The Difference Maker Making Your Attitude Your Greatest Asset

The Difference MakerMaking Your Attitude Your Greatest Asset Dr. John C. Maxwell

The sum of all your thoughts comprises your overall attitude.

Where Did You Get Your Attitude? • Personality – Who You Are • Environment – What’s Around You • The Expression of Others – What You Feel • Self-Image – How You See Yourself

Where Did You Get Your Attitude? • Exposure to Growth Opportunities – What You Experience • Association with Peers – Who You Are With • Beliefs – What You Think • Choices – What You Do

If you think you can do something, that’s confidence. If you can do it, that’s competence. Both are needed for success.

Your Attitude Cannot… • Substitute for Competence • Substitute for Experience • Change the Facts • Substitute for Personal Growth • Stay Good Automatically

The problem with experience is that you rarely have it until after you need it.

What Attitude Can Do For You • Makes a Difference in Your Approach to Life • Makes a Difference in Your Relationships with People • Makes a Difference in How You Face Challenges

The greatest difference my difference maker can make is within me, not others.

Attitudes & People Principles • The Lens Principle • The Pain Principle • The Elevator Principle • The Learning Principle

You cannot disconnect attitude from reality and expect success.

Attitude – Your Greatest Asset • Take Responsibility for Your Attitude • Evaluate Your Present Attitude • Develop the Desire to Change • Change Your Thoughts • Develop Good Habits • Manage Your Attitude Daily

Evaluate Your Present Attitude • Identify Problem Feelings About Yourself • Identify Problem Feelings Related to Others • Identify Problem Thinking

You are not what you think you are, but what you think…you are.

Five Attitude Obstacles • Discouragement • Change • Problems • Fear • Failure

“Ninety percent of those who fail are not actually defeated. They simply quit.”Paul J. Meyer

Dealing with Discouragement • Get the Right Perspective • See the Right People • Say the Right Words • Have the Right Expectations • Make the Right Decisions

Getting the Right Perspective • Take a Good Look at the Whole Picture • Take a Short Look at the Problem • Take a Close Look at Yourself • Take a Long Look at Successful People • Take a Wide Look at the Possibilities

Saying the Right Words • This too shall pass. • Things could be worse. • Keep your chin up. • Do it anyway.

People Resist Change Because… • Of Personal Loss • Of the Fear of the Unknown • The Timing Could Be Wrong • It Feels Awkward • Of Tradition

“Every beginning is a consequence. Every beginning ends something.”Paul Valery

A Checklist for Change • Will this benefit the followers? • Is this change compatible with the purpose of the organization? • Is this change specific and clear? • Are the top 20% in favor of this change?

A Checklist for Change • Is it possible to test this change before making a total commitment to it? • Are physical, financial, and human resources available to make this change? • Is this change reversible? • Is this change the next obvious step?

A Checklist for Change • Does this change have both short- and long-range benefits? • Is the leadership capable of bringing about this change? • Does everything indicate the timing is right?

If change doesn’t cost you anything, then it isn’t real change.

Preparation for Successful Change • Change Will Happen Whether You Like it or Not • Without Change There Can Be No Improvement • Make a Commitment to Pay the Price for Change

Preparation for Successful Change • Change Must Happen Within You Before It Can Happen Around You • Decide What You Are Not Willing to Change • Remember, It’s Never Too Late to Change

“They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”Andy Worhol

A Perspective on Problems • Problems Are Everywhere, and Everybody Has Some • Our Perspective on the Problem, Not the Problem Itself, Usually Determines Our Success or Failure

A Perspective on Problems • There Is a Difference Between Problem Spotting & Problem Solving • The Size of the Person Is More Important Than the Size of the Problem • Problems, Responded to Correctly, Can Actually Advance us Forward

A problem is something you can do something about. If you can’t do something about it, then it’s not a problem…it’s a predicament.

Principles for Handling Problems • Define What a Real Problem Is • Anticipate Problems • Face the Problem • Evaluate the Problem • Embrace the Problem as a Potential Opportunity

Principles for Handling Problems • Think of People Who Have Bigger Problems • List ALL the Potential Ways to Solve the Problem • Determine the Best Ways to Solve the Problem • Refocus the Mission

When Facing Problems, People… • Flee it – they try to get away, but problems always follow • Forget it – they hope the problem will go away, but problems left alone only get worse • Fight it – they resist, but the problem still persists • Face it – they look at the problem realistically

“Positive thinking is how you think about a problem. Enthusiasm is how you feel about a problem. The two together determine what you do about a problem.”Norman Vincent Peale

The Destructive Effects of Fear • Fear Breeds More Fear • Fear Causes Inaction • Fear Weakens Us • Fear Wastes Energy • Fear Keeps Us From Reaching Our Potential

How to Handle Fear • Admit Your Fears • Discover the Source of Your Fears • Realize How Your Fears Can Limit You • Accept Normal Fear as the Price of Progress

How to Handle Fear • Convert Fear Into Desire • Focus On the Things You Can Control • Give Today Your Attention – Not Yesterday or Tomorrow • Feed the Right Emotion and Starve the Wrong One

“I’ve been through some terrible things in my life, a few of which actually happened.”Mark Twain

Self-Sabotaging Behaviors • Expecting Failure • Personalizing Failure • Refusing to Take a Risk • Letting Failure Defeat Them

“It may not be your fault for being down, but it is your fault for not getting up.”Steve Davis

How to Profit From Failure • Change Your Attitude • Change Your Vocabulary • Pay Little Attention to the Odds • Let Failure Point You to Success • Hold On to Your Sense of Humor

How to Profit From Failure • Learn From Your Mistakes • Don’t Lose Your Perspective • Don’t Become Too Familiar With Failure • Make Failure a Gauge For Growth • Never Give Up

Failure doesn’t mean you’ll never succeed. It just means it will take longer.

Your Attitude & Failure • Expectations • Self-Image • Risk • Tenacity

Helping You – Helping Others • Make the decision to allow the difference maker to make a difference in your life. • Manage your decision every day of your life. • Do not allow adversity to have an adverse effect on your attitude. • Help others discover the difference maker in their lives.

Success each day should be judged by the seeds sown, not the harvest reaped.

The Difference Maker Making Your Attitude Your Greatest Asset