A job is what you make of it. A job is assigned work or tasks that require your energy and effort to complete. Many people make their job harder by bringing a bad attitude with them. A bad attitude makes every job a bad job. A bad attitude is when an individual allows negative thoughts about a person, situation, circumstance, or job to guide their efforts, energy, and actions regarding that thing.

It’s been well said that a bad attitude is like a flat tire, you can’t go anywhere until you change it!

No Job is Easier with a Bad Attiude

Several years ago, one of my children was recruited to play on a travel team that trained over 2 hours from our home. The commute to training meant I would have to drive 2-4 times a week 4 or 5 hours at a time and, once the season came, games were hundreds and even thousands of miles away. Once, as a family, we made the decision to accept the offer, I knew that I would only make each 4-5 hour commute even more difficult if I ever dwelt on a bad attitude or worse, spoke about it. So, four years later, I don’t give myself permission  to complain or have a bad attitude about it. I considered driving my daughter a job and no job is easier if you have a bad attitude about it. Four years and a couple of hundred thousand miles later, we are still doing it and I am still have a good attitude about it.

Your attitude is your choice.

John C. Maxwell (2006) believes that your attitude is your the greatest difference maker between those who will achieve and those who won’t. A negative attitude is common, ordinary, and it kills your progress. Everyone has a choice to dwell on the negative or look for the positives. A positive attitude is not a naive attitude. A positive attitude recognizes the challenge and chooses to think and express hopeful and joyful expressions while working to the outcome.

A bad attitude makes a challenging job more difficult.

When you have a bad attitude, you are actually making what you have to do worse. A bad attitude has never made a job or task easier, better, or quicker to get through. A bad attitude creates a layer of resistance that compounds the level of difficulty they already exists. Bad attitudes are like glue—they are sticky and slow things down. Positive attitudes are like grease—they make things move.

A Bad Attiude Magnifies the Problem 

A bad attitude magnifies your challenges and makes them feel like problems that are bigger than they actually are. This means the problems drags on longer than it should. A positive attitude accepts the challenge and attacks it with gusto to eliminate it as soon as possible. Positive attitudes shrink problems to bite-size pieces that are easier to deal with and manage.

A Bad Attitude Attracts Bad Company

A bad attitude acts like a magnet drawing past negativity and buried negativity to the surface. The negative magnetism of a bad attracts the negative thoughts of others giving those thoughts life. Bad attitudes love company. A person with bad attitude who spreads their negativity will draw out jealousy, negativity, pride, envy, strife, and hatred.

A Bad Attitude Slows You Down 

You bad attitude is an anchor for the journey you are on. All a bad attitude does is slow you down, divide your team, and work against productivity. A bad attitude will never propel you forward. In fact, a bad attitude not only drains energy but but stifles productivity and momentum.

A Bad Attitude Signals a Weak Mind 

A perpetual bad attitude is a sign of mental weakness. Those who can’t get over or get out of a bad attitude are mental dwarfs. Bad attitudes are reflective of weak minds and hard hearts. A positive attitude is a indicative of a strong mind and a willing heart. The heart is root of your attitude.

A Bad Attitude Creates Fixations

A bad attitude looks at what you don’t have as opposed to what you do have. A bad attitude fixates on the problem. The negative thoughts associated with a bad attitude attach themselves to the fixation making the problem appear much bigger than it really is an making the outcome seem much more distant. 

The Root of a Bad Attitude: Selfishness 

At the root of a bad attitude is simply selfishness. John C. Maxwell said, “In a word most bad attitudes are selfishness.” Selfishness is putting what you think and what you want above reality. When you are selfish you are living in a world of make-believe. Selfish people are impatient, frustrated, and demanding. They put their perceived needs and wants before anyone else’s including the organization they serve.

A Positive Attitude Promotes Peace 

In challenging times, preserve peace with a positive attitude. Get over yourself and realize that everyone else is under pressure as well. Bad attitudes retard progress and diminish productivity. They are vacuums sucking the energy out of the environment and organization. A positive attitude is an energy multiplier. Positive energy comes from a positive attitude.

The Leader’s Role Regarding Attitude 

A leader who doesn’t stop negative attitudes is complicit in draining the organizations energy. Leaders must lead with a positive attitude and then require all those under their authority get positive or get gone. A leader is responsible for the overall attitude of the organization. Demonstrating a bad attitude or allowing bad attitudes to go unchecked is leadership failure. Effective leaders don’t do bad attitudes.

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”
– Thomas Jefferson

References:

Maxwell, J. (2006). The difference maker: Making your attitude your greatest asset. HarperCollins Leadership.