In parts 1 & 2, you learned how desire and enthusiasm fit into the D.E.A.D. principle. Here in part 3, we will focus on attitude.
There have been volumes written on the topic of attitude and how it can make or break you. In fact, I personally have written two books that address our attitudes and their role in shaping our current environment in which we live as well as our future which we will soon enough inhabit. As a brief matter of shameless self-promotion, you can find those two books on my product page! Enough said.
In addition to my books, I will point you to a free teaching I did on the matter which resides on YouTube. To view this short video on “Attitude Lessons from Flight School” simply click this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZsOJphP3fE I will point out and warn you in advance that this was the first video I made on what was then my new iPad in an outdoor setting. Everything worked out just fine, except the audio quality could have been much better. Nonetheless, it is worth a few minutes of your time to learn a valuable lesson that I will teach here. Feel free to give it a “like” and leave a comment. By all means, help others and me by reposting at will!
Now that I have given you a full three sources of inspiration on the topic of attitude, I will give you a little something new for this post. Our attitudes can serve us well, or entrap us in an unwanted prison of sorts. For example, I grew up in New England and was surrounded by friends and family which shaped me into a bit of a sarcastic individual. That northern sarcasm is great if you are trying to get a laugh, but not so good if it sneaks into your professional life. We need to watch every word that proceeds from our mouth. Not only do we want to choose language which properly communicates our message, but also, we ought to watch our delivery.
If we allow challenges we face in life to get us down, or don’t cope well when the unexpected happens we can send an unintended message. That message can be that we are not serious professionals or that our concern is not in meeting the needs of our customers, but rather to meet our own needs.
Maintaining a positive attitude is paramount to success in any arena. Can you imagine having a surgeon about to perform surgery on you who had a negative attitude? Heaven no! As a consumer, I want everyone I deal with on a regular basis to be a positive individual. I’m talking about the person who takes my order at the drive through window, I’m talking about the clerk at the post office, I’m talking about the person who services our car. Positive attitude in business is equal to professional and satisfying rapport that makes me want to continue to do business with that person or company. I might overlook or excuse a poor attitude once because I understand everyone has an occasional bad day, but beyond that I am looking for a new place to do business.
Whether you are behind a desk, behind a counter, working the phones or speaking on stage before a room full of eager students, you must cultivate a winning, positive attitude. If you expect to go to the next level and improve your position in life, this is a key area to give serious attention. Don’t take your own word for it either! Ask those closest to you who would know you best. Find out what others really think of your presentation to others. l Encourage them to be completely honest. Prepare yourself! Hopefully you will be pleased or pleasantly surprised. But, be open to the very real possibility that you have room for improvement. If you have zero room for improvement you may need to give someone a call and sign up for a study of some sort as you would be quite the anomaly!
Desire leads to giving birth to our enthusiasm. Our attitude is cultivated from these two principles and will take us a long way. See you soon for the final look into the D.E.A.D. principle!