Positive attitude for success

There was a man who made his living selling balloons. He sold balloons of various colours. When his business became vacant, he used to release the helium-filled balloons into the air.

When the visitors (especially children) saw those awesome balloons, they would come to him and his business grew. All day, he continued to release a balloon whenever his sales slowed down. One day when he was in his business process, a little boy asked him, “If you release a black balloon, would that also fly as like red does?” Moved by his question, the man replied gently, “Son, it’s not the colour of the balloon, it’s actually what’s inside which make it go up”. This very same principle applies in our lives: It is what’s inside that counts. And what’s inside of us go up is our positive attitude.

A study done by Oxford University found that when a person gets a job or a promotion, 85% of the time it is because of his/her attitude, and only 15% of the time due to intelligence and knowledge of his related topics. Attitude is the most important and invaluable term in English language applied to every part, every sphere of life, including personal and professional life. Can an executive or an officer be ‘the best officer’ without a good attitude? Can a student beat 100% without a positive attitude? So, the foundation of success, regardless of our chosen field, is attitude.

Acres of diamonds

Smith was a farmer who was happy and content. He was happy because he was content and he was content as he was happy. One day a wise man came to him and told him the glory of diamonds and their power. The wise man said “If you had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could buy your own town. If you had a diamond, the size of your fist, you would probably buy your own country”. And the man left. That night Smith was not able to sleep. He was unhappy because he was discontented and vice versa. After some days, Smith sold his farm, and went off in search of diamonds. He looked all over his city and country, but wasn’t able to find any. He looked all over America and Africa, but couldn’t find any. He looked all over the whole of Europe; still his hand was empty. By the time he reached Australia, he was physically, mentally, emotionally and financially tired and depleted. He was so disheartened that he committed suicide.

Back home, the person who had brought his farm was harvesting. He saw something sparkling far away; the morning rays of the sun hit a stone and made it sparkle like a rainbow. He thought that the stone would be a good to decorate his living room.

After some time, that very same wise man came and saw the stone sparkling. He asked the man, “Is Smith back home?” The new owner replied “No, why do you ask?” The wise man replied “Because that is a diamond and Smith went in search of them.” The owner said, “No, that’s just a stone I picked up from a stream. Come I will show you. There are many more.” They went and picked some samples for analysis. Sure, those stones were diamonds. Awesome, they found that the farm was indeed decorated with acres of diamonds.

Morals of this story:

1.When our attitude is right or positive, we’ll be walking on acres of diamonds. Opportunity always stays under our feet. All we need to do is to recognise it.

2.Grass always looks greener on the other side (this means we, humans always perceive best of others, we don’t see ours as best).

3.Opportunity only knocks once. The next one may be better or worse, but never the same one. That is why it is so crucial to make right decision at the right time. A right decision at the wrong time will definitely become a wrong decision.

What is attitude?

Attitude is the way you look at the world. It has a lot to do with your state of mind. If you look at your responsibility in a positive enthusiastic manner, how do your subordinates and others see you? If you look at your responsibility in a negative manner, how will your subordinates and others see you?

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” – Winston Churchill

What then must we do to develop our positive attitude?

nLearn to communicate

nGet back to basics

nHelp someone out

nFind your spirituality

nAllow yourself to be loved

nFollow the principles of holistic health

nParticipate in new physical and mental activities to improve confidence levels and coping mechanisms

nAllow yourself to laugh and find humour in the simplest of things

nRead a great positive book, take a walk in nature or volunteer with people and animals

How does positive attitude benefit you?

nHelps achieve goals and attain success

nGreater happiness

nMore energy

nGreater inner power and strength

nThe ability to inspire and motivate yourself and others

nFewer difficulties encountered along the way

nLife smiles at you

nPeople respect you

Some tips to improve your attitude in the work place

nDevelop confidence

nHave realistic expectations   of yourself

nDetermine if “adequate” is   good enough

nRe assign the work

nCreate system or use a tool

nAsk for reassignment

Build your personality

Personality is the organised and distinctive pattern of behaviour that characterises an individual’s adaptations to a situation and endures over time. The distinctive character of personality allows us to tell people apart. It helps to recognise people and tell them apart. Personality is the sum total of all physical, mental and emotional attitudes, values, interests and motivational factors.

How do we avoid being taken for a ride? Well, don’t let someone become a priority in your life,

when you are just an option in their life…relationships work best when they are balanced. We must be careful not to fall into this trap where we sit and wonder why we don’t get the same enthusiasm that we give to a particular person. Well, you may just be an option in that person’s life.

If we are to harmonise well with our environment and the people we deal with, we must be sure not to make a promise when we are in joy, not to reply when we are sad, not to take decisions when we are angry and not to generate options when we are depressed or frustrated. We need to act wise.

Some inspirational thoughts

Battles are won first in the minds before they are won in the battlefield. Hence, if you don’t control what you think, you cannot control what you do.

Time is like a river. You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.

Enjoy every moment of life…

(The writer is the Managing Director and CEO, McQuire Rens Group of Companies. He has held regional responsibilities of two multinational companies of which one was a Fortune 500 company. He carries out consultancy assignments and management training in Dubai, India, Maldives, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. He is a much sought-after business consultant and corporate management trainer in Sri Lanka.)