THE English adage attitude is everything holds true today just as it has done since time immemorial. Jeff Kelly further captures it so well by saying, Change your attitude and you change your life. Indeed, our generation today in times of the Covid-19 crisis can alter its life during and after this catastrophe by changing attitudes and thought process.

Robert Mandeya

It is no illusion that this disaster brought anger, denial, frustration, fear, uncertainty, anxiety and hopelessness upon us. This is indeed a sad situation which we have hopelessly watched as the crisis ripped into our investment of time, money, business, research, jobs and even lives.

Picking up the pieces

However, sulking or freaking over these misfortunes for hours, days and even weeks on end would not help anyone at this moment. It is time to let go of whatever heartbreaks pick the pieces and move forward in a new direction.

Easier said than done, of course, and it takes a great deal of effort, energy and power to pick yourself up and sail into a new direction all together. Believe me, in the course of this transition we are bound to make plenty of blunders and mistakes along the way but with the right frame of mind and enthusiasm coupled with appropriate actions you will soon attract positive results. This is only possible with a change of attitude a decision everyone in a situation of despair must make now!

Applying some life principles

Following certain life principles to develop and maintain a positive attitude will not only make you achieve some incredible breakthroughs but enable you to defy certain the odds in this period of devastating uncertainty.

I know from first-hand experience that the ideas I share in this article work have the power to literally transform your life! Please do not misunderstand me. I do not claim to be a know-it-all on this subject. Far from it!

I consider myself a work in progress and I continue to learn every day. However, I know what it is like to have a negative attitude, because that is the kind of attitude I had for the first 20 years of my life.

All of the positive changes that I have made in my life are the result of practicing the principles I will share in this and subsequent installments. The Master Action Plan, which I shared at the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown, touched on three broad concepts: think, speak and act.

Success begins in the mind

Recovering from this crisis will surely depend on ones attitude and perspective of the environment around you. The power of attitude and belief to shape your destiny going forward will set you apart from the rest. Just recently, I had an interview with a friend, colleague and founder CE of the Astro Tech Group, Munyaradzi Gwatidzo, who spoke of psychological pivoting.

Basically, Gwatidzo was talking about how success depends squarely on the way that you think particularly in times of crisis. Attitude is the mental filter through which you experience the world. Some people see the world through the filter of optimism (the glass being half full) while others see life through a filter of pessimism (the glass being half empty).

The person with the positive attitude sees possibilities even when the chips are down. True to his word, Gwatidzo saw possibilities out of the current situation and he launched a product called e-shagi, a digital platform meant to ease peoples access to funding and business loans during and after this lockdown.

There is really not much we can do to control the circumstances facing us today but we can control our feelings and thoughts about this situation we are confronted with.

Attitude is like a window

Attitude is like a window through which we see the world. Just like any window, there comes a point where life starts throwing some dirt at our windows. The dirt may be thrown by very close people in our lives. This dirt might be in the form of criticism from our parents or teachers, ridicule from peers, rejection by those we love, disappointments in business or life, self-doubt in what we want to achieve and so on. This dirt keeps building up on our windows particularly if we choose not to do anything about it. In the end we will not see anything through that window.

By continuing to go through life with a filthy window, we lose our enthusiasm, get frustrated and depressed. And most tragically, we give up on our dreams all because we failed to clean our attitude window.

The Covid-19 crisis has literary thrown lots of dirt on our windows and the longer we take to clean it up the more we will not discern the possibilities out there in the midst of this crisis.

This is the road most of us find ourselves in at the moment. We are gripped in fear of the unknown and tangled in a web of uncertainty. The longer we stay in this conundrum, the filthier our windows get. We will not be able to see any possibilities. How could you see when your window is splattered with the mud of negativity?

Remember, crises provide a unique opportunity to refocus your energy, remap your entry back into business or work and to rebrand yourself. Mandeya is a certified executive leadership coach, corporate education trainer and management consultant. robert@lird.co.zw/ or info@lird.co.zw, Facebook: @lirdzim and Mobile/WhatsApp: +263719466925

Read more from the original source:
Attitude is everything: Rebooting from the coronavirus pandemic - Zimbabwe Independent