During childhood, we form attitudes that last a lifetime. Undoubtedly, it would be a lot
easier and better to have acquired a positive attitude during our formative years. Does
that mean if we acquire a negative attitude, whether by design or by default, we are stuck
with it? Of course not. Can we change? Yes. Is it easy? Absolutely not.
How do you build and maintain a positive attitude?
¨ Become aware of the principles that build a positive attitude
¨ Desire to be positive
¨ Cultivate the discipline and dedication to practice those principles
As adults, regardless of our environment, education and experience, who is responsible
for our attitude?
We are. We have to accept responsibility some time in our lives. We blame everyone and
everything but ourselves. It is up to us to choose our attitude every morning. As adults,
we need to accept responsibility for our behavior and actions.
People with negative attitudes will blame the whole world, their parents, teachers,
spouse, the economy and the government for their failures.
You have to get away from the past. Dust yourself off, get back into the mainstream. Put
your dreams together and move forward. Thinking of the positive things that are true,
honest and good, will put us in a positive state of mind.
If we want to build and maintain a positive attitude, we need to consciously practice the
following steps:
Step 1: Change Focus, Look for the Positive
We need to become good finders. We need to focus on the positive in life. Let’s start
looking for what is right in a person or situation instead of looking for what is wrong.
Because of our conditioning, we are so attuned to finding fault and looking for what is
wrong that we forget to see the positive picture.
Even in paradise, fault finders will find faults. Most people find what they are looking for.
If they are looking for friendship, happiness and the positive, that is what they get. If they
are looking for fights or indifference, then that is what they get. Caution looking for the
positive does not mean overlooking faults.
LOOKING FOR THE GOLD
As a young Scots boy, Andrew Carnegie came to America and started doing odd jobs.
He ended up as one of the largest steel manufacturers in the United States.
At one time he had 43 millionaires working for him. Several decades ago, a million dollars
used to be a lot of money; even today it is a lot of money. Someone asked Mr. Carnegie
how he dealt with people? Andrew Carnegie replied, “Dealing with people is like digging
gold: When you go digging for an ounce of gold, you have to move tons of dirt to get an
ounce of gold. But when you go digging, you don’t go looking for the dirt, you go looking
for the gold.”
What is your focus? Become a digger for gold. If you are looking for what is wrong with
people or with things, you will find many. What are you looking for? Andrew Carnegie’s
reply has a very important message. There is something positive in every person and
every situation. Sometimes we have to dig deep to look for the positive because it may
not be apparent. Besides, we are so used to looking for what is wrong with other people
and situations, we forget to see what is right. Someone once said that even a stopped
clock is right twice a day.
Remember when you go looking for gold, you have to move tons of dirt to get to an
ounce of gold. But when you go looking, you don’t go looking for the dirt, you go looking
for the gold.
