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I'm leery of some of the pseudoscience that engulfs much of the conversation around attitude and motivation. And I have little patience for some of the feelgood motivational platitudes we are bombarded with these days. (In fact, if anyone ever tells me to turn my frown upside down, my first reaction is to give them a wedgie.) Yet, there's no getting around the fact that our attitude is a key driver of success. Here are five attitudinal points to ponder that are based on solid research that intuitively seem to make sense:
1. A study by Mark Murphy, the author of Hiring for Attitude, found that of 20,000
newly hired employees, 46% of them failed within 18 months. 89%
of the time they failed for attitudinal reasons and only 11% of the time they failed due to skill. Other surveys show similar results, which is why great organizations hire first and foremost for attitude.
2. Optimists usually perform better than pessimists. In just one of dozens of studies, insurance agents ranked on the high end of an optimism scale outsold their more pessimistic counterparts by 37%, while agents in the lowest 25% (the most Eeyore-like) were three times more likely to quit.
3. According to Dr. Martin Seligman, the author of Learned Optimism, pessimism is a learned response that can be unlearned. Pessimists tend to view stressful events or obstacles as being personal ("I didn't get the promotion because my boss hates me"), permanent ("I'll never get the promotion") and pervasive ("my whole life sucks because I didn't get the promotion"). According to Dr. Seligman, pessimists can retrain their brains by counter-arguing these default positions to reach the healthier conclusion: This wasn't personal, it's temporary, and it only impacts one part of my life.
4. Yes, there is such a thing as being too happy (I never did trust that purple dinosaur Barney). Research by Dr. Barbara Fredrickson at the University of North Carolina found there's an optimum ratio of positive to negative thoughts and that negative thoughts keep us grounded and provides us with important feedback. As Dr. Julie Norem points out in her book, The Power of Negative Thinking: Do you really want a blindly optimistic brain surgeon or airline pilot who hasn't fully thought through all the potential downsides? Negative thoughts serve a purpose, they can be harnessed for good, and we shouldn't beat ourselves up for having them, as long as they're kept to a minimum!
5. Positive affirmations help (at least a bit), but what works better still is posing affirmations as a question. Saying, "Can I deliver a great business presentation?" instead of "I will deliver a great presentation" works better because questions force you to think deeper and longer, and, according to Daniel Pink, the author of To Sell is Human, help you undercover your underlying motivations for doing something much better than declarative statements would. |
