What is attitude? Attitude is a mind set - it is your mental focus on the outside world - in other words it is the picture of life you choose to take. Attitude is never static it is on-going and dynamic and is affected by a number of factors - stress, set-backs, relationships, self-image - to mention just some. It is also not always easy to remain positive - however the spin-offs of trying to be positive most of the time are immense and will reflect in every aspect of our lives.

The experts tell us that the Benefits of a Positive attitude are:
1. Enhanced creativity - being able to think more openly and freely
2. Increased enthusiasm - being positive creates more energy
3. Healthier relationships with friends, family and colleagues
4. Bigger network of people - you transmit friendly signals to others
5. Coping with failure and setbacks more effectively
6. A positive self-image and enhanced self-awareness

Norman Vincent Peale wrote - when you expect the best you release a magnetic force in your mind which by law of attraction tends to bring the best to you.

All of us need to engage in some attitude renewal and adjustment. We need to assess where we are at and then either do some refreshing, repairing, rejuvenating or restoring - whatever it is that is needed. It is so easy to get caught in a rut of negativity and dullness!

Self esteem is vital for our psychological health, personal achievement, success and positive relationships - Dr Branden introduces us to six practices we need to focus on to enhance our levels of self esteem namely the practice of Living Consciously, Self-Acceptance, Self-Responsibility, Self-Assertiveness, Living Purposefully and the practice of Personal Integrity - a very interesting read.

An hilarious look at the differences between men and women and the way we do things. It is enlightening and gives valuable insight and understanding into why men and women just do things differently!

He calls it 'eye language' - if you know what to look for you can learn to read through the eyes, the people around you - their personality, mood, intent and if they are lying! Most informative!

So how does one make the adjustments?

1. PLAY YOUR WINNERS
We all have positive factors (winners) and negative factors (losers) that we have to deal with. The challenge is to push the 'losers' to the outer perimeter of our thinking and to replace them with the 'winners'. A quick exercise - think of and list 3 positive factors in your life - it could be people, activities or anything else that keeps you positive.

"The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding" Leonardo da Vinci

2. K.I.S.S
Keep It Simple. We so often have too much clutter in our lives. Clutter includes:

·	stuff - things we hoard that we don't need or use
·	work/home imbalance - spending too much time working and creating negative home lives as a result of this imbalance
·	procrastination - putting things off - very often if one did what one needed to at the time, things would not build up into negativity
·	worn-out relationships - harsh as it may sound we sometimes need to eliminate people from our lives - those who are negative and hang around our necks like a noose!
·	too many commitments - we can sometimes become over-generous with our time and we over commit ourselves which impacts negatively on our attitude

"Is the ultimate aim of simplicity to design a simpler life?" Edward de Bono

3. WORK ON YOUR SELF-IMAGE
It has been proven that when we feel good about ourselves we generally radiate a positive vibe and we perform better. So what is it you need to do?

·	Give your wardrobe a re-vamp?
·	Give yourself a makeover - new hairstyle? (Yes - guys as well!)
·	Smile more often?
·	Get some exercise?
·	Stop comparing?

"I always thought I should be treated like a star" Madonna

4. WORK ON YOUR SENSE OF HUMOUR
This is of course easier said than done - however it works. Humour in any form can help us to resist the negative. In other words we need to have the mental focus of not taking things too seriously. Dr William Fry a psychiatrist said that we can develop a sense of humour and furthermore it is good for us - laughter helps us to relax, it improves digestion and helps blood circulation. Humour can also help us to focus from the negative to finding a solution.

"I think the next best thing to solving a problem is finding some humour in it." Frank A Clark

So what do you need to do to renew/adjust/rejuvenate your attitude?
After all it's your success!