What is Attitude?

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Attitude is more than good or bad .. positive or negative.

As soon as I hear the word “attitude” several things come to mind, none of them very descriptive at all.  ”wow, does that guy have a bad attitude” or “he always has such a great attitude” or “if you don’t improve that attitude, young lady…” “your attitude can make or break your online business” and, I could go on.

Well, it seems that the word attitude has been used to encompass many things.  Charles Swindoll sums up attitude as follows:

The Impact of Attitude

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..a home.  The remarkable thing is that we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for the day.  We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude… I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.  And so it is with you…. we are in charge of our Attitudes.

Charles Swindoll

So, it seems that attitude is a word that is used to describe a total package of actions, reactions, beliefs, and realities.

People who survived the depression — hunger, lack of money, wind, dust, loneliness — they chose to focus on what they could do… no excuses.  How could they make the best of the situation that they were in?  How could they make food enough for two, stretch to feed a family of five?

People who are in tough circumstances, the ones who say, “what can I do?” could be seen as having a “can-do” attitude.

Someone who exudes an air of confidence and self assurance in performing a job .. could be described as having done it “with attitude”.

I intend to embed a video in this very spot .. as soon as I can figure it out!  Remember the dinosaur of technology?  Thank you for your patience…