GOOD ATTITUDE, BETTER LIFE.

Life has numerous elements to both make and unmake it. Having all that life has to offer without a good attitude is worthless.

An attitude is an expression of favour or disfavour toward a person, a place, a thing or an event. Attitudes can also be explicit and implicit. Explicit attitudes are those that we are consciously aware of and that influence our beliefs and behaviour. Implicit attitudes are unconscious but have an effect on our beliefs and behaviour.

This expression of favour or vice versa in the definition don’t just happen in a day or two, rather they are formed gradually or directly  based on a person’s past or present experiences. These experiences may be personal experiences, through observation and based on social roles and social norms.

Personal experiences are moments in one’s life and awareness of both internal and external events i.e. events that we partake in or know which affects both our inner and outer being hence forms a particular attitude in an individual.

Observation, an active look out for events and occurrences in ones environment forms an attitude in a person. A child who witnesses his parents fighting will grow to posses such an attitude through observation.

Attitudes formation cannot be devoid of social roles and social norms. Social roles are the parts we play as individuals in a social group. Each social role a person adopts one way or the other forms a particular attitude in the person to fit the role he or she has adopted. If a person decides to be a leader of a group he adopts leadership attitudes to fit the role he has chosen.

Social norms on the other hand are rules that govern a person’s behaviour in a group or society. These norms include saying“please’’and “thank” you at the appropriate time, helping the elderly when needed just to mention a few.

Not only are attitudes formed but are also learnt. According to research, there are three ways attitudes are learnt and these are classical conditioning where adverts influence ones attitude, operant conditioning where an individual’s attitude may learn an attitude based on positive or negative feedback and observing the people round them.

 John Maxwell said something about attitude which i find very interesting and vital. He said “attitude is the“ advance man” of our true selves. Its roots are in ward but its fruits are outward. It is our best friend or our worst enemy. It is more honest and more consistence than are words. It is the thing which draws people to us or repels them. It is never content until it is expressed. It is the librarian of our past and speaker of our present. It is the prophet of our future”. Based on this i strongly belief a good attitude is all one needs aside God to be a better person in life. Once you have this all the other elements come with it automatically.

Having a good attitude have various impacts on one’s life. A good attitude colour everything you do, say and think. It can also make you accomplish your goals and overcome your setbacks.

A good attitude also affects those around so much that it helps build a good and cordial relationship between you and those around you. It also enables you to relate well with people at the various social classes in the society.

Charles Swindwill said “life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it”. For a better life respond to events with good attitudes. A bad attitude only destroys your life and that of those around you. Remember people will remember you mostly for how you made them feel.