Attitude is everything is the book published in 1999, written by Jeff Keller. In this read, you will get a summary of Attitude is everything book which will help you understand how our attitude is affecting all things (including ourselves) around us whether it is good or bad. This book also reveals how you can work on your attitude to get desired results.
- Author: Jeff Keller
- Sales : Not available
- Languages: Available on Amazon in many languages
- Book genre: Self-help book
- Achievements: NA
- Page count: 144
- Reading length: ~140 minutes (at speed of 250 WPM (words per minute))
Mock book image created for blog.
The actual book cover is different.
- Are you getting bored with your job?
- Do you feel lazy all the time?
- Do you happen to see yourself depressed or unhappy most often?
Then this read will help you to get answers to your questions.
The author (Jeff Keller) is an American motivational speaker and best selling author. According to Jeff, way to a meaningful and successful life goes through your attitude.
If you can change your attitude, you can change your life. – Jeff Keller
In this book, Jeff talks about his past life and how he changed his life by knowing the impact of attitude.
The night that changed Jeff's life
Jeff wanted to become a lawyer and he completed his degree in law successfully in 1980. He got married to a girl he loves.
Sounds like a perfect life, right?
After practising for a few years, Jeff realized a career in law is not good for him. He was dissatisfied about the work he is doing and feeling meaningless in life. He was just 25 however due to these conditions, he is looking like 40 year old.
At the age of 30, Jeff was so depressed and was thinking that there should be something in life than unhappiness and misery. Then he comes to know about “Mental bank” from a TV commercial, it was a home study program focusing on our subconscious beliefs.
Depressed Jeff didn’t think of anything else and ordered this program. He thought this program might be able to help him to get out of the situation he was going through.
When the mental bank program delivered to him. He was very excited to learn how our thoughts determine the quality of life. He got so much inspired that he never look back and started reading self-help books.
It’s like getting well filled with drinking water in the middle of the desert.
Following a new approach to attitude, Jeff got some surprising results. He started doing things that he never dreamed and think of in past. He started conducting motivational speech for others and took retirement from his law career in 1992. Moving on, Jeff never felt tense about the job that he is doing. Whenever he is preparing his speech or writing something, he feels this is what I was born to do and love to do.
Such a big change wasn’t possible in Jeff’s life without identifying an impact and importance of attitude.
Before writing this book, Jeff had spent around 20 years researching success and human behaviour. He has read many books and articles to get more insights into human attitude to understand why some people succeed while others fail.
Based on research, Jeff expressed some key ideas in Attitude is everything book. You will see each key idea summaries in simple words in this read.
If you apply 20% of these key ideas in your life, I will assure you that you will see astonishing changes in your life.
Key idea 1 | Your attitude is your window to the world
We all start our life with a clean mental window. For example, when a newborn start walking and falls. What did he do?
I will tell you what he doesn’t do. He neither blame the carpet nor parents. He smiles or cries but he tries again to walk until he learns walking. Baby’s mental window is very clean which helps them to learn new things. At this phase, nothing is impossible as a mental window is clean.
As we grow, this mental window is started getting dirty by dirt.
By dirt, I’m referring to events happening around us. We get criticized if we have low scores in exams. We get compared by others. We face rejections and disappointments in life. These events play the role of dirt to make our mental window dirty.
What happens when you have a dirty mental window?
You won’t be able to see through that window clearly to understand what opportunities are waiting for you.
Our mental window is defining our attitude towards life. If you clean it, you will see opportunities to change your life with a positive attitude. If you don’t clean it, it will keep becoming dirtier and your attitude to see the world become more negative. In the end, if you have a mental window filled with dirt, it will lead you towards depression and failure.
There are two types of attitudes, positive and negative. By keeping our mental window clean and open, we are welcoming positive attitude. I will be mainly focusing on a positive attitude and to understand this let me give you one real-life example.
This story is of Dr. Viktor Frankl from the world war era. Dr. Frankl was an Austrian psychiatrist and was prisoned along with his entire family in Nazi death camps. His father, mother, brother, wife and kids were killed in gas chambers.
Can you imagine what kind of situation it would be for a person? Can an individual control his attitude in such a situation? If you would have asked this question to Dr. Frankl then you will hear “YES”. He not only survived in Nazi death camps but also inspired many people by his book “Man’s searching for meaning”.
If a person like Dr. Frankl can maintain a clean mental window for a positive attitude in such a situation to survive and inspire others. Just think, where do our problems stand by comparing it with Dr. Frankl’s example. We are just giving excuses for small problems and keep on making our mental window dirty day by day.
Key idea 2 | You are a human magnet
Whatever your beliefs are, you will get results accordingly. What is the secret of success?
Jeff has described ket to success in six words. You will be surprised to know that the same six words are also key to failure.
Here are those six words.
We became what we think about. – Jeff Keller
If you are thinking about a particular goal often then there are chances that you might take your steps towards it and get results.
In one research, Earl Nightingale found that great writers, philosophers and religious leaders agreed that our thoughts determine actions. This has been crafted nicely in the book “As a man thinketh“. If you have self-confidence and believe that nothing is impossible for you then, in reality, it’s true for you.
Attitude vs actions
Until now, we have covered many topics about attitude, thinking and beliefs and you must be thinking where are the actions. You are right, without actions. We can’t achieve our goals but remember our thoughts are determining our actions.
If you start the journey of your goals with a negative attitude, you will continue it until you fail.
If you start taking your steps with a positive attitude, then failure doesn’t matter and can’t be a roadblock for you to meet goals. Though you face failures, you will still succeed because of a positive attitude.
Whenever you start anything your life, remember that failure happens just to test how much we desperate to meet our goals.
Here are 2 steps using which you can increase your positive attitude.
- Every morning start reading positive article, blog or a book. When you start your day with the right mindset filled with positivity, you will find yourself motivated to work more efficiently.
- Every day watch some motivational video or audio programs like podcasts. When we keep saying the same thing to our brain repetitively it responds back and makes our body habitual to react accordingly. There are 12 brain rules you should know in order to make yourself more productive.
Key idea 3 | Turn your problems in your opportunities
When we have a problem in our lives, we keep complaining about it.
Why is it happening to me? What I’m going to do now? My plans are ruined. It’s normal human behaviour. I’m sure you might have asked such questions to yourself.
Jeff says, you always have a choice. Either you can keep yourself lost in the pool of problems or you can learn for problems to turn it into opportunities.
Jeff never thought of becoming a motivational speaker or writer, until he faced dissatisfaction in his law career. Law career was a problem for Jeff but this is also a boost factor for him to change his career and do what he likes.
Have you faced a situation/problem in life which have made you stressed initially but after some time, it turned into a blessing?
Walt Disney is the founder of Disney and creator of world-famous cartoon character Mickey mouse. He was working as a cartoonist for a newspaper and got fired saying that he has a lack of imagination and no original ideas.
Understand what a big role that newspaper agency had played, building up multi-billionaire and most creative company like “Disney“. If Walt Disney wasn’t been fired, we would not have seen 22 Oskar winner cartoon series or Disneyland.
Whenever you have a problem in your life, instead of getting yourself trapped into a web of negativity, ask yourself how you can overcome it. If you build such an attitude then there is nothing that can stop you.
Key idea 4 | Your Words Blaze A Trail
Your words are the most powerful weapon in the world. If you use it wisely, you will experience perks of it. Words can make your future or can destroy it too.
The way you speak with you or with others, you make your beliefs accordingly. Beliefs determine your results.
Jon thinks that he is not good at sales and keep saying the same to his friends. Now, the more he talks about it, the more he believes in the same.
Once he builds his belief accordingly, he will not take an interest in doing sales or will not take any actions to improve sales. Jon will never become a good salesman as he has trapped himself into negative thoughts deeper by his own beliefs.
Andrew, on the other hand, thinks he can be the best sale person in the world. Because of his positive beliefs, he will take actions accordingly. He will work on his body language, personality and communication skills. He may not become the best salesperson in the world but he will surely be a successful sale person one day.
Never share your goals with personal filled with full of negativity. They will give you a thousand reasons why you can’t be successful. Before discussing your goals, consider another person only if he/she take a decision through a positive attitude. Hundred positive reasons can boost you to meet your goals and only one negative thought can stop you from taking actions on a hundred reasons.
Key idea 5 | How Are You?
If I ask you “How are you?”, your reply will not be more than 2-3 words. These words explain a lot about your attitude.
There are three categories the way normally people replies to this question.
- Negative response – I’m too much tired. Today was a bad day. Nothing is going well for me. If you find a person keep saying such words often, please stop asking him “How are you?”. Such people are living in a negative environment and by their replies, they are indirectly influencing others.
2. Mediocre response – I’m ok. Everything is going as usual. These are some mediocre responses. Now you tell me, would you eager to work or be in a relationship with such people who are just living their lives because birth was given to them unwillingly.
3. Positive response – I will not be mentioning examples as I’m sure you will recognize these people easily but rare to find around us. They are energetic, optimistic. You will never see such people upset, stressed and blaming others. They focus on solutions and everybody wants to be with them.
You need to build your attitude such that you can find yourself in a 3rd category that is positive.
Key idea 6 | Stop Complaining
Trouble, like babies, grow larger by nursing. – Lady Holland
A person can’t change his life who keeps on complaining about each and everything happening around them.
Somebody has said it rightly. If you have clean drinking water and a 2-time meal, you should not complain. Instead of focusing on complaining attitude, you should see what you have which others don’t have.
Complains just creates a negative mindset that you have created for yourself and people around you.
Slowly and gradually it increases haterade and failures as well.
Key idea 7 | Confront Your Fears and Grow
If you want to be successful, you need to become uncomfortable. Most of the people tend to give up on actions in fearful and uncomfortable situations.
Imagine comfort zone as a circle where you have set some habits and routines for yourself. Do you know a person who has become successful and locked into a circle of the comfort zone?
When you are trying to come out out of your comfort zone, you start feeling nervous and anxious and due to fear of it you put yourself back into the circle of the comfort zone.
Many of us have thought of having our own business, money, financial freedom but do you know why we didn’t take any actions. It’s because of our comfort zone and fear.
There is no set solution for this. Everyone must deal with their comfort zone and fear. Those who get victory over fear, get success.
Conclusion
- Picture Your Way to Success with a positive approach and work on it.
- Make a Commitment and You’ll Move Mountains. It’s in your thoughts about what you can achieve.
- Associate with Positive People to keep yourself motivates and energetic.
- Get Out There and Fail. Don’t be afraid of failures. The real joy of Success comes from how many times we failed and learned.
This book is an eye-opener for all of us who are struggling in our lives and guide us on how we can change our life by changing our attitude. I have tried to make read useful for you by relevant images and my findings on this book. If you want to get more insights, I suggest you get a copy of this book for yourself or someone you know who needs it.
If you wish to purchase it from Amazon, click here to order it.
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Until next time, never stop reading…
