Attitudes of Amazing Achievers - Philip Baker

ATTITUDES OF AMAZING ACHIEVERS

                                                                                                Philip Baker

Your success in life depends upon your Attitude

Attitudes are intangible and are difficult to define or explain. It hides behind our weaknesses and strengths. One can succeed in life without a huge lot of knowledge or connections if one has developed a healthy, successful attitude. Our attitude is the one thing we have within our control. It gives us the power of understanding, of perspective and self-mastery.

It was Oscar Wilde who said that: “All of us are lying in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars”

Attitude determines Perspective

Attitude affects how we see things. We view our world through the prism of our understanding, experience, feelings and attitudes. In other words, we see with the brain and not the eye. Our attitude is that which interprets the image. We begin to get what we look for and see what we want to see. It is how we view life that differs. The glass is half empty and half full at the same time.

Attitude reflects our Relational history

Family, peer group pressure, high school gangs, all affect who we are. We need to align ourselves to people who are travelling the same way you want to go. One must have momentum in the right direction.

Attitude reveals inner Beliefs

We send out “vibes or waves”. Others can pick up our attitude the moment we enter the room. Tone of voice, body language etc. are all the language of attitude. The means of communication speaks louder than the words. Our attitude is far more important than our vocabulary.

Attitude attracts People just like us

We get friends like we are. We attract others or repel them not by our looks but by our attitudes. Healthy attitudes win over all within its reach. It is amazing to realise how much difference the tone of voice, the smile, the handshake, can make. Such little things yet so meaningful.

Attitude affects Reality

Attitude has the ability to actually change our worlds, interacting with society with emotional responses and practical doing.

Success in life is all about what we believe, how we emotionally respond and how we react. Even big business today recognises that employees with the positive attitude far outweigh those with skills and knowledge. These are the people who are the major contributors to the Company profitability.

How Attitude spreads

Attitude is contagious and hangs around those with healthy attitudes. Inoculate yourself against those with bad attitudes viz. “the can't do A; aren't you stupid A; the minimum required A”.

Even in adversity, with a correct attitude you can change a situation.

How Attitude grows

Through the power of multiplication, attitude grows from small to large, where small is more than just beautiful. Look around you and take notice.

SEVEN ATTITUDES

Attitude of Excellence

Developing an excellent attitude is not about getting 100%. It is about doing the best you can with what you have. It is a refusal to adopt a half-hearted or sloppy perspective of life. Excellence simply refuses to believe that near enough is good enough and is always being willing to give it your best shot. Nothing less will cause us to achieve to our potential.

Be aware that excellence is NOT:

Neurotic perfectionism – is nothing more than looking for self-worth and the appreciation of others in all the wrong places. When things fail and mistakes happen, the perfectionist will take it all personally; whereas the individual committed to excellence will learn from mistakes and get on with the job, secure in the knowledge that they gave it their best shot.

Snobbish sophistication – in trying to do my best to prove that I am better than everyone else, I simply reveal my problem is self-esteem and pride. Excellence is not based upon the foundation of personal inadequacy but because life warrants our best efforts.

Characteristics of Excellence

Excel. is seen in the detail. Especially in the little things – like letting your spouse know you will be late by an extra hour, so that she may not unduly worry about you.

Excel. is mindful that it is small leaks that sink big boats as the recent research into the Titanic amply proved.

Excel. goes the second mile

The attitude of holding oneself back rather than committing to Excel. actually robs the individual of their future. For it is in doing one's best work before there is prominence that one gets noticed. In refusing to give, they will never receive.

Our motto in life must be – I must put in more than is expected and do it before I see the benefits accrue. With this kind of thinking, everything in our life will begin to grow and flourish.

Excel. is being willing to go to the next level

The attitude of Excel. would encourage us to run with the horses rather than shuffle with the crowd, always looking for new heights, new levels and new challenges. Excel. enabled many monumental feats throughout history, like Hillary conquering Everest and Bannister breaking the four minute mile.

Excel. – an Attitude under Threat because it is just an attitude, no one seems to notice its demise. Indeed, the majority hasten its extinction.

Excelling shows up mediocrity for what it really is. Lifting the bar a few more inches increases the pressure on everybody else. Most people resent this sense of being shown up for what they really are. We all want heroes but we also want to believe that they were just lucky.

Attitude of Confidence

Is all about how we deal with problems. Problems and pain are part of life and we need to address them with a sense of hope, whilst all the time expecting victory. We want success without sacrifice, reward without responsibility. We must quickly learn to have the attitude of confidence to overcome all one's hurdles successfully.

We need to cultivate faith and hope as they have the power to transform our lives. Remove negative qualities and enjoy the positive joy of life.

Three keys to Negativity

Only have eyes for the problem

Negativity is all about what you see. Worry and gossip become the two greatest allies of the negative person, allowing the individual to focus only on the problem. In this way and thinking about it all the time, we consider how unfortunate we are and tend to actually believe it even when something else goes wrong.

Turn molehills into mountains

Negativity not only constantly views the problem but exaggerates it as well. People have differing views but every so often, somebody will say, “Everybody is saying this”. The truth is that there may be three or four people out of a couple thousand who feel the same way. Therein shows us that negativity is more of an interpretation than it is about realistic objectivity.

Form a team

Like-minded people attract each other. When you start being negative, you will find many negative people. As mentioned earlier, “Everybody is saying this”, means that everyone you spend time with is saying this. Those who disagree will quietly disappear from view.

Attitude of Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm sees things from a different perspective. It takes a dreary existence and injects it with vitality and confidence. Real enthusiasm is always character based and not context-driven. Genuine enthusiasm finds its roots spring from within life rather than from the environment and can spread very quickly if hearts are open to its passion. No events can be enthusiastic, only people can be.

Enthusiasm is not simply generated by good things that happen, but rather by the realisation that we are involved in a good thing, called life, which has real meaning and real hope. Enthusiasm gives one the energy to realise their dreams and gives meaning in what they are doing.

A competent person will do what is required and gain adequate results but those who are competent and enthusiastic, will gain the maximum, through greater zeal and effort.

Let us live life with a sparkle in the eye and a skip in the step. On our life's journey, we might as well take in the view and enjoy it rather than hurrying to our destination, grumbling and complaining as we go.

 

Attitude of Vision

Vision is all about how we see things through the prism of our own perspective. Although most of us are not physically blind, we can be blind to opportunities, to potential and to reality, blinded by prejudice, resentment or lack of knowledge. Indeed, vision is the ability to see beyond the obvious, to see what others don't.

Perspective: suggests that what we see is only partly right. If we could see it from a different angle, distance or a different way, we would have a more complete understanding of reality.

For hundreds of years people believed the world was flat because they believed what they saw. Today, we know differently.

Knowledge: Since vision is a mixture of whom we are and what we see, it therefore follows that the more we learn, the more we understand, and the more our vision will be enhanced.

A simple oil painting when merely glanced at, yields little pleasure. Yet, when one learns about the artist, the time in his life when he painted this picture and his life experiences at this stage, then one begins to see and understand far more than the casual observer.

By similar means, faulty information will lead to faulty vision and upon this truth the world of propaganda has been built. Distortion of truth can have immeasurable consequences. Countries have gone to war due to misinformation.

Persistence: Rarely does the glance capture the detail. It is fierce determination to continual contemplation that will finally yield the answer. Newton declared he discovered gravity because he “thought about it all the time”. Sometimes, the truth is only seen by the willingness to keep looking.

Openness: It is the open mind that is able to gather information. Openness is simply the awareness that no matter how clearly we see, we probably don't see at all. When new light comes, it not only complements what we already know but it helps us get a broader picture and a more accurate understanding of that which lies before us.

Desire: has to do with what we wish. We see what we want to see. Those that succeed in life tend to see life differently because they are looking for different things. Those that think money is evil will never see the possibilities of wealth that surround them.

Whether we succeed or fail has more to do with vision than it does with action. For action is the culmination of vision. You must be willing to remove the internal blinkers and to “look” so that you may “truly see”.

Attitude of Humility

The arch rival of humility is pride which has the following inherent dangers:

Pride prevents growth – when the head starts swelling, the mind stops growing.

Pride poisons relationships - Preoccupation with self, less time to build significant relationships.

Pride produces stress – manifests itself by its “need to be accepted and admired” by everyone else, and as a result spends a lot of its time worrying about how it looks, and what other people's impressions of it are.

Pride creates opposition – because of inflated ego, others foster a secret desire to see this moron eat humble pie. Watching the fall is fun and anything we can do to hasten its happening is encouraged.

On developing Humility

Take personal responsibility: Humility has nothing to do with what you have but everything to do with what has you. Pride and humility are not the result of passing or failing, but rather of how we choose to interpret our life and its context.

Evaluate your Strengths realistically: We all have strengths and weaknesses. Humility does not ignore these, much less deny them. Identify your strengths and build upon your weaknesses so that you may enjoy a balanced life. The humble see themselves as part of a team, “happy to give and thrilled to receive”.

Attitude of Gratitude

There are many who are free and alive in Western society but depressed and embittered about the lives they lead. If they could just change their attitude, life would be wonderful. We must be grateful not only for all that we have but more importantly for our existence as a human being. Many, throughout history, have endured extreme hardships like poverty, poor health, live in war ravaged countries and the like; have exhibited this grace of gratefulness more than the rest. This attitude is based upon the heart of the individual, not the problem they happen to be facing. There is simply too much to be thankful for to waste our time wallowing in self-pity. We need to be thankful for what is happening rather than dwelling on what is not. Life must be lived in the moment in appreciating and being grateful for how things are right now.

Attitude of Generosity

The importance of giving away, not just money but time, effort and friendship as well. By giving you teach your brain that you have more than enough and that belief system alone will change your life.

One does not give to get, yet giving begets getting. Notice the importance is not of the act of giving but the attitude. You don't have to be rich to be generous. To give a little with joy amounts to far more than giving a lot grudgingly. We move beyond simply giving what we have and begin to give of who we are. As Winston Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get but we make a life by what we give”.

Conclusion

The intangible world of attitude is so often neglected through a society whose sole focus is on “concrete reality” - good looks, money in the bank, political clout and expensive cars seem more real to us. Yet, the major component of success, happiness and zest for living comes from how we perceive our world and ourselves. This miracle of attitude must be kept always in the mind's eye.