Attitude Changes Reality

I read a great post today from Tony Gallegos. It was about one of my favorite topics – the Importance of having a great Attitude.

In 2004, I was in the Navy stationed aboard the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67). We deployed for the Gulf in June. I left behind my husband, my children, my life.  The  ship spent the majority of its time in the Persian Gulf providing air support for the troops on the ground.

I will take this moment to digress and thank, from the bottom of my heart, all the servicemen and women and their families for their awesome service.

Every person who has ever been deployed has their stories about phone calls to home where spouses are worn thin, important dates are missed, holidays apart, and three year olds asking if you are ever coming home. In a situation such as this, as you can well imagine, it is easy to hate everything about life.

Nobody can live like that – much less be productive and perform the mission at hand.  This is what I learned.

You can either sit here and be angry and gain nothing positive from the situation, or you can sit here and take pride in your work, learn from the experience, and become a better person – either way, you’re still sitting here.

Different times call for different forms of resolve where our attitude is concerned. When the market is good, business is booming, we’re spending tons of time with our family, and there’s left over after the bills are paid, a good attitude is easy. When the chips are down, the hustle is harder, and stress is the diet of the day, it ain’t as easy – but this is time when it is most important.

Your reality – the place in space that you occupy- is molded and created almost completely by your attitude towards it. Try these.

• Business is slow – perfect time to work on the marketing plan that is going to generate more business.
• Money is tight – perfect time to review your budget and plan expenses.
• Not enough clients to fill a work day – perfect time to take some of those continuing education courses that make you better qualified to serve them when the list fills up.

Like Tony, I am not advising you to put on “rose colored precious moments glasses and ignore the realities.” I’m just saying that a perceived negative reality doesn’t stand a chance against a healthy positive attitude.