Attitude This is starting point of your success journey. Whether you call it your disposition, manner, temperament, spirit, approach, position, posture, outlook or opinion your attitude has a major bearing on your level of success.

Attitude is defined as: 1.Personal view of something: an opinion or general feeling about something • a positive attitude to change 2.Bodily posture: a physical posture, either conscious or unconscious, especially while interacting with others

Your attitude, feelings, or moods will infect or effect actions, moods, and feelings of those around you. If you face world with a cheerful expectant attitude, world (and those in it) will know you expect more from it and will perform accordingly. If you face world with a negative, down trodden attitude it will know you expect poor action from it and will give you those actions. Remember that world will reflect your attitude back to you. Your attitude to world will determine its attitude towards you (cause and affect). So one of main rules to a successful life is to know that world is a mirror, often a merciless mirror, of our selves and habitual attitude we carry within us. (I have full articles on attitude send email to mailto:successarticle_2@sendfree.com, on staying positive send email to mailto:successarticle_4@sendfree.com, and 4 ways to stay motivated mailto:successarticle_7@sendfree.com)

Gratitude I saved best for last. As always grandest rules are simplest, like “Do unto other as you would have done unto you.” The more you express gratitude for what you have, more you have to express gratitude for. You will never find a happy person who isn’t a grateful person, so gratitude is a marvelous place to start. Expressing gratitude for what you have versus whining about that which you are lacking keeps you focused on positive. Remaining on this positive side positively impacts four other walls of your success Penta’tude. As we all teach our children, magic word is “Thank you!” You are a wondrous breathing, thinking, creating self-actualizing creature, take time to sit and ponder all wonders that are already in your life, and how you can build upon them.

Use these five key walls of your Penta’tude to build and secure your growth and success in both you personal and professional life. Sit down now and review your current walls. If you find any holes or weakened sections of your Penta’tude, give them all your focus. Making this Penta’tude a part of who you are will do wonders for moving you towards your desires, dreams and major definite purpose

Think successfully! Tracy

http://www.tracybrinkmann.bizhosting.com (C) Tracy Brinkmann 2000-2001 all rights reserved

By forcing herself to focus on what was going well and acknowledging her spouse and son, Sherry began to increase her awareness of all large and small things that were good in her relationships. She stopped having any interest in nagging, and she started to communicate with more compassion.

Appreciating acknowledgment and noticing her shift to a more compassionate place, Sherry’s spouse and son wanted to be closer to her and give her more support.

Don’t confuse a compliment with an acknowledgment. Compliments are usually about someone’s looks or what they are wearing; "Nice tie," "That blue shirt brings out your eyes," or "That is a beautiful dress" are all compliments. An acknowledgment focuses on someone’s behavior or character. "Thank you for picking up dry cleaning," "I appreciate you taking time to go shopping with me," or "It means a lot to me when you help me clean up" are all acknowledgments.

When acknowledging people, be specific; do not simply tell people that they did a good job or that they are a valuable member of team. Tell them why. A few examples of acknowledgments are: "You are always so good about setting table before I ask," "I really value your opinion," and "Thanks for your help getting kids off to camp; that really took a lot of creative problem-solving."

Start right now to focus on increasing your acknowledgments, both at home and throughout your life. Getting good at acknowledgment will take some time; pretty soon, though, you will find yourself acknowledging people naturally, with ease. You will find more closeness, camaraderie and fulfillment in all your relationships.

Caterina Rando, MA, MCC, is a success speaker, life coach and author of the national bestseller "Learn to Power Think." She helps people invigorate their lives and create the results they want with ease. To find out about her programs, book and other resources, visit http://www.caterinar.com. Caterina can be reached at 800-966-3603 or by email at cpr@caterinar.com.