CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE

Finally, brethern, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report admirable, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8 (NKJV)

A study performed by a team of psychologists at a leading university determined that attitude accounts for 85 percent of what makes people successful. Education, intelligence and talent are important, but they only account for about 5 percent of success.

The good news is that you can form a great attitude toward every area of your life. Three simple steps are involved: choose, refuse and expect.

Today we’ll cover the first one: choose your attitude. Your attitude is one hundred percent your choice and your responsibility. No one was born with specific attitudes, which is great news. That means you can learn to adopt new ones.

Circumstances are often out of your control, but your attitude is not. In fact, you can have a good attitude even when you don’t feel like it just by choosing your focus. It may take a lot of effort in the beginning, but eventually it becomes natural to handle stressful situations without loosing your cool or jumping to the worst conclusions.

We all have positive and negative thoughts that jump into our heads throughout the day. What makes all the difference is which thoughts we choose to entertain, and which we choose to replace. Instead of remaining locked in on all that could go badly, decide to think about the best-case scenario and you’ll stay level-headed, positive and in control of your emotions.