Jeff Keller - Attitude Is Everything

Attitude
IS
Everything

Change Your Attitude Change Your Life!

JEFF KELLER

This book is dedicated to my wife, Dolores, for believing in me and encouraging me to follow my dreams.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

The Night That Changed My Life

The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.

WILLIAM JAMES

I n 1980, I graduated from law school and thought Id be a lawyer for the rest of my life. After all, thats what Id wanted to do since my early teenage years.

At first, everything went according to plan. After lots of studying that summer, I passed the Bar Examination and was admitted to practice law in New York. My personal life was also on the upswing. In early 1981, I married Dolores, a law school classmate. I was on my way to much success and happiness.

Or so I thought.

But, after practicing law for a few years, I realized I wasnt happy at all.

Sure, there were some things I liked about being a lawyer. I enjoyed helping people resolve their disputes, especially when I could save them the agony of lengthy court proceedings.

Yet, there were so many things about being an attorney that I dislikedand that just seemed to drain the life out of me. Mounds and mounds of tedious paperwork and motions to be filed. Constant delays and postponements. It was not uncommon for a trial to be postponed 10 times.

I Dreaded Going To Work

I continued to grind out the work but grew more and more dissatisfied as an attorney. I was frustrated and very depressed. To put it bluntly, I didnt like my life, and saw no way that things were going to improve.

Have you ever had a job where you dreaded going to work most dayswhere you felt the weight of the world on your shoulders each day?

Well, thats how I felt. I was literally hunched over and in pain, both physically and emotionally. I looked much older than my years. I began to get headaches all the time, and my stomach was constantly churning. Fearing that I had some serious health problem, I saw some doctors and they ordered a battery of tests. Every test came back with the same resultthey couldnt find anything physically wrong with me. One of the doctors suggested that I take Maalox to calm my upset stomach.

Spiritually, I was dead. Nothing in my life had much meaning. This day-to-day drudgery was also affecting my appearance. Although I was in my late 20s, I looked like I was 40!

In the early part of 1985, shortly after I had turned 30 years old, I was burned out. And, one particular evening, while sitting alone in my den, I knew that something had to change. Not knowing what to do, I simply said out loud,

Theres got to be more to my life than this theres got to be more than this misery and unhappiness.

Help Comes From An Unlikely Source

Later that night, I was watching TV in the den. It was around 1:00 am, and my wife, Dolores, had already gone to bed. But I was feeling so down I couldnt sleep. I channel surfed looking for something to occupy my time. I tuned in to, of all things, an infomercial.

Normally, I would have changed that channel in a fraction of a second, but for some reason, I listened.

The product being peddled was called The Mental Bank and was endorsed by actress Florence Henderson of Brady Bunch fame. The Mental Bank was a home-study course that explained how everything we achieve in life is based upon our subconscious beliefs.

You are not what you think you are. But what you think YOU ARE!

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

I felt so desperate at that point that I decided to go for it. I pulled out my credit card and ordered the program.

That night in my den was the turning point of my life.

By the way, when I sheepishly told Dolores what I had done a day or two later, she was shocked.

You did what? she asked in amazement. Its not that she objected to the purchaseit was just so out of character for me to buy something like that on impulse and worse yet, from a TV infomercial!

Several days later, The Mental Bank program arrived at my doorstep. And I was fascinated and excited to begin learning how our thoughts determine the quality of our lives. Prior to that time, I had never heard these ideas. Unfortunately, they dont teach you this stuff in school!

The Mental Bank program spurred me to seek out other motivational resources. I began to read books by Napoleon Hill, Og Mandino, Norman Vincent Peale and Robert Schuller. I started reading the Bible on a regular basis. And I eagerly listened to inspiring audio programs by Zig Ziglar, Earl Nightingale, Jim Rohn, Bob Proctor and many others. I felt like a person who had wandered for days in the desert with a parched throat and then suddenly found a stream of water!

Now, I cant tell you that everything in my life changed overnight, because it didnt happen that way. But, from the moment I began to change from a negative attitude to a positive attitude, I started to get significant results.

I felt better. I had more energy. And I started to achieve goals that I would never have accomplished before all because of a change in my attitude! Im also happy to report that when people now ask how old I am and I say 57, they invariably reply, You look much younger!

Its all in the attitude.

From Lawyer To Motivational Speaker

I continued my self-study program in my spare time, while I worked full time as a lawyer. The positive thinking was helping my attitude at work, but I felt a passion for my hobby that I never felt for my work, and I dreamed about the day I could walk away from my job.

In 1989, after four years of intensive research about attitude and motivational concepts, I agreed to present some adult education seminars in the evenings at a local high school. I was to be paid $30 for each two-hour class. Not the kind of money that lets you quit your day job!

Never underestimate your power to change yourself.

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

As I stood in front of the class to start my first seminar, I was petrified. My heart was pounding and I was sweating. But somehow I managed to muster the courage to just do it. The students loved the class, and I got a real adrenaline rush from presenting the material that had revolutionized my own life and that had the power to do the same for others!

I was on my way.

Eventually, the speaking fees grew a little larger, and in 1990, I decided to phase out my law career over the next few years. This wasnt a simple decision. I had gone to four years of college and three years of law school to obtain my law degree. On top of that, I had spent 10 years of my life as a practicing lawyer. When you have that much invested in a career, its not so easy to walk away.

Then, of course, there was the money issue. As a lawyer, I was on track to earn $100,000 in a few years, and Id be earning that muchand morefor the rest of my professional career.

Taking A Stand

Although I was earning a little more income from my new hobby, I realized that Id have start-up expenses in launching my new enterprise. Fortunately, Dolores and I had saved some money over the years. To supplement my income, I began to sell a line of merchandise with my unique Attitude is Everything logo. But there was no way to avoid itId have to take a huge financial step backward to start my new business at least in the beginning.

A positive attitude is a persons passport to a better tomorrow.

Unknown

And yet, it was time to move on. I felt as if I was being pulled out of the legal profession and into my new career. Whenever I spoke to an audience or wrote a motivational essay, I was so invigorated and full of life. I knew thats where I belonged.

So, I made a gradual transitionworking four days a week as a lawyer, then three days a week and then two days a week until, in 1992, I began working full time as a motivational speaker and writer.