Is Attitude Really a Choice?

Attitude Is a Choice

Yes, attitude is a choice. Like many others thing we do be it taking a daily shower or brushing out teeth, attitude is a daily choice. Attitude is also a habit. Repeated choices become habits and in this case a good one. A great attitude is a habit that is easy to break since we are tested all the time. 

We all have seen cases in others, even basket cases, of poor attitude. All we have to do is pay close attention when people interact. However, how well do pay attention to our own attitude? 

Attitude makes all the difference as it defines us and it opens the roads to great things, a great life. Is your attitude a winning attitude or a losing one? Our attitudes get tested all the time, don’t they? We may pass the written test. The question is do we pass the oral test in our daily interactions with others.

Here are 7 attitude checks we can perform on ourselves:

1.    Empathize with others. We simply don’t know what others are going through in their lives. Give them grace.

2.    Accept criticism. We can learn from what other don’t like in us. Their directedness can be a source of great information for us.

  

3.    Go the extra mile. Do a little more than others do and do it consistently. Extra effort is a great attitude builder.

4.    Be tolerant. Tolerance allows us to live with others that are different than us. Show love, humility and patience.

  

5.    Be proactive. Don’t react, respond instead. Take the higher ground. No matter the circumstances, no matter what happens to us, we have the choice to respond. Freedom to choose is a powerful attitudinal quality.

6.    Be disciplined. It takes a lot of effort to drop bad habits and pick up new ones. The rewards are worth it. Choose to be a master in self-discipline.

7.    Be humble. Easy to say but hard to practice. When we realize we are not superior to anyone else, humility sprouts inside us.

Have you taken your attitudinal shower today?

The purpose of the 7 Daily Nuggets is to teach us what we need to know to live a prosperous life; the things that we may not have learned or are not currently learning in church, school, home or at work. Let’s apply what we learn here and share these nuggets with others. We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give. Be a giver in a world of takers.

Be blessed and be a blessing to others.

Carlos Fontana, President of Phalanx

Co-author of the book Follow to Lead (The 7 Principles to Being a Great Follower)

Author of the book PRICELESS (Sixty-Six Simple Stories of Reflection, Love, and Legacy)