There are three factors that largely determine our attitude formation. These are the triple E’s of attitude: 1. Environment 2. Experience 3. Education.
1. Environment
What is socially acceptable or unacceptable, starts influencing our attitude “In a positive environment, a marginal performer’s output goes up. In a negative environment, a good performer’s output goes down.”
In societies where lawlessness becomes the law, honest citizens become cheats, crooks and dacoits.
2. Experience
Experiences and events become reference points in our lives and we draw conclusions which serve as guidelines for the future.
If I teach my grandson to tell the truth. If he sees me lying, he gets somewhat confused initially, because he hears one thing and experiences something else. He draws his own conclusions based on his experience which become his reference points going forward in life.
3. Education
We are drowning in information but starving for knowledge and wisdom. Strategically applied, knowledge translates into wisdom which in turn translates into success.
The role of the educator is vital. A teacher affects eternity. The ripple effect is immeasurable.
A person with a positive attitude is like a fruit of all seasons. He is always welcome. Life is an obstacle course and we become our biggest obstacle by having a negative attitude. People with negative attitudes become a liability to society.
Charles Dickens wrote about a prisoner who was locked up for many years in a dungeon. After serving his sentence, he got his freedom. He was brought out from his cell into the bright daylight of the open world. This man looked all around and after a few moments was so uncomfortable with his newly acquired freedom that he asked to be taken back to the confines of his cell. To him, the dungeon, the chains and the darkness were more familiar, secure and comfortable than accepting the change of freedom and an open world.
If your attitude is negative, your life is restricted. Your success at work will be limited. You will have fewer friends. You will not enjoy life to its fullest.
Dreams are a dime a dozen… it’s their execution that counts. —Theodore Roosevelt
Do you want to stand out from the rest in this world?
Source: You Can Win by Shiv Khera