Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. ~Winston Churchill
We hear time and time again that “attitude is everything”. The truth of the matter is…it is. How one looks at things and chooses to react to people, situations and circumstances makes the biggest difference in the next series of reactions, courses of action and the different actions, reactions and attitudes of others.
Here are just a few types of thinking that people should seek to avoid, particularly in the workplace, but with applicability to just about any situation.
Victim Mentality. Victim mentality is one that many people tend to fall into. It’s easier to point at others, various circumstances and make up all of the reasons and excuses of why things aren’t going as planned or as great as they should be for any other reason than your own. The economy is bad. Nobody wants to hire me because I’m old. That incompetent coworker didn’t come through for me. This type of thinking is very dangerous and damaging, because it never allows someone to take ownership and to feel empowered to impact the outcomes in their life.
Jumping to Conclusions. One other type of thinking to avoid is jumping to conclusions. Often times we have a tendency to project our own moods into things and assume things about situations, people and outcomes that aren’t actually true or realistic. I witnessed this today at work when a coworker of mine forwarded me an e-mail and said, “Look at his response to my e-mail. Rude!”. I knew this guy and read his e-mail and figured while it was short, direct and not as friendly or helpful as she is used to, that he did not mean anything by it. I explained to my coworker that while she read his e-mail in a particular tone, I doubt that was his intention at all with what he said. Jumping to conclusions can lead to a lot of misunderstanding and needless stress, worry, anxiety and frustration.
Negative Thinking. Along the lines of victim mentality and jumping to conclusions is overall negative thinking. It is easy to allow yourself to let the negative self-talk take over, but it is really important to keep this voice in check because if you let negative self-talk take over, you will find the damage that it causes to be much more devastating than simply affecting you and your mood. It can affect outcomes, results and, most importantly, it will begin to affect your relationships with people around you. One trick some people have suggested to help combat negative thinking is to wear a rubberband around your wrist and whenever you catch yourself in a negative thought, such as telling yourself, “Gosh, you’re so stupid for making that mistake!” or “There’s no way my boss is going to give me a raise!” or even, “This job sucks! I hate it here!”, you give your rubberband a good tug and release for a nice “snap” back to reality.
Changing your attitude and outlook on things can make a big difference. It doesn’t mean that you have to be Susie Sunshine all day and to ignore that there are times when bad results or bad things occur and you don’t need to deal with them or can’t feel badly about them. But, being realistic, logical and having a more optimistic on finding a solution will take you a very long way!
It’s Friday! Happy thinking, everyone! 
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