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Attitude – It’s A Choice!
Attitude – good or bad, we all have one. It’s our mental disposition to what’s going on around us. We’ve all met people with good and bad attitudes. Take the person who greets us with a smile and gives 110% effort when performing their duties. Compare this to the person who greets us with a grimace and complains about every little detail of their job. Who do we prefer to be around?
Our outward actions reflect our inner attitude. We easily make the connection between a person’s attitude and their behavior. Phrases like “I can’t” or “I won’t” or “that’s too hard” reflect a negative attitude which can prevent a person from actually achieving the mission. A person with a “can do, nothing is going to stop me” attitude will always find a way to succeed no matter how many or how large the obstacles in their path.
Not only does our attitude affect our own behavior, but it also affects those around us. Winston Churchill once said, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” Attitudes are contagious. When we’re surrounded by individuals with positive or negative attitudes, it’s easy to catch their attitude and become infected with good or bad behavior. It’s not uncommon to see a whole office of people displaying the same type of attitude. This is a good thing when it’s positive, but nobody wants to work in – or even visit – an office full of bad attitudes. Always strive to be the one with a positive attitude so you can pass it on to those around you.
It’s been said that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. We all have our share of good and bad experiences each day. We can’t change our past. We can’t change how other people act. We can’t control everything that happens to us today or in the future, but there is one thing we can control – our reaction to our circumstances. When something bad happens, we can let it bring us down and everyone else we meet during the day, or we can choose to learn from the experience, put it behind us and press ahead with an upbeat attitude. A good example of this is Army Captain David Rozelle. His right foot was amputated after an anti-tank mine ripped a hole in his HUMVEE in Iraq. His positive attitude enabled him to overcome setbacks and put him on track to be the first amputee to return to active duty operations in Iraq.
Having a positive or negative attitude is a choice that only you can make – you decide how you react to the events of the day. While you’re the only one in charge of your attitude, you are not the only one affected by it. Attitudes are contagious – is yours worth catching?
General Doc Foglesong CMSgt Gary Coleman
“Bring Your Courage”
