Shorter Version

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Each person has unique and beautiful gifts. Each one of us can make important contributions to our communities and the world around us. Your attitude is the single biggest thing that will enable you to maximize your gifts and contributions. At the end of the day, “your attitude will determine your altitude.” It’s important to take steps to understand and maximize your attitude to achieve your success.

What’s your attitude toward personal growth?

Let’s start with the definition of attitude from Oxford: “A settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person’s behavior.” The two keywords here are settled and behavior. Settled means that this is within you, a part of you. Behavior is key because it shows your attitude will be reflected in your actions. It’s what you’re thinking and how you are behaving.

It’s a fundamental piece for how you communicate both knowingly and unknowingly with others.

Many things shape our attitude: how we grew up, how you look, your current environment, your self-image, family, friends, and co-workers. Regardless of where we come from, we all have a choice each day. How am I going to live my life today? Taking a positive, energized view to answer this question can be a game-changer to make big progress toward success and reaching your potential.

Get started

Let’s get started with an attitude check. Here are a few prompts to get your self-assessment going; be sure to be honest and truthful:

• What thoughts and behaviors are problems for you? Is there something that causes angst and stress for you? What challenges do you see around yourself? What’s holding you back from discovering and being your best?
• What can you do to change these? Perhaps talk to a friend, coach, or even a professional.

Commit to changing. Attitude is a choice, with commitment and effort you can change for the better. Surrounding yourself with positive thoughts and positive people makes a huge difference. If you commit to changing and improving, just one day at a time, wonderful things will happen.

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Longer Version

Est. Reading Time: 3 Minutes

Let’s work through your personal growth

You’ve been through some years and experiences by now. My guess is you have seen things that encouraged and maybe energized you as you look to the future. You probably have had some things that have turned you off to people and potentially the world around. These life experiences have shaped your attitude in a meaningful way.

Here’s the important part: your attitude today is the jet fuel to help you achieve your potential, success, and personal growth. A bad attitude can poison your life’s journey toward discovering your gifts, achieving your potential, and reaching success in your 20s and beyond.

An honest and heartfelt assessment of your attitude is needed to make sure this key aspect of you is in the right place to help you move forward.

Signs of a great attitude (or not!) and how you stack up

In his book “Your Roadmap for Success,” John Maxwell gives us 7 signs of a great attitude. 

Take some time to assess yourself for each one. A scale of 1 (low) to 5 (high) is an easy way to do this. Be honest. This is about you, your gifts and potential, and your attitude to discover them and truly make them yours.

1. Belief in Self – Positive self-worth is a prime characteristic of a good attitude and a requirement for personal growth. Quite simply, when you believe in yourself, you’re free to focus on improving yourself and reaching your potential. 
2. Willingness to See the Best in Others – Important because you usually see in others what you expect to see. Even better, people generally rise to meet your level of expectation.
3. Ability to See Opportunity Everywhere – Opportunities aren’t based on luck or position. An opportunity exists where you look for it and find it.
4. Focus on Solutions – Everybody sees problems. People with a positive attitude focus their time and attention on solutions. This is the only way to achieve personal growth.
5. Desire to Give – Generous people know giving is better than receiving. They focus their time on giving, not taking. An “attitude of gratitude” is powerful. The more people give, the better their attitude.
6. Persistence – When you have a good attitude it’s easier to be persistent. The ability to stick with it through thick and thin is the result of a good attitude.
7. Responsibility for Their Lives – Unsuccessful people duck responsibility. A successful person understands that nothing positive happens until you’re willing to step forward and take full responsibility for your thoughts and actions.

Let me add 1 more to the list…

• Surround Themselves with People with a Good Attitude – Life can be invigorating, exciting, hard, difficult, and stressful. Negative people around you can literally suck the energy and all the good things you are striving for right out of you. Having positive people around you can energize you and help you get through life’s toughest challenges and make good experiences even better!!! Get out there and make new friends in your 20s who align with your values and also want to reach success.

Commit to changing and doing one thing each day

The above questions should give a good indication as to where your attitude is. Know how important this is to move forward to achieve success. What’s your honest assessment of your strength and what you could do better? Commit to getting better.

Starting tomorrow, write down what you will strive to change each day. Trust me, you will be surprised and awed with the results.

Actionable Steps

About the Author

Tim Rolfes

Senior Program Manager

Tim is a Senior Program Manager at the Christ Hospital Health Network, where he recently led their team to open a Joint & Spine Center. From start-ups to mature businesses, local to global, Cincinnati to Hong Kong, he’s seen it all. As a business driver, community leader, and personal coach, he specializes in helping people and organizations find and maximize their talents and opportunities.
Full Bio | Connect With Tim | LinkedIn

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