For as long as I can remember, I’ve always decided how things were going to go when it came to interactions with others.
If my boss emailed me that she wanted to meet with me tomorrow, I would spend every next moment thinking about all the things I could have done wrong and how I would explain them. Most of the time, I would lose sleep over trying to figure it out. When I would get to the meeting, she would just want to talk about the next project she was thinking about assigning to me. I had myself worked up because I couldn’t think of the positive things she may want to talk to me about, only the negative.
We can approach life in two ways, expecting the negatives or excited for the positives. Basketball coach John Wooden said, “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” Starting with the right attitude can change the path of each day.
In John Maxwell’s book, Today Matters: 12 Daily Practices to Guarantee Tomorrow’s Success (Maxwell, John C.), he discusses his “Daily Dozen” – 12 areas of success. The first is Attitude. Now I’m not sure if he listed them with any sort of priority in mind, but I would say attitude deserves to be at the top.
Attitude can change everything.
Optimistic people expect positive results, whereas pessimistic people prepare for negative results. Which makes more sense? Yes, I know we can’t always win. There will be loss, sadness, and death. But the mindset we chose will decide our attitude.
I lost my job, but I have an opportunity to search for what I really love to do.
A positive spin on an unfortunate situation can change the outlook. It will help you bounce back faster.
Everywhere I go, I get complemented on my smile. Smiling is infectious – at least for most people. I even search for grumpy people to look them straight in the eye and say “Hi” with the biggest smile on my face. I try to walk with a bounce in my step, like I just got the best news in my life. I am over-the-top nice to cashiers, because we all know (or have been) that grumpy person they just had to deal with.
I don’t just do it for them, though. I do it for myself, too. Making people feel better and loved makes me feel better.
This is my challenge for you: For just one day, decide to have a positive attitude on everything that comes your way and make that crabby person smile. Be a Mr. Lovewell. (Please check out that site, MercyMe and their message is amazing!)
But please, don’t be fake about it.
Choose to be happy.
It is well worth it.
What did you do to change someone’s attitude? Leave a comment below!
