Chapter 2

Going Far with a Great Attitude

IN THIS CHAPTER

Seeing how a positive attitude takes you far

Choosing your attitude every day

Understanding that creating a positive attitude starts with you

Engineering an amazing attitude

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

The process of cultivating a strong set of soft skills - the personal skills that are essential to workplace and life success - can be as hard or as easy as you make it. Yep, it all starts with you. It starts inside you with the attitude you choose each day.

You have two choices: positive or negative. And choosing what attitude you adopt is the most important choice you make each day. Sometimes you have to make that choice several times in a day, which is something I talk about later in this chapter. Consequently, attitude is everything. Get your attitude right from the get-go, and you're good to go.

In this chapter, I explain how to recognize and display successful personal and professional work attitudes; how to develop realistic expectations for yourself in the workplace; and how to cultivate and demonstrate a positive attitude that improves your chances of succeeding in everything you do both in the workplace and in life.

Accentuating the Positive

Sure, it's easy to say, "Be positive." But when you're out in the real world, dealing with the inevitable ups and downs of everyday life, it's not always easy to do. So I'm not going to simply tell you to be positive, and we're not going to promise you that the sun will come out tomorrow. Instead, I want to inspire you to choose to find a way to be positive no matter what comes your way.

Attitude defines your outlook and your approach to life. Your attitude influences everything you say and do, and everything you say and do determines your success. It's that old "is the glass half full or half empty?" question, which only you can answer for yourself. If your attitude is negative, pessimistic, or self-defeating, you may allow workplace and life opportunities that come your way to pass you by. If your attitude is positive, hopeful, excited, and energetic, you're going to swing open life's door every time opportunity knocks! And you're going to go places. I promise.

Your attitude also determines how you relate to and interact with others at work, at home, and out in the world. Despite what you may have heard, in this case, opposites absolutely do not attract. Positive people attract positive people, and they want to work with positive people. Negative people don't attract anyone. And to be honest, no one wants to work or play with them, either. Fortunately, you can always turn negatives into positives. All it takes is desire and a little bit of work.

Recognizing the Importance of a Positive Attitude

Whether your attitude is positive or negative determines how you react to every situation life throws at you. Regardless of whether a situation is good or bad, if you choose to approach it with a positive attitude, 99 percent of the time you're going to respond in positive and productive ways.

I'm not saying it's easy. Life hands you lots of negatives along with the positives. Grumpy co-workers, lousy weather, lousier traffic, stress, disappointments, work and life failures - they can all add up and bring you down. However, positive attitudes are powerful. A person with a positive attitude recognizes the co-worker's grumpy exterior, realizes that they just aren't having a good day, and chooses to overlook it. Or, better yet, to send them a smile. A person with a positive attitude can figure out a way to use the traffic downtime to their advantage and see work and life failures as learning opportunities. They can tell themselves they did their best, smile in their heart, and move onward and upward.

Having a positive attitude takes work and a lot of practice, but it's a critical soft skill to develop. Having a good attitude can not only make work easier but it's also the foundation for some of the other soft skills that I talk about later in this book, such as being a team player. When you work to look for the good in any situation and find the positive, the results of your effort are worth it.

The following sections explain the benefits of staying positive.

Singing the praises of a positive attitude

When you turn a frowny attitude upside down, you see immediate results. Your life and your career start going places. You and your positive attitude start to get noticed (in a good way) by people who matter. Because for achieving workplace and life success, nothing beats being a positive person.

Here's what can happen when you exhibit a positive attitude at work:

• You contribute to increased morale and teamwork.
• Your productivity increases.
• You're accepting of change and new policies.
• You contribute to a solution-oriented work environment.
• You find greater exposure to career opportunities and upward mobility.
• You demonstrate professionalism.
• You communicate a positive image to potential customers, clients, staff, and guests.

Here's what happens when you employ your positive attitude at play:

• You appreciate the little things.
• You try new things.
• You distance yourself from negative people.
• You find your passions.
• You find things to believe in.
• You have a ton of energy.
• You want to make others happy.
• You smile and laugh. A lot!
• You have a curious mind.
• You have better health.

At the end of the day, whether you're at work or play, positivity is an attitude of success. Negativity is an attitude of failure.

Remembering your attitude determines your altitude

Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.

-HENRY FORD, AUTOMOTIVE PIONEER

Regardless of whether you're searching for a career path, you're just starting out on your chosen path, or you've gotten stalled or derailed along the way and are starting your job journey all over again, remember that your attitude determines your altitude at work and in life. Adjusting your attitude is essential to adjusting your altitude. How high and how far you can go in the workplace is something you largely determine, and it requires that you go the extra mile. That may mean arriving to work early or staying late every once in a while. It may mean taking an extra shift when things are busy. It may mean enrolling at your local community college to earn a certificate or degree to climb the workplace ladder, which means you may have to find a way to go to school and work at the same time.

A positive attitude goes a long way to helping you figure out how to climb the workplace ladder to career and life success. Night school, online courses, financial assistance - the opportunities to soar personally and professionally are out there if you're willing to put effort into pursuing them and think positively about your ability to succeed at them.

When you learn how to adjust your attitude - how to think about all the ways you can rather than all the ways you can't - your altitude will adjust accordingly, and you'll fly.

Taking an Attitude Check

People with an A+ attitude always outshine those who possess the hard skills ("the know-how") required to get work and life done but never show enthusiasm or passion while they're getting it done ("the go-how").

Are you ready to find out where you land on the attitude scale today? Are you brimming with go-how, or do you have room for a little attitude adjustment? For the following statements, a score of 1 means "not at all," and a score of 5 means "this is totally me." Record your score for each item to see where you fall on the attitude scale.

My life is exciting and fun.

1

2

3

4

5

I love my job.

1

2

3

4

5

My laughter index is high.

1

2

3

4

5

I have an attitude of gratitude for all the good in my life.

1

2

3

4

5

People find my passion and positive attitude infectious.

1

2

3

4

5

I have passionate hobbies or special interests.

1

2

3

4

5

My job is aligned to my strengths and allows me to do what I do best every...