Gabrielle Fleming

Attitude is everything

Presented September 16, 2009

As I was getting ready for this assembly, I found myself with three stories and one quote that I could share with you today. I realized that life is full of manuals; how to do this, how to do that, what to do when. But in order to be receptive to all these rules of conduct, we have to start off with a good attitude. So, I had a story about how small gestures can go a long way, a story about how a weakness can be a strength in disguise, and one about not giving up hope. But the truth is, in order to talk about or do any of these things, we have to first have a positive attitude. So I chose this quote to share with you and I hope you all remember it after all these first days when you’ll really need it. Charles Swindoll said:

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me, is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than giftedness or appearance or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past.. we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our attitudes.”

So I realize that it’s not always easy to keep a good attitude if you lose a game, get a bad grade, or are just having one of those bad days. But think of it this way: someone recently told me to look at my car and then look at the windshield and then to look at my rear view mirror. They told me there’s a reason the windshield is so much bigger. It’s because life is happening in front of you and, as Charles Swindoll said, we cannot change our past. We can only take what comes to us and react to it in the best way possible. Every day we have a choice. So I challenge you to keep a positive attitude even after all this new stuff wears off, because everything else can stem from there.
 

 << Back to "Leadership" page.