Curious about Attitude: Does It Define Us and Our Lives and Careers? You Bet It Does!

“Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” - Zig Ziglar, American author

“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, American President

Having a good attitude – and even Zig Ziglar’s quotation – has almost become a cliché. Every book on success, selling and/or self improvement starts with attention to attitude. When I was considering my theme for today, I suddenly realized that I hadn’t written about the all important and life defining attitude.

Of course, when I started searching the quotations for “Attitude” the number was almost overwhelming. My own attitude toward writing my weekly blog is that it is to not only provides thoughts and inspiration for you, my reader, but also makes me think and gives me motivation for the week.

Yes, I have always considered attitude to be everything in every situation. This serves me well. I enjoy every career I pursue. I love working and learning on the computer. My twelve fitness classes a week are a joy. With the Internet, I get the opportunity to write for a huge number of readers.

I whole heartedly agree with Denis Waitley who writes, “The winner's edge is not in a gifted birth, a high IQ, or in talent. The winner's edge is all in the attitude, not aptitude. Attitude is the criterion for success.”

Here are some of the other great quotations from the experts:

• “The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.” - Oprah Winfrey, American entertainer
• “Happiness doesn't depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude.” - Dale Carnegie, American writer
• “If you can't change your fate, change your attitude.” - Charles Revson, Canadian businessman
• “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” - Winston Churchill, English statesman
• “It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.” - Dalai Lama, Indian leader
• “My attitude towards drawing is not necessarily about drawing. It's about making the best kind of image I can make, it's about talking as clearly as I can.” - Jim Dine, American artist
• “A great attitude does much more than turn on the lights in our worlds; it seems to magically connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before the change.” - Earl Nightingale, American entertainer
• “Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.” - Albert Einstein, German physicist

There are so many other excellent quotations, I am just going to share three more of my favorites:

“Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different.” - Katherine Mansfield, New Zealander author

“Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world. Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak. Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor, and your picture begins to lighten up.” - Allen Klein, American businessman

“Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new.” - Og Mandino, American author

Have a wonderful week. Let me know how you feel about “Attitude.”