Publishers opinion – Attitude is everything
Let’s face it, a lot of us would rather be going anywhere
else other than work. But believe it or not, it’s at work
where we can learn how to go places in life with the right
attitude and outlook.
I know you’ve heard it all before and no, this month’s opinion isn’t meant to
sound like an Anthony Robbins self help book. Life is rarely one big ongoing
fairytale. Nor is it about everyday being perfect. I for one, if I’m honest, can be
one of the most negative and complaining buggers out there on a bad day.
The Mick Eagleton from Bloomfield story this month along with a few personal
experiences and words from friends and colleagues reminded me of the right
approach.
The single biggest weapon we all have at our disposal to
deal with it all is a good attitude.
All too easily we start letting challenges and setbacks become failures, and
failures become the narrative of our daily lives. Work, health, family,
confidence, and heck even our sex lives, all suffer as a result.
So back to work. Real miners work harder jobs and harder hours than I do.
When I look around it’s the ones who understand the realities of life on the job
that do better all round. They are the ones who understand that there is a
complex job to be done and getting into it with a ‘can do’ rather than a ‘can
not’ attitude makes theirs and everyone else’s lives better. Understanding that
it often never goes to plan will set you free.
This advice is about small changes. Striving to take pride in every job at hand
and replacing ‘it’s not my problem’ with ‘let’s tackle this’ automatically turns
you from loser to leader. It also makes the time go faster and the personal
and shared satisfaction at the end of the job makes the beers taste better.
It all flows over to general life as well and practice makes
perfect.
If we improve our attitude just a little bit on the days we feel we can, it
becomes easier and easier. Yeah there will always be days when you just
want to punch the world in the face, but the idea is to have a heap more of the
good than bad and go from there. Things start looking better, the job feels
easier, rewards come naturally and life, family, relationships and maybe even
the bank balance all look that much better. More good times seem to roll in
general.
Don’t quit. Understand the power of attitude, re frame it and take control of
your life. Practice a bit of self-awareness and find your purpose and passion
to discover how to motivate yourself. I’ve spent a lot of time sweating over what’s wrong and completely missing all that is going right. Some days I’ll
never see it, but the harder I look the better I see.
It’s your book…write it! Leave a lasting legacy you’ll be happy for people to read.
