By Henry Ukazu

Dear Friends,

If you’ll agree with me, there are many ways to be successful because success has many dimensions. All great beings who have truly achieved success in life have one thing in common, they desired and worked for it in addition to having the right attitude. According to Keith Harrell in his book ‘Attitude is Everything”, there’s power in thinking positive. In whatever you do in life, if you have the right attitude, you’ll definitely attract the right people into your life. I liken attitude to having a good personal relation skill. Are you a business owner, employee, entrepreneur, student, job seeker, marketer, leader, etc., you need the right attitude to get work done.

Succeeding in life can be very challenging. It doesn’t matter where you are, though your environment can play a role, If you don’t have the right attitude you’ll definitely hit the rock. One of the true secrets to success is having the right attitude. Whether you are experiencing financial challenge, relationship/marriage, academic or business challenge, if you have the right mental attitude there’s tendency you can overcome and succeed.

During the course of this article, we shall take a holistic look at how we can succeed by having the right attitude. Attitude can be defined as a “settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person’s behavior”. In a nutshell, attitude is your reaction to any situation you find yourself. Many people react in different ways when faced with the same situation.

Question: Do you have a dream, vision or goal? If yes, believe your dreams are valid, believe it will come to pass. Don’t look at the odds facing you, rather looking at opportunities you stand to benefit if all goes well. Let me share a personal experience with you, when I was in New York Law School studying a graduate program in Taxation Law, I had challenges understanding the concept of taxation. I had the fear of the unknown to the extent I wondered if I will be able to graduate from the program because the major was very demanding. While preparing for one of my semester examinations, a friend of mine reached out to me and said: “Henry if your exam is tomorrow how do you feel you will perform”? Honestly, I do know the best I can score in the exam will be a D or C+ if all goes well, but because my friend is one of the smartest student in an Ivy League school (Princeton University), I told her the worst grade I may get is a B+ or A-, but am looking towards getting A in my grade. Guess what, the worst grade I scored in that semester was a B+ and the best grade I scored was A-. At the end of the day, I not only graduated top of my class, but I was also given a scholarship of $3,000 by the Dean of my faculty. The moral of this story is to let you know there’s power in the spoken words and having the right attitude.

Attitude is a choice we all have to make. If you experience misfortune in your relationship, marriage, finance, academic or even in your workplace, the choice of moving on with your life is up to you. On a personal note, I don’t allow situations to stress me. I treasure and value my peace of mind and so I tend to eschew from any situation that may want to deter me from moving on. I don’t know the situation you are finding yourself in, however, I do know you have the will power to think straight and overcome any situation facing you. It may be tough, but trust me, if you occupy your mind with the right thoughts, interact with the right people and learn from the situation by seeing it as a lesson as opposed to seeing it as a problem, you’ll be overcome and come out stronger.

How can we practice having a good attitude?

Practice Gratitude:

As you may know, happiness is a state of mind, having a good attitude is also a state of mind. One of the great ways to have a good attitude is to be grateful. Find something to be grateful for every day. It can be that you are alive, hale and hearty, therefore there’s room for another opportunity, you have food to eat, you have a car, you can afford public transport, you have a loving spouse, you have a job/source of income or even your parents, siblings and friends appreciate you.  Every day you wake up, be grateful and speak into the future and what you want the day to look like. When you speak into the future, the air hears it and carries out, the ground hears you and stamps it and the walls feel and absorb it.

Focus on the bright side of life:

As human beings, most of the times we always have the tendency to focus on what we don’t have as opposed to appreciating what we have. We become too comfortable to the extent we have an entitlement mentality. When faced with challenging situations, always see it like a temporary setback which won’t last. See it like a risk that is poised to bringing out an opportunity of interest. See it like a positive energy that will make you stronger when you learn from the lessons it brings your way. This is because what won’t kill you will make you stronger. A negative attitude will limit your life. You stand to gain nothing when you worry about situations you can’t change. As a matter of advice, always focus on possibilities and not on the problems.

Appreciate Yourself:

Always appreciate every challenge that comes your way. Never wait for everything to get well before you have a good attitude. Many people build their happiness and attitude around material things. Some feel when they have money, build a house, start a new relationship or even get married, get a job, buy a car or even attain a particular status in life before they can be happy, but in reality, that’s not the case because you may not get all this and still remain frustrated. Don’t get me wrong, having these goodies of life is good, but there’s more to life. There are many cases of people who have attained financial, social, marital and social status but are not happy. Having the right attitude will make you fulfilled.

As Christians, we are taught nothing happens without the permission of God, we are taught to see challenges as a test. It should be noted that it is our attitude that makes us sad and not our circumstances. This is because several people may experience similar situations but react differently while having different outcomes. Having the right approach to life will give you the right attitude. Remember you cannot change what’s beyond your control. For instance, you can’t control traffic, rain, and sunshine. In this situation, your best bet is to have a positive mental attitude by seeing the positive side as opposed to the negative side.

When you have a positive attitude, you’ll expect people to be good to you, you’ll cause situations to favor you, and the law of attraction will work for you. In summary, you’ll learn to think thoughts on purpose which might attract opportunities to you.

Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the author of the acclaimed book Design Your Destiny – Actualizing Your Birthright To Success.