“And now, dear
brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and
honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things
that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you
learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing.
Then the God of peace will be with you” (Phil. 4:8-9 NLT).
Chuck Swindoll
said, “Attitude is more important than education, money, circumstances,
failures, success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more
important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a
company, a church, or home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day
regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We
cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the
inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and
that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and
90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our
attitudes.”
So how do you
change your attitude to thereby transform your life for the better? There are
five keys to do just that. First, you must take full responsibility for your
attitude. While no doubt, one’s circumstances do have a bearing on life,
the way we respond to it has even greater bearing on life. So as the old saying
goes, if life hands you lemons, make lemonade out of it. Thus, choose to make
the most out of life: win, lose, or draw.
As holocaust survivor Victor Frankl said in his book Man’s Search For
Meaning: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the
human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to
choose one’s own way.”
Second, if you want
to transform your life for the better then you need to take time to evaluate
your present attitude. Socrates wisely said, “The unexamined life is
not worth living.” If that is true for life in general you can be sure that it
is true regarding one’s attitude.
John Maxwell explained this process well when he said, “The
key is to try to look at yourself objectively, to separate yourself from your
attitude. Your goal isn’t to condemn yourself. It’s to see yourself clearly so
that you can make positive changes to the way you think.
When do
you feel most negative about yourself? This question can be asked in general,
and on a daily basis. Right in line with this is examining your feelings
towards others. Many times our feelings come into play long before we become
consciously aware of them intellectually.
After taking the
time to consider your feelings, examine your thoughts. The human mind has a tremendous amount of
power in our lives. That which holds our attention determines our actions. Because
of that, where we are today is the result of the dominating thoughts in our
minds.
The Bible says
that as a person thinks in their hearts so are they (Pro. 23:7). Thus, a person
is the sum of their thoughts. This is why the Bible teaches that we need to
focus our thoughts on things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely,
admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise (Phil. 4:8). Therefore, a key to
changing your attitude is to change the things that you focus your time thinking
about.
John Maxwell
said, “Most of the great work in this world was done by men and women who
didn’t believe that what they were doing was impossible. Talent is certainly
beneficial, but only the right attitude can release it to reach its potential.”
Third, if you
want to transform your life for the better then you need to desire to change. The desire to change is critical in every area of life.
If the druggy or the alcoholic does not sincerely desire to change, they won’t.
And that idea is true for every single one of us in the areas that we need to
change. Fred Smith observed, “You are the way you are because that’s the way
you want to be. If you really wanted to be any different, you would be in the
process of changing right now.”
Fourth, if you
want to transform your life for the better then you need to take time to
develop good habits. Much of what we do every day comes from the
habits that we form. Over time these habits shape our lives, yet they began
with a simple action that was repeated until it became second nature to us.
Psychiatrist William Glasser said, “If you want to change attitudes, start with
a change of behavior. In other words, begin to act the part, as well as you
can, of the person you would rather be, the person you most want to become.
Gradually, the old, fearful person will fade away.”
Lastly, if you
want to transform your life for the better then you need to learn to manage
your attitude daily. While it is vitally important to make good
decisions throughout life, let’s face it, sometimes we don’t. Good, bad, or
indifferent, that’s life. Yet the way that we respond to it can make a
significant difference. Thus, we need to learn to be able to manage the poor
choices and/or failures that we make. So we can make the decision to have a
great attitude, however, if we don’t make plans to manage the decisions that we
make on a daily basis, then we are likely to end up not where we are desiring.
Proverbs 24:16
says, “For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the
wicked stumble when calamity strikes.” Thus, learning to manage one’s
attitude and the decisions we make is a process of getting up whenever we fall.
This will require God’s help, and often times His help comes through others
that He places in our lives. Therefore,
as a part of learning to manage your attitude on a daily basis, is the
necessity for outside help - someone to help pick you up when you fail. And
that is true of every area of life, including one’s attitude.
“If you take
responsibility for your attitude—recognizing that it can change how you live,
managing it every day, and cultivating and developing positive thoughts and
habits—then you can make attitude your greatest asset. It can become the
difference maker in your life, opening doors and helping you overcome great
obstacles.”
In His service,
Matt
(Portions from
John Maxwell, The Difference Maker)
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