Reinventing Your Problem Change Your Attitude, Change Your Results

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”

-Charles R. Swindoll As a new year begins, we often reflect on the choices we’ve made and vow to not repeat the bad ones. We spend years filled with regret about the bad decisions we have made. I’ve made some very bad decisions in my life. I tell myself that if I had some of those moments to live over again, believe me, I wouldn’t repeat them! But those choices made me what I am today... I am something of a control freak about certain situations. But I have learned that I cannot control everything. I can’t control my circumstances, but I can control my reactions to them. Brian Tracy says, “You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.” We want to master change rather than have it master us. The best way to do this is to control our attitudes when we are involved in situations we have no control over. I might have made some bad decisions, but even those choices brought me to the place I am today. For instance, transferring from one college to another in 1976 caused me to have different mentors and friends. Shortly thereafter I thought I had made a dumb choice. But the people I met in the new college influenced me to go in a different direction. I wondered if I had made a good or bad decision to not do what I had planned prior to then. I met some great people in the graduate school I selected, one of whom is still my best friend today. He helped me edit my first bestselling book, Reinvention Made Easy. Without him, the book wouldn’t have been a bestseller. So did I make a mistake by transferring schools over 40 years ago? Was it a dumb choice? Definitely not!

Every choice you have made has led to where you are right now.

Let this thought sink in: Where you are right now is a direct result of every choice you have made in life. As you read this, think about that for a moment. The good things you are experiencing in life are influenced by some stupid decisions, bad situations and evil people you ran into years ago. You are the result of all that has happened to you for good or bad. The same is true in business. You make mistakes in business all the time and you either learn a lesson, or you repeat them and learn something else. Every scar you bear makes your appearance what it is today. It is the price you paid to be where you are. Charles Revson said, “If you can’t change your fate, change your attitude.” Oh Canada! I love working in Canada and the people are wonderful. In the past they pointed to the US economy and asked me what was going on. They wanted to know how the recession in our country would affect them. Canada was strong for many reasons, but the greatest was oil they export to the rest of the world. The US imports more oil from Canada than any other single country. But then the oil market collapsed in 2015 and the Canadian economy was thrown into a recession. Ontario and Alberta are suffering through hardships they never thought would occur.

We can’t control the economy, but we can control how we react to it. Today the US is still struggling with poor jobs reports, runaway inflation and slow business growth. Consumer confidence is very low. Black Friday (the shopping day after Thanksgiving) was below market expectations. Fewer people are purchasing big-ticket items. But more people are learning how to control their spending and are seeking value in their purchases. Smart buyers are using cash to pay for items and reducing their credit spending. More people are making smart decisions when they purchase. So what are you as a business leader doing about that? How does that information influence what you sell and how you sell it? Does it drive you to offer more discounts to undercut your competitors? Does it make you increase the value of your services or product lines to raise your prices? Does it force you to get closer to your loyal and frequent customers (those who spend money on your business most often) to find out what makes them spend more and recommend you? Is it causing you to expand your internet and electronic sales presence? What are the movements occurring in your industry and how can you react? Is everyone complaining about their situations? Complaining isn’t solving any problems. Great

leaders act when the rest of the world is in a “fetal position” to make things happen. Stop complaining about the problem you can’t do anything about. In the words of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that, it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” Your New Attitude Here is what I have learned about attitudes: Your attitude is a choice. It is not forced upon you. You choose it like you chose what to wear today. You can either choose to have a positive attitude when problems arise, or choose a negative attitude. Playing the victim won’t gain you any ground with your critics.

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.”

–William James Your attitude will change the way you view your everyday work. If you are in sales, you know that you sound better on a sales call or visit immediately AFTER you sign a big client than when you have been unsuccessful for a time. The difference? Your attitude about it changed.

“A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug.” -Patricia Neal

Your attitude is not taught or bought. It is caught, just like catching a cold… in close contact with other people who have it. The higher you go in any organization of value, the better the attitude becomes. There is a reason winners keep winning. They have what John Maxwell calls a “winning attitude.” The best organizations, Google, Apple, Amazon, Southwest Airlines, and Westjet are “infected” with a positive attitude.

“People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.” -John Maxwell

Your attitude will determine your future in any quality organization. More people are hired and fired because of their attitude on the job and with coworkers. Skills can be taught but you are responsible for your attitude. Your boss or manager is not responsible for motivating you to do the job you were hired to do and get along with others. That is called salary or commission and you are being paid that already.

“Excellence is not a skill, it's an attitude.” -Ralph Marston

Your attitude is your greatest asset in problem solving. The problem is either a challenge to your authority and lifestyle or an opportunity to grow. You will notice in every problem most people are looking for leadership from someone who will step up. You can

be that person if your attitude controls your thoughts and expectations. You will be able to tell everyone that the organization isn’t down; it’s different and problems must be tackled in a different method than previously attempted. Think outside and sell it inside the group.

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”

-Thomas Jefferson Your attitude is just about everything. If you take the letters in the word “ATTITUDE” and assign them the number they appear in the alphabet (A=1, T=20, T=20, I=9, T=20, etc.), the letters add up to 100! Try it…. In fact it is hard to find any other word in the English language that adds up to 100. Your attitude is 100% of what you need in life and business. “Success” adds up to only 93… Your problems become minor when you overcome them with a positive attitude. The problems of your past were overcome successfully when you took charge and the next challenge will stretch you even further. What are you doing to improve your attitude and solve your problems more effectively?

Change Your Attitude; Change Your Results Permission is granted to reprint this article provided the following paragraph is included in full:

Jim Mathis, IPCS, CSP, MDiv. is The Reinvention PRO™, an International Platform Certified Speaker, Certified Speaking Professional and best-selling author of Reinvention Made Easy: Change Your Strategy, Change Your Results. To subscribe to his free professional development newsletter, please send an email to: subscribe@jimmathis.com with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject. An electronic copy will be sent out to you every month. For more information on how Jim and his programs can benefit your organization or group, please call 888-688-0220, or visit his web site: www.jimmathis.com. © 2016 J&L Mathis Group, Inc.