Attitude
Several years ago, when I was in high school, my father gave me several … motivational quotes. I recall building a desk with him in my bedroom out of an old door. Six feet long, it was an area where I could spread out and both study, as well as work on my computer. On top of the desk was a sheet of glass, underneath which were these various quotes. I don’t recall if I put them there or he did, but these water-stained, sun-faded pieces of paper hang in my kitchen to this very day.
I didn’t realize it then, but these simple pieces of paper would impact how I approached life for the next decade and beyond. These simple reminders, looking up at me while I would be studying, constantly reminded me that life is what we make of it. In most cases, if we work hard and put effort into our lives, we are rewarded in kind. I saw a quotation from Michael Jordan this evening, and it reminded me of one of my favorite pieces. Like many kids, I was a fan of Jordan growing up. This quotation is attributed to him:
“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”
Similarly, my father provided me with the following piece from Charles Swindoll:
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude… I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.
And so it is with you… we are in charge of our attitudes.
What were the other pieces, you ask?
“If”, by Rudyard Kipling was one.
The other was about avoiding energy vampires. Accompanied by the Swindoll piece, it mentioned:
- Out attitude at the beginning of any task determines its success or failure.
- The mind carries only one thought at a time - so make it positive, not negative.
- Our attitude towards life determines life’s attitude toward us
- Human beings want to be appreciated - needed. Give this appreciation and it will be returned to you.
- Look for the best in others. You can learn something from everyone.
- Don’t talk about personal problems, bad luck, or poor state-of-health - no one else is interested
- Radiate the attitude of well being, confidence, and enthusiasm - others will follow your lead.
- Success or failure in anything is caused more by MENTAL ATTITUDE than by mental capacity.
- Become the kind of individual you want to be. Remember - you are what you think…YOU ARE!
Thanks, Dad. I wouldn’t be who and where I am today without you. You have given me both the work ethic and the attitude necessary to succeed.
I always believed this to be true. It’s not what the reality or current circumstance you may be facing that really matters, reality is how you deal with what life has brought to you. Is the glass half empty or half full?
February 13th, 2009 at 4:00 amVery true, and I agree to most of it.
“Don’t talk about personal problems, bad luck, or poor state-of-health - no one else is interested” however, I disagree.
Talk about your problems, your bad luck, your poor health, whatever bothers you. But to it with the right people at the right time. Don’t blurt it out, or people will just run away.
But of course you need to get the bad stuff out too. We’re only human, and we need to share and process the bad stuff too.
We have a Danish comedian who said, in a context of doing presentations and entertaining: “Expose your megalomania - cause nobody’s interested in hearing about your shortcomings”.
It’s true sometimes. Sometimes not
But great post, never the less
February 13th, 2009 at 4:38 amYour post reminds me of my own father.
He told me, that in life as long as no-one gets hurt, and nothing gets broken, what you are doing is fine. I suppose it is the simple mantras with deep meanings that stick with us.
Additionally, what your father told you about attitude strongly resonates with my own sense of the importance of attitude. Generally, life is what you make of it. So if you are always looking for the negatives in life, you will always be depressed. Similarly, if you are always looking for the positive side of things, you will always be happy.
In a book that I read recently, “The Tipping Point”, one of the examples of a successful “salesman” (in this case, someone who “sells” an idea by showing it’s benefits), was “Tom Gau”. A great contributor to his success at selling ideas was his insistent need to look at the positive aspects of things. To quote from the relevant passage, “I’m a really positive guy. I’m so positive… take a positive person and then multiply that by 100… that’s me.”.
And really, who wants to associate with someone who is depressed? We are strongly effected by those around us, more then most people realize.
February 15th, 2009 at 10:59 pmThe Charles Swindoll quote is one of my favorites. I printed it out and gave it to Grandma and it is now one of her favorites. She loves it. It is now hanging over her bed in the rehab home and I think it is helping her feel much better. Or maybe it is just your picture that I added to the end of the quote that makes her feel so happy!
February 16th, 2009 at 8:37 pmDamon,
Awesome stuff. Love that you had a glass table, and quotes underneath it. Fantastic.
I still remember the poster I had in my four years at boarding school, was a bunch of fish, one going the opposite direction with some form of “Be ye not conformed ..” (Romans 12) on it. The visual image of it against my bunk is still with me, almost twenty years on (man that’s scary).
Holding to these valuable truths, things passed on from previous generations (no matter if it’s sportsmen or grandparents, etc) is important. Not slavishly of course. We have to work the truths out for ourselves.
Thanks for the interlude to work
Back to the code now.
February 19th, 2009 at 7:11 pmLove it and agree wholeheartedly.
**adds Damon’s blog to feed reader**
March 4th, 2009 at 6:01 pmGreat piece! You hit the bullseye. No matter how much knowledge, talent, or whatever attributes someone has, if they don’t have a good attitude I don’t want to be around them.
We can always do better. And we should hold ourselves accountable to that
April 6th, 2009 at 8:53 am