Tabula Rasa

October, 2004

A is for Attitude...Make Mine Grateful Please.

I'd like you to reflect on how your attitude has been over the past few months. Have you kept it positive? Have you stayed in the sunshine or have you drifted in to the dark?

It is commonly said that one of the key characteristics of great sales professionals is that they are strong when it comes to managing their own attitudes. They must be because they are alone so often. They are often 'on the road' and away from their natural support groups of friends and families.

I believe this is true and certainly I have found this to be the case in my own life. It is so easy to slide into bad habits, including negative thinking habits. So I offer you the following exercises and insights in the hope that you will find one to be of help.

1. Your brain is a question asking and a questioning answering machine.
2. You can take control of the quality of your thinking by improving the quality of the questions you ask of your unconscious mind.
   e.g. Have you ever made a mistake and found yourself asking questions like this? Why am I such a dope? How stupid can I be?
   Now imagine your unconscious mind getting a hold on these questions and marching off to provide you with the answers. It's humorous but I also expect it's quite close to what happens.
3. Get in the habit of asking yourself positive questions and there are two times during the day when this habit should be exercised diligently. One is the last think you do before drifting off to sleep. As you are lying on your bed, ask yourself one or two of the following questions?
   1. What am I grateful for today?
   2. What did I receive from others today?
   3. What did I learn today?
   4. What did I give to others today?
   5. What did I teach to others today?

Drift off to sleep with these questions in your mind and expect miracles. I have no doubt at all that you will sleep better and will awaken with answers and blessing filling your mind to overflowing.

The second most important time to exercise you Positive Attitude habit is while you are in the shower, first thing each morning. Here are some questions to put on the agenda of your unconscious mind:

1. Who am I going to help/serve today?
2. What am I going to teach/share today?
3. Who loves me and is with me, even though we are physically apart today?

I'm sure you can come up with your own list of high quality questions. As you do so, please share them with us and we'll pass them on through future Tabs.