Attitude is defined as the way you think or feel about something or someone. Plain and simple isn’t it? But it is one of the essential characteristics of a person. All of us have heard or read about how important having the right attitude is and how important it is to keep a good attitude towards people. It is regarded as an asset held by people to gain success. So what is right attitude?
Let’s start with the definition. We experience something. Any event or incident or maybe any conversation. Let’s say we feel bad about it. Now our interpretation of the occurrence becomes negative and as a result, our brain starts getting filled up with bad thoughts and hostile contemplations. And because that particular event is dubbed negative by us, we will want to avoid the circumstance and the people who cause it. This chain reaction which started with a tiny bit of interpretation lands up making immense conclusions full of negativity. It might the opposite case as well i.e. positive.
Having the right attitude would mean that the negative instance we underwent would demand more from ourselves as a person so that we deal with the situation in a positive manner. Understanding or feeling that whatever we experienced is something we didn’t like would make us ask questions. Wait, this is important. We would “question” our interpretation as to why do we not like it. Was it really the circumstance or was it a mere conclusion out of our dislike? The ability to question ourselves is a must have and we need to use it more often.
The trait that would follow questioning ourselves would mean that we would accept the situation the way it is. Irritation and anger is a reaction due to helplessness and feeling powerless to have an influence over the situation. To accept would mean that we would be at peace with the situation and that would save us a lot of stress. The final and the foremost step would then be to find a solution for it. This willingness to find a solution would not be possible without the preceding steps. And it’s hard to have that kind of willingness too. To accept that the situation we are in is a difficult one and to be mentally strong enough to strive for finding a solution is no less than an achievement.
Seems a bit too old and an extension of the same thing we have been hearing time and again isn’t it? Recently Kasper Rorsted, the CEO of Adidas Group opened up about his journey to the top. Things got sour for him when he was fired from Hewlett-Packard back in 2004 where he had 40,000 employees under him. The sole reason for his expulsion was a bad attitude. “It undoubtedly made me a better person.” he quoted as per www.time.com. Realizing his mistake and having the right attitude to deal with his problem he finally landed his dream job at the Adidas Group a year ago.
Well, old is certainly gold it seems. Kasper Rorsted is an example of how right attitude not only helps to deal with the situation but to overcome hurdles back to success. Keeping things plain and simple doesn’t mean we are missing something. It just depends on whether our execution is correct or not. Winston Churchill wrote, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” This line sums up the entire math of right attitude. I hope we now know what we need to do, don’t we?
Image Credits: Dreamstime.com
Karan Singhania
