Your Attitude Objectives: Understand that you are responsible for your own attitudes. Understand how “thought replacement” can change attitude. Define and explain “Rational-Emotive” Theory.

Personal Responsibility for One’s Attitude Why is it so important for leaders to be in control of their attitudes? For 1 minute, discuss this at your table and come up with one idea to share with the class. (Write this idea in your manual on page 62.)

Leaders are responsible for… The first thing leaders are responsible for is their thoughts. The second thing leaders are responsible for is their ATTITUDE.

Relating to attitude, we said that… …it’s not your IQ, it’s your __ ____! …leaders do it the W.I.T. Way! which means _________ it _____! …leaders know that the difference between doing very well and truly excelling is just __ extra _____!

Can you “see” a bad attitude in someone? HOW? Remember…the way you sit, the clothes you wear, your facial expressions, your tone of voice, the way you walk (or “strut”), the words you use… all of these things convey to others something about your attitude! It’s been my experience that most people “with an attitude” are hiding things about themselves for which they feel insecure.

“Attitude is everything!”. You may have heard this saying. It is essential that anyone calling him/herself a leader have and convey a good attitude. Now, who’s in charge of your attitude? Yeah… you are! Let me tell you a story…

What kind of attitude am I going to have toward someone who did/ said something like that to me? Whichever attitude I choose! Did you get that? Whichever one I choose! Whose attitude is it? And whose responsible for changing it?

Get up… How do you feel about being responsible for your attitude? How would you go about changing a bad attitude? Walk around the room and talk to as many people as you can during the time given. Tell them your answer and listen to their answer. Share with the class an answer you heard.

Changing a bad attitude: I believe there are two steps involved in changing a bad attitude: 1)The first thing you have to do it identify it! You’ve got to realize that your attitude really does stink! That’s something which is hard for all of us at first, but it can become easier with practice. Once I realize I’ve got a poor attitude, I can begin working on changing it.

2) Since attitudes come from thoughts, the second thing we’ve got to do is: change our thoughts! We can do this through a process known as: thought replacement. If I realize I’m thinking negative thoughts toward a person, I can replace those thoughts with some that are more positive. Let me share an example.

Rational-Emotive Theory There’s a counseling theorist named Albert Ellis who developed a therapeutic model called: R. E. T. or “Rational-Emotive Theory”. Basically, Ellis said that events cause thoughts, and thoughts cause feelings!...thoughts cause feelings! Are you feeling ugly?... you’re thinking, “I’m ugly!” Are you feeling stupid?...you’re thinking, “Man, I’m an idiot!” Are you feeling intelligent?... you’re thinking, “Hey, I’m a pretty bright person!”

Example… Let’s say you have a date with someone, and you’ve been thinking… “I’m not very attractive”. It’s the night of the dance, but all day long everything seems to be falling apart! You can’t get your hair right… your shoes don’t look good with your outfit…you can’t seem to find those earrings anywhere! You’ve been thinking all day long that you look terrible! Finally, it’s time to go and your date arrives at the door. He says, “Wow, you look great!” When he tells her how awesome she looks, what is she thinking?

“Yeah…right!” That’s what she’s saying to herself because all day long she’s been thinking all of this nasty stuff about herself! He may have to compliment her twenty times that night before she’ll start to believe it!

But whose in charge of your attitude. Who’s in charge of what you do But whose in charge of your attitude? Who’s in charge of what you do? You are! Whose hand is this? You know how many individual hands there are on the earth today? Approximately 10 billion! 23 to 25 billion in the whole history of the world! Of all those hands, do you know how many are exactly like this one? NONE! There is not now…never was…and there never will be…another hand just like this one!

It’s a special hand…I ought to take care of it! Can someone make this hand to something it doesn’t want to do? Absolutely not! I have choices! I know who I am! I know what my life stands for! My hand does what my heart tells it to do! What about yours?

So, whose hand is this? Whose in charge of what it does? Whose attitude is it? And who’s in charge of that attitude? That’s right…I am! Can anyone else control my attitude?

It’s my attitude, and I’m in charge of determining what kind I want to have! And just as we discussed earlier, the question is… who’s in charge of yours? Remember, if you’re not in charge of your attitude, someone else will be!

Lesson 26, page 61 Read