As we get further along into this Intentional Leadership journey, it feels as if I am moving through the months faster and faster. I know, rationally, it isn’t real; each month has the same amount of time (give or take a day depending on which month we are in), but it seems as if we just started this month’s exploration into attitude, and now we are at the end!
I’d like to share this thought from inspirational author and speaker, Charles Swindoll:
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes. As a leader, embrace the opportunities change gives and lead and grow through it.”
His ending sentiment about the 10 and 90 percents, falls right into line with the yoga program I’ve been doing these past three months. The founder of DDPYoga, Diamond Dallas Page (yes, I’m doing a yoga program developed by a former World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion! And, it’s making a huge difference in my life!), talks about living life at 90% — the 90% that is our choice of how we will react to the 10% of things that happen.
This is also a lesson I teach about being intentional in all areas of our life; mindfully giving consideration to the potential risks, benefits, implications, and consequences of any given action — whether it’s through written or spoken communication or action / behavior. When we are thoughtful about these things, we allow ourself the option of responding (thoughtfully and intentionally) rather than reacting, which is emotional and immediate, and often does not turn out as well as we would prefer.
This feeds right into attitude because, as Swindoll, and so many others before him have said, we get to choose our attitude. When things happen in life, they aren’t inherently good or bad until we assign meaning to them. According to the Law of Polarity, you can’t have a good without there being a bad…so we get to choose.
In closing, this is one of the principles I was fortunate to be asked to teach this week, on how “choosing your attitude” can make a huge difference in how your life experience happens.
The my closing question is, are you ready to take charge of your attitude and take charge of your life? Remember, it doesn’t affect only you…Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?
