Lead With Your Chin –– and a Smile

By Mark Fulton

Motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar has a real talent for expressing memorable concepts with pithy sayings. Here’s what he says about the importance of attitude to your success: “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” I like that.

How successful do you want to be? How high do you want to fly? In large measure, your future is in your hands — or, more accurately, in your mind. Your attitude toward life shapes your thoughts. Your thoughts stimulate your emotions. Your emotions influence your behaviors. By cultivating a positive mental attitude (PMA), you can take a big step toward thinking, feeling and being like the person you want to become — the person who has everything you want to have. In short, if you want to be successful, a PMA should be part of your SOP (Standard Operating Personality).

The personality you present to the world every day molds the world’s perception of you more than anything else. Let’s face it, the fact that you have an advanced degree from Hot Stuff University or membership in the Association of Wonks and Whiz Kids doesn’t mean much to others if you tend to moan and groan, wring your hands and find the cloud behind every silver lining. Brains, beauty, talent, wealth or any other attribute you can name is secondary to attitude when it comes to the ultimate conclusion people reach about you. And people are the cornerstone upon which a life of success and satisfaction is built.

There are four basic ingredients of a positive mental attitude:

• Cheerfulness - My friend LeRoy Ober is 94 years old. I have never met a person — of any age — filled with more vigor and joy than LeRoy. He is a lightening bolt of positive energy that lights up a room. His dynamic, exuberant attitude, which springs from a life grounded in faith, optimism and gratitude, is absolutely infectious. Spend two minutes with LeRoy and you’ll have a smile plastered on your face for the rest of the day.

• Confidence - In his book “Working with Emotional Intelligence,” Daniel Goleman says people with self-confidence “believe themselves to be catalysts, movers, and initiators, and feel that their abilities stack up favorably in comparison to others’.” This strong sense of one’s self worth and capabilities creates a “presence” that others perceive as a positive force that promotes progress.

• Enthusiasm - Norman Vincent Peale called enthusiasm “fire under control.” He said it “spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.” Enthusiasm is the blaze in the boiler that generates the power of positive thinking. A positive mental attitude fueled by enthusiasm sees obstacles as stepping stones. Contagious enthusiasm enables individuals and teams to overcome perceived limitations and vault to new levels of achievement.

• Expectancy - There is no drama more meaningful than the birth of a baby. For nine months parents, family and friends look forward to the day when a new life will add a chapter to the chronicle of humanity. That same sense of expectancy can be cultivated and applied to life in general. With each sunrise we can choose to look forward to a day that is pregnant with possibility. If we expect each day to deliver golden opportunities to our doorstep, we are more likely to discover special blessings that might otherwise escape our attention.

How do you develop a positive mental attitude? Work at it. Like anything of true value, a PMA isn’t something you find under a rock; you have to forge one with purposefulness and perseverance.

• Adopt the Semblance of Success - A successful attitude is the first step to a successful life. “Before you can do something, you must be something,” said the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Think, talk and act like a successful person and you’ll condition yourself to grow into that person’s shoes.

• Spread Smiles Freely - Let your face lead the way and your attitude will follow. A smile is a carnation in the buttonhole of life — not to mention the most inexpensive way there is to improve your looks.

• Think Affirming Thoughts - Tune in to your internal dialogue and check it out. Nip negative thoughts in the bud and replace them with positive affirmations. Try writing down some confidence-building, self-motivating assertions and keep them in view throughout the day. Pop one in your mouth whenever you taste a sour thought coming on.

• Conduct Reality Checks - Hold your internal dialogue to a ruthless standard of accuracy. Make sure that what you’re telling yourself is really true before your accept it. Watch out for absolutes like "always" and “never.” Replace thoughts such as “No one appreciates what I do” with more accurate statements, such as “Sometimes my efforts appear to go unnoticed,
but my friends and colleagues know I do quality work.”

Your Standard Operating Personality is the gift you give to others every day. By wrapping it in a positive mental attitude, you’ll improve your chances of receiving in return the appreciation, admiration and affection of others.

Next time, I’ll share how PMA plays a vital role in being a leader.


© Copyright 1999 Mark S. Fulton