What is the Attitude Definition?
There are times in our lives where we come up to a decisional threshold, we are forced to make a decision and we have two options.
We can move forward with what we said we were going to do. We can pursue the goal, we can follow through on the commitment, or we can turn back towards the way that we’ve always done things.
And it’s not that what we have always done is bad so much.
It’s just that it is very safe. It’s very comfortable.
It’s what we’re used to and believe it or not, in this one moment, the difference comes down to the person’s attitude.
Now I know that when I say attitude, we get dangerously close into like drifting off into some motivational speaker la-la land.
And early in my career, I was very skeptical of the concept of attitude because it didn’t seem very scientific to me.
It didn’t seem like something that could be proven.
And I didn’t really understand attitude until several years later when I met this Jamaican cab driver.
Positive Attitude Example
So quick story here for you.
My wife, AJ, who is the CEO of Brand Builders Group, and I were flying into Jamaica; we were going on vacation.
We had been working way too hard. We badly needed a vacation.
So, we’re on the airplane getting ready to take off to go to Jamaica and in my mind, I have this picture of a perfect vacation.
I’m thinking “Oh, this is just going to be great. We’re going to lay on the beach, sleep in all day and just soak up the sun and drink a bunch of waters.”
When we get off the plane in Jamaica, it is a complete torrential downpour.
I am talking about serious rain. This bothered me. I immediately have a negative attitude, or “negatude” as I liked to call it because I don’t have the patience to say negative attitude when I’m all upset.
“Rain on your vacation?!” That sucks. I was pissed.
(Don’t judge me. I’m sorry. I let you down. But I was upset.)
We get in a cab to go to our hotel, and our driver is this big, tall, dark, Jamaican man.
I started talking to him.
I say, “Geez, cabby, what is the deal with all this rain, brother? This is Jamaica. This is the land of sunshine. Is it going to rain all week? Like, what’s with all the rain?”
This guy looks back at me and he smiles and says, “In Jamaica, we don’t have rain. We only have liquid sunshine, mon. Liquid sunshine.”
And when he said that, it finally clicked in my head what the real definition of attitude is.
And the definition that we offer now is that attitude is simply the way you choose to see things.
That’s it.
Positive Attitude Quote
Attitude is the way you choose to see things.
You can choose to see it as rain, or you can choose to see it as liquid sunshine.
How would you rate your attitude today? Leave me a comment below.
