Pessimists quit twice as often as optimists. Optimistic insurance sales people sell almost forty per­cent more insurance than pessimists sell.

An insurance company hired a special group of applicants who failed the normal screening tests, but scored high on optimism. The first year on the job the "dumb" optimists sold 21% more insurance than 'the "smart" pessimists. The second year, the optimists sold 57% more insurance than the pessimists. "Dumb" opti­mists sell more insurance than "smart" pessimists.

By a mountain stream, in classrooms, on an athletic field, or while making sales calls, optimists do better. Empirical findings and scientific studies indicate that optimists are more successful in all aspects of life than pessimists. Because optimists are more resilient, they turn defeat into victory.

Overcoming Procrastination

Procrastination, doing low-priority tasks before high priority activities, robs us of valuable time. We usually do the least important things first because they are easier. We put off the most important things because they are hardier. When we work on the unimportant, we worry about the crucial tasks that aren't getting done. We get tension headaches. Ulcers. High blood pressure.  Our doctors get rich, but we still haven't done what's most important. There are four major reasons for pro­crastination:

1. Laziness

To defeat laziness, begin. Once moving, you'll tend to keep going. It takes greater energy to start an activi­ty than to sustain it. For example, if you're writing a screen play, put something on paper. Forget about sharpening pencils, arranging paper, reading one more script for inspiration. Write. Writers write.

2. The Quest for Perfection

  Nobody is perfect. Nothing created by anybody is perfect. Stop fretting about getting everything just right. Learn to do your best and accept the results. Expecting perfection never gets anything accomplished. To continue with the writing analogy, get that first draft done. Forget semicolons, active verbs, dangling participles, mixed metaphors. Just get something down on  paper. You can revise and rewrite the screenplay later.

3. Indecisiveness

 To overcome indecisiveness, use the ready, fire, aim approach. Fire it up there. Then aim it. Make some mistakes. Learn. Adjust. Move on.

4. Difficult Tasks

Break down a difficult task into easy steps. Just do a little at a time. You write a screenplay or a book one page at a time. Write one page a day and at the end of a year you will have written 365 pages.

A Rhetorical Question: What Makes a Man Abusive?

In the eyes of society he is successful. He has been married almost 50 years. He is a retired insurance executive. He is a lay preacher. He reads the Bible daily. He prays twice daily. He beats his wife every few days. He won't repent. He says she deserves the beatings because she disappoints him.

How can this happen? I don't know. I can't explain it.

I do know that I can't judge others, because I myself sin daily. My worst sins are those that I know are wrong and yet I do them anyway. At other times, I sin and am not even aware of my transgressions. I tend to make excuses and blame others.  I may not beat my wife, but I still fall short of the glory of God.

For her physical safety and for her self-esteem, the abused woman must leave her husband. She probably won't.

How can she not leave? I don't know. I can't explain it.

Some family member must protect the abused wife by convincing her to leave her husband. Adult Protective Services should be notified.

The rest of us can pray. Pray for the abusive husband. Pray for the abused wife. Ask God to forgive our sins. Prayer answers all rhetorical questions.

Everyone is Special

 A low-self imagine comes from a society that devalues the average. Our society emphasizes looks, intelligence, athletic achievement, and wealth. God views each person as a precious gem. God loves each of us equally. All of us have a unique gift. That unique gift is God's love and acceptance. In the eyes of God, the plain girl and the less intelligent man have just as much worth as those valued by society. Society's view is temporary. God's view is eternal.