CANCEROUS ATTITUDE DISEASES BY TEMITOPE OJO

Here is what Zig Ziglar said about attitude: Your attitude, not your aptitude will determine your altitude.

A new year is here again and the rave of the moment is the customary 'what are your new year resolutions' question; the setting of short and long-term goals for 2018.

I am a staunch advocate for setting goals and having new year resolutions, but my fear is: without the right attitude, your well laid down plans may undergo a shipwreck even before it goes into sea.

Hence, I have below a list of some diseases of attitude you should try to avoid as you sojourn through the year 2018.

1.) NEGLECT - Neglect starts as infection. It starts with the smallest of tasks like the making of your bed in the morning, then it preys upon other disciplines. Here is a good phrase to note, "Every let down affects the rest of your performance."

Neglect diminishes self-worth; your self-esteem constantly takes a bullet in the head with every failure in checking the boxes.

Remember - Everything affects everything in life. Nothing stands alone as every lack of discipline affects the rest and every new formed discipline also affects the rest. The key is to diminish the lack and increase the new.

I ask that as you begin the new year with your big, hairy, audacious goals, you start with the smallest of disciplines like making your bed in the morning when you wake, sending a nice message to mum and dad, picking up the mind-nourishing books to read, substituting a sugary-filled snack with an apple fruit and you would be amazed at how much your self-esteem will be lifted.

Your confidence to tackle your audacious goals will take on an exponential jump simply because you were able to clean up the smallest of disciplines. You, friend, didn't give in to neglect.

2.) INDIFFERENCE - Indifference is a cancerous attitude. It is simply known as drifting through life or also called a mild/timid approach to life. But the problem with this approach is, you just cannot drift to the top of the mountain. The top is reserved for those with strong feeling.

Pity the man who sits on the fence, never picks a direction. He better gets into a decision with his feet, standing tall, lest he unknowingly chooses a direction with his back on the floor!

The good Lord said at the end of the bible, "here is the best way to live: one way or the other." That is best. Hot or cold. Not lukewarm, half-baked, middle, not too hot, not too cold. Indifference - what a sad way to live.

Take a critical look at all of the great historical leaders. Apostle Paul - Leader of the Early Christians, Nelson Mandela - Leader during apartheid, Martin Luther King - Leader during the Civil Rights Movement. Examine them and you would find not a shred of indifference!

Why did God pick Paul to be the leader of the early Christians during the tough times despite his track record of persecuting the same Christians? Answer - STRONG FEELING. Whatever Paul got into, everyone in the community knew what he was into. The Lord must have thought to himself, "he just had to be something else."

In one of Apostle Paul's later writings, he said, "the things I once loved, I now hate, the things I once hated, I now love." Now, that is strong!

One of the greatest lines in ancient scripts says, "whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your heart, do it with all your might, do it with all your power." I ask that you take that as your philosophy. Embrace it.

As you proceed in the year 2018, I implore you to see how many decisions you can get into, and not how many you can get out of.

Just pick a direction and go with everything you have got. The good thing is, if it is the wrong direction, you will find out quicker.

You may as well back it up with the serenity prayer: "Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference." For the things you cannot change, be cold, but how about the things you can change; friend, I implore you - go hot on them!

3.) COMPLAINING - Complaining is probably the commonest of all cancerous attitudes, especially amongst our generation. We have a narcissistic sense of entitlement. We complain about the weather, the soil, the government, the country, the economy, our friends, our relatives, our family, our background forgetting that is all we have got.

Friends, the key is not to complain about all we have got, but to think of how we could acquire the skills to turn all we have got into equity.

Some of us even have a funny list of reasons why we are not doing well which of course does not have our names on it. Why don't we instead spend that time working on ourselves, getting more skills and becoming more valuable to the work and marketplace.

People even spend a significant amount of time complaining about how low the minimum wage is, but the question is: the minimum stage; is it a ladder or a bed? If you think of it as a bed, I ask that you change philosophy and in 2018, begin to think of this country as a ladder to climb. Work more on yourself and become more valuable and inevitably, a rise will come alongside because you have become more valuable to the marketplace.

Wonderful readers, with all the beautiful goals you have listed for 2018, you need your 24 hours to be utilized judiciously. Complaining is a time predator. Who needs it? Give it up! Spend ten minutes complaining and you have wasted ten and you may have begun what is known as economic cancer of the bone.

Remember the children of Israel in the scriptures and how they had their future cancelled because of complaining. This simply means: indulge in complaining long enough, and you get your designed future cancelled.

In conclusion, life is serious. Not grim nor gloomy, but serious. There is a great war. A great war between good and evil; enterprise and ease; weeds and human activity, but the good thing friends is, weeds are no match for human activity. Though, if you stand still, how far in will they come? All the way! They will grow right around your shoes. If your rest too much in 2018, the jungle will overtake the village of your mind.

Revered readers, there is great war - a war that started upon the inception of 2018. A war between your big, hairy, audacious goals and the diseases of attitude.

Above is a great list of cancerous attitudes, there are more but we could start with those three. Just ensure you are on the lookout of the things that can destroy all the good you have started in 2018.

Cheers!