FROM THE JAWS OF VICTORY

Attitude is everything!  We lost this week to a superior soccer team made up of countries from Peru, Costa Rica, Colombia and Paraguay.  Right before the game, one of my teammates said to me, "You ready to lose?"  I immediately jumped into his ^&()% and told him to stop thinking that way.  I remember my first job at ST-1 in Coronado.  I was fired up, motivated, young, energetic, and would say yes to everything.  Some things never change I know, but my attitude truly made me the type of person that everyone wanted to work with.  Now fast forward to the other day's game.  The odds were against us.  We had lost in the double digits before.  But we had practiced and actually were a better team.  Our attitudes, our self-efficacy as psychologists call it, was slightly increased.  The point is, however, is that the entire team must believe that they are better.  The collective attitude must be increased in order for success to occur.

Think about that the next time you create a team, are on a team, or are alone trying to get something started.  Your attitude is EVERYTHING!  People can sense your genuineness as well.  So don't try to fake it.  It won't work.  Maybe with your small children, but not with adults.  Even small children quickly learn.  

The self-efficacy paradigm is like a self-licking ice cream cone.  The more your confidence and attitude grow in goal accomplishment, the more you accomplish.  The more you accomplish, the greater your confidence and attitude increase.  Computer programers call this spiral development.  The programs build on top of each other and get better and better as you build a new layer on top of the old.

So you say, how do I develop a positive attitude and increase my self-efficacy?  You remember the old Nike commercial?  You do it.  You just put on your boots and go to work.  Do some push ups or star jumps to get motivated and get the blood pumping.  Go outside in the woods and scream your head off.  Go for a run.  Meditate.  Get a great night's sleep.  Organize your house.  You do what you become, and you become what you do.  Easier said than done I know, but remember this: each second that ticks by is a second that will never return.   Ask yourself this question: how do you want to be remembered?  Unleash the positive self-efficacy machine inside of you.