Competitive Attitude
Having a good attitude means being a competitor in life. Others will notice this and it will carry you further than what you might think. For instance, I was a college baseball player when I was going to school. I was a pitcher. It was fun, it was my passion, and it made me feel like I was re-living my childhood every time I took that mound. Anyways, we were in the regional playoffs one season, and we were in a very crucial game with the score tied. Our pitcher was getting knocked around, so it was definitely time to get him out. What did our coach do? He put our catcher, of whom hadn’t thrown a game all year, in to pitch! Unbelievable! This isn’t little league baseball! Why did he do this? Well, this catcher was one hell of a competitor. He wasn’t a great pitcher, didn’t have a great arm, and was actually rather short in height. But when he took the mound, he COMPETED. You could see it in his face and in his demeanor. He did not pitch with fear, and he went straight for the hitter. His strong competitive nature gave our coach confidence in him even though he really wasn’t suited to be a pitcher.
So when it comes to your career or other things you are wanting to achieve in your life, you don’t always have to be the best one, the most educated, or the most talented person to come along to get there. Sometimes being a competitor goes a long ways because it shows. It gives the person behind you confidence that you are in it to win. This makes people feel good, and as a result, they develop confidence in you. Every bit of this comes from attitude. I work around some people all day that actually walk around with their heads down. Seriously. They are smart talented individuals, but they look like losers to me. They look destined to be corporate slaves sitting in their cubicles and working their lives away until they turn 65 in 35 years. One guy that sits in a cubicle next to me is a very intelligent educated young man. But this guy walks down the halls, to lunch, to the bathroom, and out to his car with his head down ALL the time as if he had just been stuffed in a high school locker once again. Although I know he is an intelligent person, he still triggers instincts in me that makes me think of this guy as a loser.
In conclusion, try this next time: If you are around people that you feel are more talented or more experienced than you, don’t approach the situation with your head down when it comes to working with them. Hold your head up, put a smile on your face, and show some energy. This triggers instincts in people to naturally “see” you as a winner regardless of what their brain tells them. They might know in their brains that you don’t hold as high of a college degree that they have, or that you don’t have the experience they have, but their instincts will automatically kick in and they will perceive you as an individual that they can be confident in. And the interesting thing is, even if you screw up, as long as you keep the attitude, you’ll still keep getting more chances and opportunities. So don’t approach anything in life with your head down.
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