Changing Attitude is Difficult but Critical!

Attitude is your response to a situation, circumstance, person or an object.  But the detailed definition of attitude would be; a predisposition or tendency to respond positively or negatively to a situation, circumstance, person, idea or an object. It influences a person’s choice of action and response to challenges, incentives, rewards etc. These are called stimuli. Stimuli are challenges, incentives and rewards. Four major components of attitude are –

1. Emotions and feelings
2. Cognitive – belief or opinions held consciously
3. Inclination for action , spontaneity
4. Evaluative – positive or negative response to the stimuli

The first 3 components influence or determine the 4^th component.

The importance of Attitude can hardly be exaggerated

It controls our lives. This is why it is extremely important. We must also understand the difference between positive and negative attitude. It is important to know what these both can do for us.

Positive attitude brings strength, energy, motivation and initiative.

Person with a positive attitude will ask “How something can be done?”, rather than saying, “It is very difficult. We don’t know whether it can be done or not.”

It gives you power over your circumstances rather than your circumstances having power over you. That’s the power of positive attitude; it gives YOU the power. You control circumstances, rather than  circumstances affecting you or your behavior.

It is also an understanding of the fact that nothing can change until you change. Therefore, everything changes once you change. You have to identify what are your habits, what are the things that are holding you back. And you have to overcome those, and to overcome those, you have to change.

It is necessary to train your mind to see good in everything. To see something positive, so that it encourages you to go ahead in whatever you are trying to do. Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it. Let’s make it positive.

It will be a good idea, to decide and say it to yourself every morning that you will face everything that comes to you today with a positive attitude. All things about you are important and you should give importance to all those things. Only when you are careful about everything around you, others will give you the respect you deserve.

While positive attitude will help you in every aspect of life, negative mind will never give you a positive life. It will create only negativity. Further, negative thoughts create negative situations.

A bad attitude leads you nowhere. You cannot go very far until you change it. Therefore, if you identify that your attitude needs some enhancement, do it sooner than later. A person with negative attitude sees difficulty in every opportunity. Whereas a positive thinker, sees an opportunity in every difficulty. This is a big difference. How can you change? You have to figure it out for yourself. Because it depends on your habits.

Positive thoughts are good, but they are not enough. They have to be followed with positive feelings and positive actions. Actions are most important. Without actions you cannot have the benefits of positive attitude. Attitude has to be supplemented and supported by respective actions.

The only disability in life is bad attitude. There is no reason why you should live with a disability which is under your control. There are some difficulties we have to live with. But it’s not so with your attitude. Your attitude is something you can change and the best thing is to change it. Whenever you feel pain in your life, think about its full form –

P – Positive

 

A – Attitude

I – In

N – Negative situation

If you have a tendency to self doubt it keeps giving more negative energy to feed on. That means you are actually attracting negativity. One American in his grey years said “my life has been full of misfortunes which never took place”.

Another man had said, “I don’t have time to hate people who hate me, because I am too busy loving people who love me”.

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Power of good Habits

What is habit? 

Habit is a routine of behaviour that is repeated frequently and tends to occur subconsciously. Bad habits intrude your life and prevent you from accomplishing your goals.  Breaking any habit can be difficult. For instance, if a person smokes regularly it becomes his habit and even if he feels to quit, it becomes difficult for him to give-up.  

Psychologist and philosopher William James proclaimed that the entire life is nothing but a series of habits that we form repeatedly. The power of habit is been explained by various authors and motivational speaker.  One of the famous Author Stephen R. Covey, wrote and published a book known as “The 7 Habits of successful People” describing an approach to being effective in attaining goals.   

To achieve excellence in big things, one should develop the habits in little matters. Keeping the desk clean, removing the clutter in your mind, etc. all these small things can be practiced again and again. If you can instill these habits into your life, you can create the foundation for achieving your goals. 

However, here are the 8 Habits of Highly Productive People that you have to adopt to get the best out of you!!  

1.       Ruthlessly Cut Away the Unimportant

That’s right. Try to focus only on the important things, and cut away everything that’s unimportant. There is no point doing something that is unimportant. So push yourself to quit wasting time, and bring yourself back to the production mode.

2.       Allocate breaks strategically

Productivity declines over time without taking brakes. Take plenty of breaks throughout the day. The rule of thumb would be to take a 5 to 10 minutes break every 2 hours of work. Breaks are a highly effective way to boosting your productivity. 

3.       Remove productivity pitfalls  

Things that limit your productive must be thrown out.  It can be the music you listen to when you work, your phone calls, alerts from your inbox, your slow computer, the internet, You Tube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. These things trap you and prevent you from getting things done. 

4.       Tap into your inspiration

No matter what field you’re in, your inspiration is the key to your output. So, channel your inner muse. Keep on thinking and contemplating the things that motivates you. And definitely you will find that your focus increases thereby upsurging your productivity. 

5.       Create barriers to entry

Don’t make yourself too accessible. If you’re too accessible then you will face a lot of interruptions. Nowadays people can connect with others very easily with the touch of button (text, emails, calls, etc.). Therefore, guard your time to improve your productivity.

6.       Optimize time pockets

Make the best of every minute. For instance, if you’re working for 10 minutes ensure that you achieve maximum outcomes in that 10 minute and then you can take time off.  You usually get time pockets while waiting for people, commuting, chess app, reading books, or planning. 

7.       Set timelines

Be clear on what you want to achieve, and then set your timelines for them. When you set timelines, you set the intention to complete the work on time, hence paving the way for the reality to manifest.  

8.       Automate everything possible 

Technology today has made automation possible for a lot of things we do.  Hence, find a way to automate every task and let it be your habit. If you outsource, delicate, automate your task   obviously your productivity will improve. 

Another important Habit that you must build to increase your productivity is Prioritization. Always there is a constant tension between the urgent and the important things.  Important activities should be of high priority because they are the things that contribute significantly in reaching your goals. Whereas urgent activities may or may not relate to your big-picture objectives, and usually they do not make any significant contributions.

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Humour, thy name is Happiness

Humour is the quality of being amusing by trying to find something interesting in almost any situation. A good sense of Humour keeps a person lively, free from stress and thus is a great asset. When a person says to someone “I am warning you to not mess up with me as I know Karate, Kung Fu, Judo, Daimoku, Jutsu” etc. and similarly names 28 other dangerous words. The time when a person reads these words, one cannot imagine that ultimately that person is saying he only knows words and nothing else. This makes you smile and that is humour.

Life is short thus one should always smile.

When a person thinks that he needs glasses at his age and if wine glasses are shown in a picture in place of wearing glasses it makes that person smile.

To that extent, humour should give some surprise by either pun of words or in any other manner so that the surprise achieved is a pleasant one but without sarcasm.

Someone who is fond of vacation might say I need a 6 month vacation twice a year. Now, this is absurd but still it makes one smile.

It is said that humour is by far the most significant activity of the Human Brain. Never mistake a person’s silence for weakness. No one plans a murder out loud.

As said by Osho “If you find a saint who has no sense of humour then he is not a saint at all.” Humour is indeed a great asset.

There is another saying which goes as “A sense of Humour makes a man handsome and a girl beautiful.”

If one is serious and says. “A recent survey has found that one in three men is just as stupid as the other two.” Again, absurdity makes you smile.

The great leaders and the famous people throughout the world have also expressed humour in different ways.

Abraham Lincoln said “I destroy my enemy when I make him my friend”.

Albert Einstein said “Two things are infinite; the Universe and the Human stupidity and I am not so sure about the Universe.”

Author Francis Bacon said “There are two ways of spreading light: To be the Candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

He also said that “If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.”

Sometimes there are just wise sayings and only expressed humorously.

Humour is also about right thing, and needs to be having right words at the right place.

It has to be well-timed too.

Someone said “Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently”.

It is said that “Common sense is like deodorant and the people who need it the most never use it”.

Whenever there is a surprise or if you are comparing two things which don’t justify the comparison it makes you smile and that is Humour.

“Forgive and forget; I am neither Jesus nor do I have Alzheimer’s disease.”

Humour is rightly called Mankind’s greatest blessing.

Charlie Chaplin once said “A day without laughter is a day wasted”.

When it comes to why humour should be used, Lincoln said “If you are in a situation wherein important and controversial ideas must be presented to less than open minds, humour allows those ideas to be presented in a non-threatening manner”.

Abraham Lincoln was famous for his ability to relate humorous stories. And so was Albert Einstein who said “A person who never makes a mistake, never tried anything new”.

Find humour in everything and you will live without worry and die without worry.

Thanks for reading.