By Dr. J. Michael Flynn June 2016
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There is a saying that a bad attitude is like a flat tire - until you fix it, you are not going anywhere. How often do we run into someone with a bad attitude? Maybe they are just having a “bad day?” However, bad day or not, their attitude gives you a hint about how much time you want to spend with them.
This famous quote, attributed to Winston Churchill, is used in many employee training seminars - “Attitude is a small thing but it makes a big difference.” How big of a difference does Churchill mean? Research from Stanford University gives us some answers.
Carol Dweck, PhD is one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of motivation and success. She is a Professor of Psychology at Stanford and has spent most of her career studying attitude and performance. Her latest study shows that your attitude is a better predictor of your success than your IQ.
Dr. Dweck broke down attitude into two core mindsets - fixed and growth. Those with a growth mindset believe they can improve with effort. They outperform those with a fixed mindset, even when they have a lower intelligence score, because they embrace challenges, treating them as opportunities to learn and grow.
With a fixed mindset, the research revealed, you believe you are who you are and you cannot change. She writes, “This attitude creates problems when you are challenged because anything that appears to be more than you can handle is bound to make you feel hopeless and overwhelmed.”
The deciding factor in life is how you handle setbacks and challenges.
There are certainly challenges in life. Some challenges more serious than others. The Stanford study showed that no matter how high the intelligence, the person who is fixed in their attitudes will have less success than the individual with a growth mindset. It is fascinating information and I encourage reading the study.
Each of us has our own ideas on what success looks like. I think we could agree that greater happiness and health are two we all share.
There are those whose fixed attitudes on diet, exercise and positive thinking are set and difficult to change. They have the mindset that what they eat, whether they get more active or dwell in “stinkin’ thinkin’” doesn’t matter. Well, they do. Our society has diet-related diseases like diabetes rising off the charts each year. Obesity rates have doubled in adults and tripled in children over the last twenty years. Adopting a positive attitude is a foundation to success.
Attitude is everything. There is a power to be gained from being willing to put forth an effort toward improving oneself and doing it consistently. It is choosing to be a life-long learner. You may not be able to control every situation and its outcome, but you can control your attitude and how you deal with it. The growth attitude is choosing to see every challenge as an opportunity and every setback as a learning experience. Learning from failure is a growth mindset.
An example of a positive growth attitude was shared by Mother Theresa. She said, “Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.”
In a life journey, fix any “flat tires” and smile as you put on your seatbelt as you travel upward on your road to success. Put some effort into it.
“A great attitude is not the result of success. Success is the result of a great attitude.” - Earl Nightingale
