Over the years I have learned to adapt my attitude to fit the situation that I find myself experiencing. It is a skill that I have developed over a lifetime and may be the one skill that has driven my career forward. Especially when I may have not been the optimal person for a job or task.
The other thing about attitude, that I had to learn, is that once you achieve the goal you are pursuing; tempering that confident 'I did it' attitude with humility is a key to staying on top. I had to learn to turn off my 'Inner Bitch' and separate it from my otherwise winning attitude.
This may well be the longest quote I have ever used but it rings true for me.
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
~~Charles R Swindoll
My knowledge of attitude was learned from my family. My father, a career military man, always portrayed himself as an invincible figure in front of his men. His success in leading these men, over a long career is evidence of attitude portrayal working to perfection. Because my farther was the most gentle loving person I have ever met. The persona of the rough tough military man was only for work. The real man was only portrayed at home.
My father learned how to manipulate his attitude from his grandfather, my great grandfather. My great grandfather was an Italian immigrant who came to the USA in 1910 at the age of 17. He was a tailor's apprentice in the town of Sermide, Italy. He was from a family of tailors. It is what they did and they rarely looked beyond that profession. By the age of 19 he had become proficient in English and had his own small tailor shop, along with his cousin, in Brooklyn, NY.
He wanted more for himself. He met my great grandmother when they both were 20 years old. They fell in love. But he would not marry until he could provide a good life for her.
He had always been interested in the work done by an accountant who had an office next to his shop. So, at nights he would study with that accountant to learn the business. Within a year he had sold his interest in the tailor shop and went to work with this accountant as a Book Keeper; actually making more money than he had made working in his own shop.
Still no wedding though.
After about 2 more years; there happened to be a job opening up for an accountant at a clothing store in Brooklyn. My great grandfather found out what the job entailed. He crammed a years worth of accounting knowledge into 4 weeks and went to interview for the job.
This 5' 4" Italian immigrant without a high school education, let alone any college, went into that clothing store armed with a lot of knowledge of the clothing business a little knowledge of accounting and an attitude as big as all of Italy and applied for that job. He used that confident attitude to make the store owner believe that he was he best person for that job. Two weeks later he became that stores accountant. About a month later he and my great grandmother married.
Within 5 years of starting that job he had completed a Business Degree and was promoted to the head accountant of the clothing store chain.
I tell this story out of pride, of course. But more importantly to illustrate what a confident attitude can do for you. In your home situation you can be timid, loving and affectionate. But in your career or when out in public a strong confident attitude will win you favor every time.
And yes; you can portray a strong confident attitude without being abusive. The key is to learn where to draw the line between the two. A lesson I learned, at an early age, from my fathers example, from the stories about my great grandfather who I was never privileged to meet and through athletics.
Attitude is a skill of infinite value. Learn to take advantage of it and amazing things will happen for you.
Night
My knowledge of attitude was learned from my family. My father, a career military man, always portrayed himself as an invincible figure in front of his men. His success in leading these men, over a long career is evidence of attitude portrayal working to perfection. Because my farther was the most gentle loving person I have ever met. The persona of the rough tough military man was only for work. The real man was only portrayed at home.
My father learned how to manipulate his attitude from his grandfather, my great grandfather. My great grandfather was an Italian immigrant who came to the USA in 1910 at the age of 17. He was a tailor's apprentice in the town of Sermide, Italy. He was from a family of tailors. It is what they did and they rarely looked beyond that profession. By the age of 19 he had become proficient in English and had his own small tailor shop, along with his cousin, in Brooklyn, NY.
He wanted more for himself. He met my great grandmother when they both were 20 years old. They fell in love. But he would not marry until he could provide a good life for her.
He had always been interested in the work done by an accountant who had an office next to his shop. So, at nights he would study with that accountant to learn the business. Within a year he had sold his interest in the tailor shop and went to work with this accountant as a Book Keeper; actually making more money than he had made working in his own shop.
Still no wedding though.
After about 2 more years; there happened to be a job opening up for an accountant at a clothing store in Brooklyn. My great grandfather found out what the job entailed. He crammed a years worth of accounting knowledge into 4 weeks and went to interview for the job.
This 5' 4" Italian immigrant without a high school education, let alone any college, went into that clothing store armed with a lot of knowledge of the clothing business a little knowledge of accounting and an attitude as big as all of Italy and applied for that job. He used that confident attitude to make the store owner believe that he was he best person for that job. Two weeks later he became that stores accountant. About a month later he and my great grandmother married.
Within 5 years of starting that job he had completed a Business Degree and was promoted to the head accountant of the clothing store chain.
I tell this story out of pride, of course. But more importantly to illustrate what a confident attitude can do for you. In your home situation you can be timid, loving and affectionate. But in your career or when out in public a strong confident attitude will win you favor every time.
And yes; you can portray a strong confident attitude without being abusive. The key is to learn where to draw the line between the two. A lesson I learned, at an early age, from my fathers example, from the stories about my great grandfather who I was never privileged to meet and through athletics.
Attitude is a skill of infinite value. Learn to take advantage of it and amazing things will happen for you.
Night
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