#atttitude #GoodAttitude #QuantifyingAttitude
No rah-rah speeches, please.
That’s what Sam Glenn, a worldwide expert on attitude, was told by a company representative who was considering hiring him to give a speech.
So Glenn tells the story of how much a good attitude is really worth.
Glenn was going to buy a TV, but only had $500 to spend. The store clerk says $500 won’t cover that. Glenn asks to speak to a manager. When the manager comes over, his first response, rather than “may I help you,” or something akin, was, “what’s the problem?”
When all was said and done, the manager could do nothing for Glenn, so he took his $500 and walked out of the store.
“That unhelpful attitude is reflected in the level of work they do in the workplace,” Glenn writes in his book, “The Gift of Attitude: 10 Way to Change the Way You Feel.”
Good attitudes have a benefit that can be quantified. If one customer per day leaves a business without spending money, because he doesn’t like how he was treated, that’s real money, Glenn asserts. Multiplied over a week, month or year, you can see the cost of a bad attitude.
The book also talks about attitude “warriors,” people who make it a point to ALWAYS have a great attitude, and attitude “termites,” those that eat away at people’s good attitude.
So, the question becomes, are you a warrior or a termite?
If you are a warrior, you probably are intentional about how you feel. You insist on not just displaying a good attitude, but genuinely creating one. If you are a termite, you work diligently to make happy people miserable. But, if you run into a warrior, chances are the termite tactics won’t work on that person because he or she has made it a point not to let a termite taste victory.
Circumstances differ day to day in most workplace settings. Warriors don’t allow those circumstances to affect their attitude. They make good situations great and bad situations better.
They treat everyone as if he or she is special.
If your (pick one: work, financial, personal) circumstances are causing you to be an attitude termite, think about what’s good in your life, and try adjusting your attitude using those things.
Think about ways to help others. If you are looking for a vehicle to make your life better, and help others, there are many such vehicles out there. To check out one of the best, message me.
If you are an employer, devote a priority to an employee’s, or prospective employee’s, attitude. The right attitude can yield real productivity. The opposite is also true. An employee’s bad attitude can really cost you.
If you are an employee, make sure you create a good attitude going into work. A good attitude reduces stress and allows you to better deal with any circumstances that cross your path. You may not solve every problem, but you’ll find many more possible solutions – or create a solution.
If you are having a bad day, and it’s affecting your attitude, think about a time when you were treated badly by a store clerk, or some other person you were hoping would help you solve a problem. You do not want to be like that person. You want to solve your and others’ problems.
Leave home thinking you’re going to save the world – one person at a time – by treating that person the way you would want to be treated.
Peter
Tag Archives: Sam Glenn
IT TAKES A LIZARD, OR JUST GOOD HUMOR
#lizards #WhatYouWereBornToDo #DoForOthers
If someone put a lizard (toy ) in your lasagna, would you: 1) go eeeuuu? 2) wonder why someone would do such a thing or, 3) just laugh?
Sam Glenn’s mother did that to him. He laughed. If it got him to laugh, his mother told him, then the idea worked.
Glenn’s story is one of creating a new life from having nothing. After having hardly a dime to his name, and feeling sorry for himself, Glenn today is a successful motivational speaker and author.
His book, as you might guess, is titled “Who Put A Lizard in My Lasagna?: Change Your Attitude, Change Your life.”
His mantra: “Talking about it never gets the job done. Doing does. Go do what your were born to do! Live the life your were born to live. Don’t look back in regret. Look back and say, ‘I’m glad I did.’ That is living.”
So it begs the question: how does one KNOW what he or she was born to do? As Glenn advises, don’t think about what you can do for YOU. Think about what you can do for others.
“I began learning long ago that those who are happiest are those who do the most for others,” Glenn quotes Booker T. Washington.
The back cover of Glenn’s book says it best: “Determine your unique gifts and then apply them to where you are right now, with a positive attitude. The result? You’ll begin to experience more of what you want in life by using the best of who you are.”
Again, how does one know what he or she was born to do?
We mostly get ideas of our talents from parents, teachers and other adult influencers as children. “You’re not good with your hands, so you need to do something with your head,” a mother might tell her son. “A woman’s job is to get married, raise a family and be supportive of her husband and children,” a mother might tell her daughter.
Then, as we grow, we get guidance on what our abilities truly are. Athletes figure out they are good athletes fairly early on. Students find out they are good students early in their education. But if you turn out to be a good athlete, or a good student, how far will that take you? In either case, it won’t take you very far if you don’t work at it.
Even if you do, you may find the competition more difficult at every level. You will reach your level of incompetence, perhaps, at a fairly young age. The few who combine ability with hard work will go furthest.
What if you are not a good athlete, or a particularly good student? How does one in that category find what he is “born to do?”
He or she may have to look harder and longer, but even he or she will eventually find his passion.
If you are someone still looking for what you were born to do, you may have to look in places you would not think to look. For one starting place, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. You may not find what you were “born to do” there, but you might find something that could give you a taste of success as you look for your passion, as you help others in the process.
Sam Glenn built his success from having nothing, and looking for something. His catalyst was borrowing $200 to attend a motivational seminar, featuring Jim Rohn and Mark Victor Hansen – two of the best motivators and success builders ever.
Anyone can do what Glenn did, if he or she has the will. If you are content to have nothing and do nothing about it, you’ll reap what you sow. The road to success begins with the mindset that one can achieve what he wants. Finding what you were born to do, and doing it, can give birth to great success for anyone. As you help others succeed, success will continue to be bestowed upon you.
Peter