By Todd Duncan

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, and a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.

IT’S ALL ABOUT CHOICES!

Attitudes don’t just happen. Since our choices arise from our attitudes, it’s reasonable to assume that we’d be wise to begin each day by making good choices. When your attitude is positive, your choices become positive. When your attitude is strong, your choices become strong. When your attitude is weak, your choices become weak. When your attitude is negative, your choices become negative. So how do you improve? The following are three keys to making better choices:

1. Make choices that are purpose and values-based.
2. Make choices that propel you rather than restrict you.
3. Make choices that are ownership-based.

Make Choices That Are Purpose and Values-Based

Starting today, you can begin any day with everything you need to ensure a positive attitude. To make better choices that lead to a better attitude, you must hold fast in your mind to that which is important to you. You must do the things you must do to fuel their success each day of your life.

Make Choices That Propel You Rather Than Restrict You

When you make choices that propel you rather than restrict you, you find yourself asking the question, If I do this, will it move me closer to or take me farther away from what I value most in life? Most of us make our choices stuck on autopilot. We choose to eat too much without thinking of our health. We make the choice to drink too much without asking how we’ll feel the next day. We make the choice to spend too much money without asking if our decisions will protect us financially in the future. It’s all about choices. To make better choices—the kind that will give us the results we want—we must come off autopilot and ask ourselves, will the choice I’m about to make bring me closer to being my best?

Make Choices That Are Ownership-Based

Shad Helmstedter is right when he says that the choices we make by accident are just as important as the choices we make by design. The issue is one of ownership. When you say to yourself, This choice is mine, you program yourself not only to recognize how many choices you have available to you in the first place, but you also start working with a new program that tells you, From now on, I will take responsibility for making these choices for myself. There is no freedom more exhilarating than exercising the power to make your own decisions.

“The choices we make by accident are just as important as the choices we make by design.” 

Shad Helmstedter

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