Developing a positive attitude

Positive Attitude Development
Frederick Pokoo-Aikins
MSc. AMC, CIA, CISA, ACFE

Overview
Introduction
Jerry and Co
What is Attitude
Attitude formation
Attitude change
Positive attitude tips

Introduction
Positive attitude is very important to being successful and happy.
Without it you will crash and remain down for life!!

What is attitude
An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for an item
Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event
Attitudes are judgments

Attitude formation
Most attitudes are the result of either direct experience or observational learning from the environment.
Unlike personality, attitudes are expected to change as a function of experience.

Attitude change
Attitudes can be changed through persuasion and we should understand attitude change as a response to communication.

Positive attitude Tips
Take passionate action towards living your life. Don't just make it through the day, live it. Sink your teeth into it and live it like it was your last day on earth. Squeeze every moment out of it and live each day with passion. Passion and a positive attitude are contagious. You will find others attracted to you who are just as passionate about life and living.

Act instead of reacting. Don't wait until something bad happens then try to deal with it. Be proactive and make something good happen. You are responsible for what you make of the life you have, and you only have one, so don't waste it. Create the best life you possibly can, one day at a time.

Believe that each moment is perfect regardless of its outcome. Bad things happen. That is a fact of life; but that doesn't mean you have to allow it to drag you down. Good can come from everything, no matter how bad it may be at the time. Learn to open yourself up to learn from, and gain strength from, the bad things that happen in your life. Learning to have a positive attitude even when bad things are happening will help you to get through the bad times even stronger and more determined to succeed

Talk to yourself positively. Say to yourself, "I'm good", "I'm great", "I'm doing really well", "I am self-confident"; feel good when you say these things to yourself.
Praise yourself when you've done something good (a good job at work, helped a friend, give directions to a stranger, etc).
If we have the time to praise a colleague or relative, why wouldn't we have the time to praise ourselves and feel good too? "Well done, me".

Take the time to feel grateful for something. For example, you can feel thankful for the possessions you have, for the people in your life, or simply for being able to walk or see, or have food. Being thankful for anything puts you in an attitude of appreciation and receiving.
As a result, you develop a positive mood and feel more enthusiastic towards what comes next, thus helping towards maintaining a positive attitude.

Look at the difficult times in your past and identify at least one good thing that you got out of a bad situation. All events have a positive side, even the negative ones. Therefore, it's logical to think that when a difficult event comes along in the future, no matter what it is, you will get something out of it for your own benefit. Feel the serenity that knowing this creates and accept that you are able to deal with anything in your life, if you decide so.

Reinforce your self-image by acknowledging something you achieved that was important or difficult for you. It may have been finishing a degree, or winning a contest, or getting in touch with someone you had argued with. Look at the good qualities that made you achieve that: strength, persistence, kindness, etc. Feel good about yourself. You possess those qualities and can bring them into play anytime.

Focus on your main goal. If you do not have at least one main goal in your life, then go find one, make it your dream and start manifesting it into reality. For example, many people have a goal of working from home or to stop working altogether.
When you get busy working on achieving your main goal you acquire a sense of purpose and self-fulfillment, which leads to keeping a positive frame of mind.

Become more aware of your thoughts.
When a negative thought enters your mind replace it with a positive thought.
Be kind to yourself. Do at least one thing a day that you enjoy doing, and which makes you happy.
Listen to music that you love.

Read about the life of positive and successful people.
Read inspiring quotes every day. You can find a collection of quotes at: www.successconsciousness.com/quotes.htm
Visualize your life as you wish it to be, and believe in what you visualize. Refuse to have doubts and negative thoughts.

Learn about how to build a positive attitude.
Read more articles on positive thinking that show you how to build a positive attitude:
Learn to use affirmations – positive statements.
Associate with people who have and are interested in building a positive attitude

Self discipline

Define Self
The total essential or particular being of a person.
The individual.

Define Discipline
Training that is expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior.
Training that produces moral or mental improvement.
Controlled behavior resulting from disciplinary training
A systematic method to obtain obedience
A state of order based upon submission to rules and authority

A part of you does not want self discipline.Inside of you, there is a little part of you that wants to be completely lazy. Anytime you try to do something worthwhile, that person inside you tries everything possible to get you to stop..

The 5 things that this person inside you says to get you into doing something else.
What's the point of all of this?
Why bother? Remember last time you tried something like that?
I'm not good enough. I don't have what it takes. I'm too fat/ugly/skinny/shy etc.
Let's go do something else. Let's just watch some TV for a little bit.
We'll do it later. No need to get started right now.

A great tip to get you up and going.
State out loud (or in your head) what you want to be doing, as if you were actually already doing it.
If you want to stop watching TV and start writing a proposal, repeat to yourself, "I am working on my proposal. I am working on my proposal. I am working on my proposal.“

Self discipline is not a trait, its a skill.Laugh the next time you hear someone say that they are self disciplined. Because the reality is, you can't be self disciplined. You can use self discipline. But you can't be it as if it was a quality in you.If you take someone that you think is very skilled in self discipline, you will realize that even for them, the little person inside them gets the best of them at least some of the time.That's because no matter how skilled you are, there is always room for improvement. The best basketball player on the planet still misses a shot from time to time.

Ask yourself, "How can I get myself to do what a part of me doesn't want to do?"Whenever you hear yourself saying one of the five things mentioned above, stop what you are doing immediately.Think about what this person in you is saying. Is their point valid? Usually it's not. And when it isn't valid, you need to have some kind of pick-me-up to get you through it. Try using tip 3 and start chanting what you want to be doing. Rewards work well too.

You fear failure because you don't separate the task from yourself.This is a big clue as to why you haven't started doing a lot of the things that you've always said you wanted to do.We are all consumed by fears. Whether we realize this or not.If our project fails. We consider ourselves a failure. It's important that you realize that you do this and stop thinking this way.If your project fails, big deal! You're still a winner for trying. I know you might think that this sounds like a loser's attitude but it's not. As long as you tried your best when you were working on it, you'll be a winner every time!

Ask yourself, "What is the worst that can happen?"Continuing on with dealing with fears, this saying is the best antidote I've heard.Next time you're afraid to make that phone call that you really need to make, ask yourself, "What is the worst thing that could happen?"You will be amazed by how many times the answer to this question is "not much." Try this the next time you are frozen from action because of some fear. Think about the worst thing that can happen. Accept it. And then do it!

Don't have an "all or nothing" attitude.The reason we don't get started on many important things and the reason our self discipline falters is because of our instinct of "all or nothing.“I used to have the hardest time getting started writing a new page for the site because I said to myself, "if I start then I have to finish it!“When you start on something, start with the attitude that you are going to do your best and whatever happens, happens. When you do this, you will find yourself getting started much more quickly. And ultimately, getting a whole lotmore done.

The reality of getting it done is more satisfying than getting it perfect.This relates a little to the previous tip. Having a "perfectionist" attitude will really kill your self discipline.If everything needs to be perfect, you need to get rid of that attitude immediately. Because a lot of things just need to be good enough. And nothing more.The ultimate satisfaction comes when you do your best and get it done. If you need to go back later and improve it you can. But focus your thoughts and attitude on getting things done. And getting them done as quickly as possible.

Have a notecard of inspiration.Get a notecard and write three motivational things on it. I like to have two motivational quotes and one big goal that I'm striving towards.Now, be sure to only have three things on it. Keep it simple or you'll never look at it. And be sure to change this notecard and add new stuff to it from time to time.I would say that you need to make a new card at least every two weeks. Because it doesn't take long before the thoughts written on the card lose their power and don't quite give you the inspiration that had before.Be sure to have this card in a place where you will see it all of the time. My motivation card sits right by my computer. I can't tell you how many times I've glanced over at this card and a surge of energy started to come up inside of me.

Developing a positive attitude

by Frederick Pokoo-Aikins

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