YOUR ATTITUDE CONTRIBUTES TO SUCCESS
A study attributed to Harvard University found that when a person gets a job or a promotion, 85% of the time it is because of his attitude, and only 15% of the time because of intelligence and knowledge of specific facts and figures. It is surprising that almost 100% of education dollars go to teach facts and figures, which account for only 15% of success in life!
YOU CAN WIN is all about that 85% of success. Attitude is the most important word in the English language. It applies to every sphere of life, including one’s personal and professional life. Can an executive be a good executive without a good attitude? Can a student be a good student without a good attitude? Can parents, teachers, salespersons, employers, or employees be good in their roles without a good attitude?
The foundation of success, regardless of your chosen field, is attitude. If attitude is such a critical factor in success, shouldn’t you examine your attitude towards life and ask how your attitude will affect your goals?
Acres of diamonds
Hafiz was a farmer in Africa who was happy and content. He was happy because he was content. He was content because he was happy. One day a wise man came to him and told him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes along with them. The wise man said; “If you had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could buy your own city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist, you could probably own your own country.” And then the wise man left. That night, Hafiz couldn’t sleep. He was unhappy and he was discontented. He was unhappy because he was discontented and discontented because he was unhappy.
The next morning Hafiz made arrangements to sell his farm, took care of his family, and went off in search of diamonds. He looked all over Africa and couldn’t find any. He looked all through Europe and couldn’t find any. By the time he got to Spain, he was emotionally, physically, and financially depleted. He was so disheartened that he committed suicide by throwing himself into the Barcelona River.
Back home, the person who had bought his farm was watering the camels at the stream that ran through the property. Across the steam, the rays of the morning sun hit a stone and made it sparkle like a rainbow. Ho thought the stone would look good in his living room. He picked up the stone and put it on his mantle piece. That afternoon, the wise man came and saw the stone sparkling. He asked, “Is Hafiz back?” the new owner said, “No, why do you ask?” the wise man said, “Because that is a diamond. I recognize ……… {to be continued}”
DAVID AND GOLIATH
THE IMPORTANCE OF ATTITUDE TO ORGANIZATIONS
Have you ever wondered why some individuals, organizations, or countries are more successful than others? It is not a secret! They are successful because they think and act more effectively. They do so by investing in their most valuable asset- people.
I have spoken to executives in major corporations all over the world and asked them a question: “If you had a magic wand and there was one thing you could change that would give you a cutting edge in the marketplace, increase productivity and profits, what would that be?” theirs answers were unanimous. They said they would like to change their people’s attitudes. With better attitudes people would be better team players, cut back on waste and become more loyal. In general, their company would be a great place to work in.
Experience has shown that human resources is the most valuable asset of any business. People are more valuable than capital or equipment. Unfortunately, human resource is also the most wasted of resources. People can be your biggest asset or your biggest liability.
TQP – TOTAL QUALITY PEOPLE
Having attended a number of training programs such as customer service, selling skills and strategic planning; I have come to the conclusion that most of these are great programs with one major challenge: none of them will work unless they have the right foundation, and the right foundation is TQP. What is TQP? Total Quality People are people with character, integrity, good values, and positive attitudes.
Don’t get me wrong. You need the other programs, but they will only work when you have the right foundation – Total Quality People. For example, some customer service programs teach participants to say “please” and “thank – you,” and give smiles and handshakes. But how long can a person smile if he does not have the desire to serve? Besides, people can always see through a fake smile. When the smile is not sincere, it is irritating. My point is, there has to be substance over form, not form over substance. Without a doubt, people who serve customers should say, “please” and “thank-you,” smiles, and so forth – these things are important. But keep in mind that they come a lot easier when accompanied by a desire to serve.
Someone once approached Blaise Pascal, the famous French Philosopher, and said, “If I had your brains, I would be a better person,” Pascal replied, “Be a better person and you will have my brains.”
Great organizations are not measured by wages and working conditions, they are measured by feelings, attitudes and relationships. When employees say, “I can’t do it,” there can be two possible meanings. Either they are saying they don’t know how to or they are saying they don’t want to. If they are saying they don’t know how to, it is a technical training issue. If they are saying that they don’t want to, it may be an attitude issue {they don’t care}, or a value issue {they don’t believe they should do it}.
The Calgary Tower stands at 190.8 meters. The total weight of the tower is 10,884 tons, of which 6,349 tons are below the ground {approx. 60%}. This shows that some of the greatest buildings have the strongest foundations. Just like a great building stands on a strand foundation, so thus success and the foundation of success is attitude.
A HOLISTIC APPROACH
I believe in a holistic approach. We are not just arms and legs, eyes and ears, a heart and a brain, but a complete human being. The whole person goes to work and the whole person comes home. We take family problems to work and work problems to the family. What happens when we take family problems to work? Our stress level goes up and our productivity comes down. Similarly, work problems too have impacts not only on our family but on every aspect of our lives. Personal, professional, and social problems impact each other.
FACTORS THAT DETERMINE YOUR ATTITUDE
Let me ask you: are we born with attitudes or do we develop them as we mature? What are the factors that form our attitudes? If you have a negative outlook on life because of your environment, can you change your attitude?
Most of our attitudes were shaved during our formative years. Why we were with tendencies towards temperaments, there are three factors that determine our attitude formation. These are the triple E’s of attitude.
Environment
Experience
Education
ENVIRONMENT
Environment consists of the following:
Home: positive or negative influences
School: peer pressure
Work: supportive or over critical supervisor
Media: television, radio, newspapers, movies.
Cultural and religious background
Traditions and beliefs
Social and political environment
EXPERIENCES
If we have a positive experience with a person, our attitude towards him is likely to be positive and conversely negative experiences tend to make us conscious. Experiences and events become reference point in our lives.
EDUCATION
Education refers to both formal and informal education. The role of the educator is vital. Strategically applied, knowledge translates into wisdom which in turn translates into success. Education ought to teach us not only how to make a living but also how to live.
HOW TO RECOGNIZE PEOPLE WITH POSITIVE ATTITUDE?
People with positive attitudes have certain personality traits that are easy to recognize. Their caring, confident, patient and humble. They have high expectation of themselves and others. They anticipate positive outcomes.
THE BENEFITS OF A POSITIVE ATTITUDE
There are many advantages to having a positive attitude. The advantages are easy to see. But what is easy to see is also easy to miss.
Positive attitudes:
Benefits for you:
Makes for a pleasing personality
Is energizing
Increase your enjoyment of life
Inspires others around you.
Helps you to become a contributing members of a society an and asset to your country.
And for the organization:
Increases productivity
Fosters team work
Solves problems
Improves quality
Breeds loyalty
Increases profit
Fosters better relationship with employers, employees and customers.
Reduces stress
THE CONSEQUENCE OF A NEGATIVE ATTITUDE
Life is an obstacle course and will become our biggest obstacle by having a negative attitude. People with negative attitude have a hard time keeping friendships, jobs, marriages, and relationships. Negative attitudes leads to:
Bitterness
Resentment
A purposeless life
High stress levels for themselves and others
Negative attitudes create an unpleasant environment at home, at work and become a liability to society.
WHEN WE BECOME OF OUR NEGATIVE ATTITUDE, WHY DON’T WE CHANGE?
Human nature generally resists change. Change is uncomfortable and stressful regardless of its positive or negative effects.
Charles dickens wrote about a prisoner who was locked up for many years in a dungeon. After serving his sentence, he got his freedom. He was brought out from his cell to the bright daylight of the open world. This man looked all around and after a few moments was a uncomfortable with his newly acquired freedom that he asked to be taken back to the confines of his cell. To him, the dungeon, the chains and the darkness were more familiar, secure and comfortable than accepting the change of freedom and an opened world.
If your attitude is negative, your life will be restricted. Your success at work will be limited. You will have fewer friends. Your enjoyment of life will be less. Believe me; working to build a positive attitude will be worth enduring the temporary stress and uncertainty of change.
Action point: My attitude must change for better.
An excerpt from acres of diamond
By Russell Cornwell.
