Week 37: Attitude is Everything!

Manage your attitude right. Macho mean you are able to deal disaster and failure with a right attitude. (Goh Keat Peng) 

Many times the difference between your accomplishment and your failure is your attitude. (Zig Ziglar)

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. (Winston Churchill)

For sure we cannot tailor-make the situation in life, but don’t lost hope on it, we still can tailor-make the attitudes to fit those situations. While browsing books at HELP College’s library, I read a brief quotation by the great psychologist-philosopher William James, ‘The greatest discovery of my generation is that people can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.’ Whenever I see myself in a mirror (especially big one) I said to myself: You may not be able to change your height or appearance, but you can change your attitude.

Dr. Caroline Leaf, author and learning specialist, said: “Behavior starts with a thought. Thoughts stimulate emotions which then result in attitude and finally produce behavior. This symphony of electrochemical reactions in the body affects the way we think and feel physically. Therefore, toxic thoughts produce toxic emotions, which produce toxic attitudes, resulting in toxic behaviors.” The process is this; thoughts – emotions – attitudes – behaviors.  What you think about something determines what you do about it. Life is more about how you react to your circumstances than about what actually happens to you. I heard a preacher once said, ‘The Bible doesn’t suggest being joyful or generous – it commands it!’

Build your Great Attitude by using THINK BIG, START SMALL, GO DEEP model.

1.      THINK BIG

·        My faith in stronger than my fear.

·        I’m determine and willing to pay the price to gain great attitudes.

·        I won’t allow tomorrow’s troubles to sap my today’s strength.

2.      START SMALL

·        I choose to associate with the right people (and still loving others as well).

·        I choose to select a great attitude model to follow.

·        I choose to learn from my mistakes.

3.      GO DEEP

·        I receiving my daily strength from God’s Word.

·        I receiving my motivation by the power of prayer daily.

·        I receiving my drive to show great attitudes by continually being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Recently, I finished reading book by late Keith Harrell, Attitude is Everything. He said that attitude is 100 percent of everything you do. ‘Remember that real wealth is measured not by what you have, not by where you are, but by the spirit that lives within you. Success is an attitude.’ According to our alphabet system, if you assign a numerical value to each letter (1 – 26), attitude will equal 100 percent. (Refer table on the left)

The bottom line is this: a genuine attitude as a believer must be originated from within. Mine is Christ. For every good that shows in my life is from Christ not mine. The Scripture said, ‘The Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God.’ (Romans 14:17-18) Attitude is Everything! Remember: THINK BIG, START SMALL, GO DEEP.

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Added later;

Attitude

By Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitude toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it. I believe that single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. Attitude keeps me going or cripples my progress. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitudes are right, there’s no barrier too high, no valley to deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.

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Recommended reading:

1.      The Winning Attitude by John C. Maxwell (Thomas Nelson Publisher)

2.      Attitude is Everything by Keith Harrell (Collins Business)

3.      30 Days to a Great Attitude by Deborah Smith Pegues (Harvest House)

4.      Paul’s letter to the Philippians.