Harrell - Attitude is Everything

Attitude Is Everything

Attitude Is a Choice

Bag Your Bad Attitude

Change Your Bad Attitude for Good

Turn Attitude into Action!

Warning: Attitude Hazards Ahead

Your Attitude Tool Kit

Build Your A-Team

Develop a Whatever-It-Takes Attitude

Make a Mark That Cannot Be Erased

I was blessed to have the help and support of many talented people to whom I want to express my sincere thanks:

To my wonderful staff, Joyce Head, Sandi Miller, Heidi Stepanovitch, Donna Cash, and Deborah Johnson, for all their help and support.

To Diane Reverand, my editor, for her insight, feedback and expertise, and Janet Dery, Richard Rhorer, and the other wonderful staff at HarperCollins.

To my literary agent, Jan Miller, and her wonderful assistant, Shannon Mizer-Marven, who both shared my vision and enthusiasm for this book and pushed to help make it a reality.

To Wes Smith for your tireless and committed effort, for taking my thoughts and ideas and building a foundation on which this manuscript was built. This project couldnt have been done without you.

To my sister Toni Malliet for your guidance and support. When I need you you always come through.

Special thanks to my friend Arabella Grayson for your countless hours, insight, enduring support, and positive attitude throughout this entire project. I thank God for you.

To Marsha Cansler for her professional insight, writing, and organization of the entire project of updating this book.

And finally, to the many individuals who have in their own special ways contributed to the creation of this book: Cherie Carter-Scott, Ph.D.; Joy Carver, Dan Clark, Ron Cox, Beverly Forte, Ph.D.; Reggie Green, Daelyn Gruenberg, Hattie Hill, Janet Hill, Sam Horn, Clove Hoover, Kathy Jeremiah, Steve and Kelly Lynn Pipkin, Ellen Joan Pollack, Mark Seal, Doug Smart, Colandra Wright, Carolyn Zatto, Chris Carey, and Kay duPont.

I have had the great privilege of traveling this great world of ours for over four decades and teaching people how to live and work successfully. It has been a fantastic opportunity to see firsthand the countless men and women who have decided to become their best and then disciplined themselves until they achieved it. There is nothing like living your dreams!

One of the things I have long taught is that if you want to succeed, you need to work harder on yourself than you do on your job. That is, if you want to move up the ladder, dont just work harderthough you should do thatbut work on yourself so that you as a person become better and of more value to the company. As you get better, those who can promote you will see that you have outgrown your current position and need to move higher!

This is where Keith Harrells terrific book comes in: One of the fundamental things that every person who wants to improve his or her life should work on is his or her attitude. Your attitude determines so much about how you will live your life and how far you will go in life.

Your attitude is like the engine that runs the car. The more finely tuned that engine is, the better the car will run. The same is true with your life. If you keep your attitude upif you make it super-fantastic, as Keith saysthen you will see so much about your life open right up and flourish. You will see your relationships expand and deepen. Think about it: Who wants to hang around someone with a bad attitude? But people with great attitudes are magnetic. People are drawn to them. They feel better being around them. And they enjoy them.

Your career will grow. All things being the same, the person with the better attitude will always go further. And of course, things wont be all the same because you are going to have great skills too! When your boss or client is looking at you and sees a tremendously positive attitude, he is going to want to promote you or give you more business. Why? Because people like to do business with people who demonstrate great attitudes.

Your life will be more enjoyable. Of course, having better relationships and a better career will go a long way toward this, but when you have a positive attitude, your outlook on life will be so much better that the person you live with all the timeyouwill find that there is much more inner peace and satisfaction with life than you have ever experienced before.

So, as you hold this book in your hands, you are beginning a journey that has the potential to greatly improve your relationships, your work, and your self-satisfaction. Isnt that amazing?

But you will need to apply the truth in Attitude Is Everything . Just reading it will not change your life. But as you apply it, as you begin to renew your mind and begin to display that attitude to the world around you, then your life will change for the better.

Attitude is a choice. Each and every day that we arise we have a choice on how we will view and interact with the world around us. Keith Harrell has done you a wonderful service by writing this road map on how to choose and live with a super-fantastic attitude. Read the stories, apply the truths, and enjoy the journey!

Jim Rohn

October 2004

A fter more than two decades of speaking to people about the power of attitude, I know that a positive attitude is your most priceless possession, one of your most valuable assets. To a great extent, it determines the overall quality of your life.

Attitude Is Everything grew out of my desire to share the truths Ive learned about the life-transforming power of attitude with individuals who will never have an opportunity to hear me speak at corporate conferences and national conventions. Since it was first published in 2000, the world as we once knew it has been irrevocably changed. For many of us, events of September 11, major corporate scandals, the economic downturn, and the constant threat of terrorism have shattered our ideals and caused us to lose confidence in institutions we once respected.

In this climate of uncertainty, I am convinced more than ever that people need to know how to control and manage the quality of their lives through a positive mental attitude. Its no secret that life seems to reward us most when we approach the world with a positive attitude. But somehow this knowledge escapes us when we experience a setback or encounter adversity.

I am often asked if a persons attitude is predisposed or if it can be developed. Without question, attitudes are developed. The great psychologist-philosopher William James said, The greatest discovery of my generation is that people can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. I can say that one of the greatest realizations of our time is that everyone has the potential to improve the quality of their personal and professional lives; however, they must first be willing to acquire the skills that will guide them to a place of self-discovery where they can tap into the power of their positive attitude. You may not be able to change your height or your body type, but you can change your attitude . Each of us has the power to develop and maintain a positive attitude that works for us, that improves the quality of our lives and enables us to accomplish our life objectives. Your attitude should be an indication of where you desire to go in life and not a reflection of what youve been through. Change your attitude and you can change your life!