THE POWER OF ATTITUDE

I don't know how many of you remember a song titled "Born to Suffer" by Lucky Dube, the South African musician in the early 90s but I've always thought that was an interesting title. Unfortunately some of us do subscribe to that message and just think that we were born to be failures and that the successful life is for the privileged few. However, let me encourage you with this quote from the wisest man who ever lived and it simply says this; "The race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant, or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all (Eccl 9:11).
In other words the rich and poor have two things in common; time and chance (opportunity). Furthermore, they think and act in a different way. Someone once said; "if you want to be rich, do what rich people do." Invest like they do and you too could be rich. Of course we all know that not all rich people got that way by being honest but there is something to be said about the way most invest their money and resources and the way they think.
I've said all this just to say this one thing;if you want to be a good leader, do what good leaders do. Think and act like they do and you will have success.

Attitude is key to your success as a Leader. Your Attitude (mentality) will make or break you. It will determine how high you rise (Altitude) and will determine if people follow you or not. Attitude is a key component of Leadership.
Lets break it down.

I think that if there was an equation for Attitude this is what it would be:
Attitude = Thoughts+Feelings+Actions+Expressions.

Attitude begins with thought. The atmosphere of the mind is the birth place of attitude. Our thoughts are created as we entertain various media i.e. words, images,people's opinions and perceptions of us.
Our thoughts then begin to feed and form our Belief system and this becomes the center of our perceptions, world view and most importantly, our actions. Most people down play the role of belief or personal conviction in how they act or react but this is the center of who we are. So our Actions are informed by what we believe whether consciously or subconsciously.
Our beliefs also determines how we feel and how we express those feelings and ultimately ourselves. Attitude is a combination of all this stuff.

Therefore, if we say some one has a negative Attitude, what we are saying in effect is that they entertain negative media that form negative thoughts, that form a negative belief system, that causes them to act, feel and express themselves in a
negative way. Hence they have a negative outlook on life.

The people with a positive Attitude do exactly the opposite. They entertain positive media which forms positive thoughts, which form a positive belief system, which causes them to act, feel and express themselves in a positive way. They have a positive outlook on life. They are not easily defeated or discouraged because they find a positive in every aspect of life including their failures.

As Leaders we need to understand that Attitude is contagious and that those around us can catch it. Show me a negative Leader and I will show you a discouraged, negative follower. When the head is not right the whole body is out of sync. Therefore, we need to ensure that we are constantly developing a positive attitude.
Leaders with a positive attitude will make their people believe they can do anything and people do rise to the challenge. If you want your company, church, family or business to rise to new heights-just change your attitude and you will increase the altitude of your team or following.
A Leaders positive attitude is both a motivation and inspiration to his team.

Your attitude will also help you face challenges in a positive way and actually turn them to benefit you. Your attitude determines how you speak to and treat your problems or challenges. For a Leader with a positive attitude failure is not even an option.

I hope that you've learned a thing or two about attitude and leadership because this is the stuff that will make you or break you. Develop a positive attitude and you will begin to see positives in your Leadership.
I will leave you with this famous quote.


To your Success & Progress!

If you think You're beaten, you are
If you think you dare not, you don't
If you would like to win but think you can't
You most certainly won't.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But sooner or later, the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.