Science of success : Attitude
- Part 2 -

L Biren Singh *

(iv) Lion's Attitude :

The lion is the king of the animal kingdom. The lion has attitude of leadership. A leader has an attitude that makes him different from his followers. Let us talk a little bit about the lion. The lion has what I call the spirit of leadership and the word “spirit” here is referring to Attitude. A leader has an attitude that makes him different from followers.

Now, the lion is the king of the jungle but the lion to me is a great source of encouragement to all of us. We knew that the lion is not the tallest animal in the jungle, the lion is not the largest animal in the jungle, the lion is not the heaviest animal in the jungle, the lion is not smartest or most intelligent animal in the jungle and yet when he shows up, all run away.

Well, here I have a nice quote “An army of sheep led by a lion will always defeat an army of lions led by a sheep”. Because leadership can transform cowards into violent warriors. The right kind of leadership can transform a timid into bold people who are fearless. Leadership is so powerful that it can walk into a camp of depressed people and in 20 minutes, they turned on into unbelievable, powerful armies because leadership determines everything.

The lion is the king of jungle because of one word “Attitude”. The lion has a different attitude that makes every animal affraid of him. The elephant respects the lion. The hyenas respects the lion. The giraffe respects the lion.

What makes these massive animals respect such a small cat ? Attitude, the attitude is the different. For example, a lion will see an elephant and the thing that comes to his mind “Lunch”, I could eat this things and he acts the way he thinks.

Now, here is another amazing mystery. The elephant is larger, bigger, stronger, more powerful, heavier and more intelligent and yet when the elephant sees the lion, one word comes to his mind “Eater”.

An attitude is a product of belief. You can't have an attitude beyond your belief. So your attitude comes from your belief system. The lion is the king because of what he believes about himself.

Let us try to know more about ATTITUDE.

2. (i) What is an Attitude ?
It is a habitual way of thinking and feeling. It is a viewpoint, a frame of mind, a thinking process and a way of looking at things. It is our stand point, our approach to things or our reaction to situations in life.

(ii) Positive Attitude :
Individuals who have a positive attitude will pay more attention to the good, rather than bad in people, situations, events etc. Having a “positive attitude” means that a person believes everything which happens for the best at the end.

(iii) Negative Attitude :
People with negative attitude ignores the good and pay more attention to the bad in people, situations, events etc. A person with negative attitude pays attention to other people's short comings.

(iv) Difference between positive and negative attitudes :

A. Positive Attitudes :

(a) Positive attitudes are rewarded. It means that the individual is encouraged to do the same thing in future.
(b) If we have positive attitude, we will surely experience such emotions as joy, love, gratitude, peace and hope.
(c) A person with a positive attitude pays attention to the virtuous of others.

B. Negative Attitudes :

(a) Negative attitudes are punished in order to discourage the same action in future.
(b) If we have negative attitude, we will definitely have negative feelings such as anger, disappointment, irratation, envy etc.
(c) A person with negative attitude pays more attention to other people's short comings.

v) Characteristics of attitude :
(a) Attitudes are the complex combination of things, we use to call personalities, beliefs, values, behaviors and motivations etc.
(b) All people, irrespective of their status or intelligence, hold attitudes.
(c) An attitude exists in every person's mind. It helps to define our identity, guide, our action and influence how we judge people.
(d) Although the feeling and belief components of an attitude are internal to a person, we care view a person's attitude from his or her resulting behaviors.
(e) An attitude helps us to define how we see the situations as well as define how we behave towards the situations or objects etc.
(f) An attitude is a summary of a person's past experiences thus, an attitude is grounded in direct experiences and predicts future behavior more accurately.
(g) It includes certain aspects of personality such as interest, appreciation and social conduct etc.
(h) It refers to one's readiness for doing work.
(i) Attitude may be positive or negative and may be affected by age, position and education.

3.(i) Positive and negative attitude :

(a) The person with negative attitude thinks “I can't”.
(b) The person will positive attitude thinks “I can”.
(c) The person with negative attitude dwells on problems.
(d) The person with positive attitude concentrates on solutions.
(e) The person with negative attitude finds fault with others.
(f) The person with positive attitude looks for the good in others.
(g) The person with negative attitude focusses on what's missing.
(h) The person with positive attitude counts his or her blessings.
(i) The person with negative attitude sees limitations.
(j) The person with positive attitude sees possibilities.

(ii) Attitudes are a secret power working 24 hours a day for good or bad and your attitude is your iwindow to world

(iii) As Hugh Decons has said, “A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.”

(iv) Without a positive attitude, you can't activate the other principles. Your success in life begins and ends with your attitude.

4. Factors that determine our attitude :

(a) Environment :

(i) Home environment : It will give much affect on the attitude of the family members.
(ii) School environment : It starts influencing on the student’s attitudes.
(iii) Social environments : Media, television, newspapers, megazines, radio, movies, etc. which are socially acceptable or unacceptable start influencing our attitude.
(iv) Economic environment : Can you teach values on an empty stomach.
(v) Religious environment : Many times, either interpretation or miscinterpretation of religion makes people fatalistic.
(vi) Political environment : Political environment is also necessary for development, peace and happiness in the region.
(vii) Experiences : Event and experiences in life determine our attitude. Positive experiences influence the positive attitudes whereas negative experiences influence negative attitudes.
(viii) Education : Education also influences the attitude of the students. Education refers both formal and informal education.

5. (i) The benefits of a positive attitude :

(a) Make for a pleasing personality
(b) Gives fulfillment and makes life meaningful.
(c) Inspires oneself and others.
(d) Helps people, become contributing members and asset to society.
(e) Increase, productivity & profits.
(f) Reduces stress & increases happiness.
(g) In other words, a positive attitude leads to a happy, healthy and prosperous life.

(ii) The consequences of a negative attitude : Life is an obstacle courses and we become our biggest obstacle by having a negative attitude. People with negative attitude have hard time keeping friendships, jobs, marriages and relationships.

(iii) Negative attitude leads to : Bitterness, Resentment, Discontentment, Frustation, a purposeless life, ill health and high stress for self and others. Negative attitude create an unpleasant environment at home, at work and in society. They pass their negativity to others around them. People with negative attitude become a liability to society.

6. Change of negative attitude : Human nature generally resists changes. Change is uncomfortable. Regardless of it is positive or negative, change can often be stressful. Sometimes, we get so comfortable with our negativity that even when the change is for better, we don't want to accept it. We prefer to stay with the comfort of the negative. Charles Dickens wrote about a prisoner who was locked up for many years in a dungeon.

After serving his sentence, he got his freedom. He was brought out from his cell into the bright daylight of the open world. This man looked all around and after a few moments was so uncomfortable with his newly acquired freedom that he asked to be taken to the confines of his cell.

To him, the dungeon, the chains and the darkness were more familiar, secure and comfortable than acepting the change of freedom an open world. If your attitude is negative, your life is restricted, your success at work will be limited. You will have fewer friends. You will not enjoy life to its fullest.

To be continued....