My Attitude My Effort

We spend a lot of time focused on what we can’t control. The number of things that are beyond our reach can be insurmountable to think about.  Each day we are confronted with so many things we can’t control the attitude of others, the weather, people showing up late to work and the internet being down. These obstacles and bumps in the road feed into our feelings and can even derail or significantly alter the effort we put into our day.  Why is it that we allow these things to take up space in our minds and distract us from our mission?  

I used to think it was a lack of mental toughness on my part or a desire to always be in control that made all the variables outside of my own reach an obsession.  This would make my life miserable depending on how much I was facing on any given day.  It could get so bad that the mere thought of things not going my way would put me in a tailspin before I could even really get my day started.  It took a lot of reflection to realize that a lot of the time I was obsessed with the uncontrolables in my life was because I wanted to do a good job and I cared deeply for the people around me.  The success of those I was working for and with meant something to me.  I wanted people to be proud of where they worked, who they worked with and what they did.  

When I had the opportunity to lead a school building for the first time I went back to my earliest days as a coach and remembered something I always told my athletes.  “There are only two things you can control in this world: your attitude and your effort.” I realized that I wasn’t following this advice.  My happiness and effort shouldn’t be determined by the things I couldn’t control.  When we focus on the things we can’t control we spend our time chasing something we can never catch.  My attitude can bring a positive light to people but worrying about their attitude can’t improve the situation I’m in.  My effort works in much the same way.  When I lose focus of my effort and start to do the jobs of others my work suffers and suddenly it's not enough.  

You will hear me a lot about keeping things simple. We make life way too complicated when all we have to do is slow down and focus on the basics.  If we start with having a positive attitude, not only will it lift us up but it will naturally lift up the other people around us. Effort works in the same fashion.  When people can see that I work hard it makes it more difficult for them not to put forth a better effort.  By raising the bar and focusing on what I can control, those other things beyond my control will stand to improve because I’ve kept the focus on leading myself and others in a more positive way.