Mykie is the Co-founder and CEO of Voss Coaching Co, a company committed to helping individuals achieve personal freedom. Learn More.
Have you ever been around someone whose enthusiasm and outlook on life felt infectious? It seems like everything comes easy to them and no obstacle can slow them down. This is more than mere optimism, and it’s definitely not luck. You might have felt as if they had momentum at their back and could always find the good in every situation. Perhaps you even wondered how they seemed to always avoid obstacles.
That’s the result of a positive mental attitude.
And, as a CEO and co-founder, I can tell you with certainty that I would hire someone with an amazing attitude and no experience over someone with years of experience and a poor attitude. I’ve found it to be sad but true that many people are prisoners of a life they don’t love because their attitude won’t allow it. These individuals might feel disheartened and stonewalled when it comes to building the life they desire and are constantly letting the outside world and circumstances dictate their mood.
But from my perspective, we all have more power to lead happy, fulfilling lives of contentment, joy, wealth and consistently increasing satisfaction. This power is not mysteriously given to some of us and not others. It comes to us by deliberately focusing on building and maintaining a high-caliber attitude.
I believe it is essential for business leaders, in particular, to develop and maintain a high-caliber attitude. Business leaders set the culture for their company and clients, and the attitude they adopt will trickle down from the top. A high-caliber attitude is also a pace-setting tool. When you’re operating with a positive mental attitude, you’re able to quickly see solutions and maintain momentum.
Shifting Your Attitude
Often, when people hear the word “attitude,” they think only of positivity. While that’s certainly a great attribute, attitude is a much deeper concept. In order to understand how to build a quality attitude, it is helpful to parse its components: thoughts, emotions, actions and discipline.
What many people don’t realize is that your attitude starts with your thoughts. In order to control your attitude, you must take control of your thoughts. This might feel foreign at first if you have been conditioned to let outside circumstances dictate the way you think, feel and act. But I believe that when you take jurisdiction over the thoughts you think, your life can open up in new ways with success and fulfillment pouring your way.
My business partner always says, “We can’t let our thoughts discipline us. We have to discipline our thoughts.” What does he mean by this? He means we have to get off autopilot and start actively and deliberately accepting and rejecting the ideas we allow into our subconscious mind.
To me, freedom is your birthright. However, you can never achieve freedom if you don’t first take responsibility and control over your thoughts, feelings and actions. I believe it is a duty we all have to embrace noble ideals that lift us up and move us forward—starting with how we think.
Thought leads us to the second aspect of attitude: your feelings. Time and time again, professionals find themselves riddled with worry, doubt and fear. You can learn to change your emotions and give way to confidence, assurance and boldness. The way to change your feelings is to change your thoughts. This awareness gives you the opportunity to evaluate your commitment to fulfilling your goals and desires. You can turn off autopilot and jump into the driver’s seat of your thinking. I urge everyone to really indulge in envisioning those things that elevate their emotions. Get addicted to joy, progress and fulfillment.
One tip for instantly changing your thinking is to see things through a lens of gratitude. As a business leader, there are always a million things you need to do. Instead of thinking you have to do them, remember that you get to do them.
This leads us to the third aspect of attitude, and that is action. New thoughts create new feelings. New feelings create new action. New actions create new results. Sustained discipline keeps the momentum going.
I can almost hear some of you groan at the mention of discipline; I realize that many, if not most, people mistakenly regard discipline as restrictive, but I cannot say clearly enough that discipline is key to freedom. I am well aware that discipline requires energy. And, due to Sir Isaac Newton’s first law, which says an object will stay at rest or in motion unless acted on by an external force, I know it is so very tempting to sit back and wait for things to change or improve. However, that “external force” Newton mentioned is your own self-discipline that puts the power to act in your own hands.
I hope you all know and embrace that you are more powerful than you might realize. You have within you the gifts of thought and imagination; the full spectrum of emotions to inspire you; the ability to take action; and the force of your own will to empower you to take action. Success is waiting for you.
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