Developing the Leader Within You - Attitude : Part 2

We will continue our leadership journey, learning new skills and refreshing old ones, with John C. Maxwell's book Developing the Leader Within You.

Great leaders understand that the right attitude will set the right atmosphere, which enables the right responses from others.

This chapter of Maxwell's book deals with attitude.

This session we will discuss ways to change your attitude. 

The following sections will help you to help yourself in changing your attitude.&

Review

• The Six Stages of Attitude Change
1. Identify Problem Feelings
2. Identify Problem Behavior
• What triggers wrong feelings?
3. Identify Problem Thinking
• "That which holds our attention determines our action" - William James
4. Identify Right Thinking
• Because your feelings come from your thoughts, you can control your feelings by changing one thing - your thoughts!
5. Make a Public Commitment to Right Thinking
• Public commitment becomes powerful commitment.
6. Develop a Plan for Right Thinking
• A written definition of desired right thinking.
• A way to measure progress.
• A daily measuring of progress.
• A person to whom you are accountable.
• A daily diet of self-help materials.
• Associating with right thinking people.

Resolve

• Whenever a leader needs to ask others to make a commitment of time, two questions must always be answered: "Can they?" (this deals with ability) and "Will they?" (this deals with attitude).
• Two other questions usually answer the "Will they?" issue.
1. The first is, "is the timing right?" In other words, are the conditions right to enable change?
2. The second question is, "Is their temperature hot?" Are right conditions accompanied with a red-hot desire to pay the price necessary for needed change?
• When both questions can be answered with a resounding Yes!, then the resolve is strong and success is possible.

Reframe

• Dennis Waitley says that the winners in life think constantly in terms of I can, I will, and I am.
• Reframing your attitude means:
• I may not be able to change the world I see around me,
• But, I can change the way I see the world around me.

Re-center

• As you begin changing your thinking, start immediately to change your behavior. Begin to act the part of the person you would like to become.
• Take action on the behavior you admire by making it your behavior.
• As Harvard psychologist Jerome Bruner says, you're more like to act yourself into feeling that feel yourself into action. So act! whatever it is you know you should do, do it.

Repeat

• "Attitudes are nothing more than habits of thought. and can be acquired. An action repeated becomes an attitude realized." - Paul Meier
• First:
• Say the right words
• Read the right books
• Listen to the right tapes
• Be with the right people
• Do the right things
• Pray the right prayer
• Second:
• Do the "first" actions every day, not just once or only when you feel like it, and watch your life change for the better.

Renewal

• Fortunately, over a period of time a positive attitude can replace a negative one.
• The more that negative thoughts are weeded out and replaced by positive ones, the more personal renewals will be experienced.

Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc