Zig Ziglar, and early mentor and star of my documentary Words of Art, used to tell me: Choosing a positive attitude is like taking a shower, highly effective but it needs to be done every day.
The challenge is, what if it’s not working? What if nothing is working and everything is going down hill fast?
A negative attitude, pity party and a good temper tantrum feels a lot better than a positive attitude.
At least for me it does, if I’m really being transparent. Ok, deep breath! One more. The worst part is, my temper tantrum hang over is 10 times worse than the millisecond of gratification it gave me. Now I spiral down even farther.
That was me two days ago, laying flat on the mat, K.O.’d as my anger got the best of me. So what did I do?
My choices were: #1. Get another “fix” of temporary relief through more anger or #2. Get up off the mat, apologize to all for my anger and choose that positive attitude.
I chose #2., even though I didn’t feel like it. Zig also told me “Positive thinking does not guarantee your success, however Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.”
And you know what, he is right. So no matter what isn’t working for you, no matter how bad it gets, choose a positive attitude, it’s the real answer to all your challenges. One of the greatest thought leaders and most read authors of all time, the Apostle Paul said: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
You can’t win with a losing attitude. So join me in getting up off the mat, sometimes multiple times a day, and choose victory by choosing a great attitude.
