Whether or not we realize it, we spend most of our lives on one stage or another.

We are always under observation. Our behaviors, speech, emotions, and motivations are parsed for clues as to who we really are behind our social masks. Even those closest to us—our mates, our kids, our best friends, our work associates—are continuously evaluating us. Our attitudes do impact those around us.

To an extent that may astound us, we create our own reality by powerfully scripting how others respond to us. I read the other day that gratitude and appreciation are “amazing luck magnets.” Given that people most often respond to praise and appreciation the way flowers open up to the warm sun, one can see where an “attitude of gratitude” would easily attract more good into one’s life.

I know that as a boss I am more open and more receptive when someone approaches me with positive energy, saying “I’ve got a challenge, some options for you to consider, and my recommendation,” as opposed to someone who comes to me discouraged and hesitant, saying “You are not going to like hearing this but there is a big screw-up and…”.

The difference between the two approaches, the two attitudes, adds up over time. As someone once said, “There is not a lot of difference between people, but that little difference makes a big difference.”

Your paradigms, your expectations, your moods, your enthusiasm and optimism (or lack thereof) affect everyone around you.

How are you contributing to the emotional micro climate that surrounds you? Are you creating the emotional weather you wish to experience? And what is your emotional weather forecast for today?

Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?

Closing quotes:

“A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.” — Hugh Downs

“Attitudes are nothing more than habits of thoughts, and habits can be acquired. An action repeated becomes an attitude realized.” — Paul Myer

“Our environment, the world in which we live and work, is a mirror of our attitudes and expectations.” — Earl Nightingale

This is a classic from the NSC Blog archive, originally posted September 15, 2008.