Negative People will Always Criticize

Some people criticize no matter what. It does not matter which side you are on, they are always on 

the other side. They have made a career out of criticizing. They are "career critics." They criticize as 

if they will win a prize at a contest. They will find fault with every person and every situation. You will find people like this in every home, family, office. They go around finding fault and telling everybody how bad things are and blaming the whole world for their problems. We have a name for these people. They are called energy suckers. They will go to the cafeteria and drown themselves in 20 cups of tea and coffee and smoke to their hearts' content with one excuse: they are trying to relax. All that they are doing is causing more tension for themselves and for others around them. They spread negative messages like a plague and create an environment conducive to negative results. Robert Fulton invented the steamboat. On the banks of the Hudson River he was displaying his new invention. The pessimists and the skeptics were gathered around to observe. They commented that it would never start. Lo and behold, it did. As it made its way down the river, the pessimists who said it would never go, started shouting that it would never stop. What an attitude! 

8 STEPS TO ATTITUDE CHANGE

If we want to build and maintain a positive attitude, we need to consciously practice the following steps: 

Step 1: Change Focus, Look for the Positive 

We need to become good finders. We need to focus on the positive in life. Let's start looking for what is right in a person or situation instead of looking for what is wrong. Because of our conditioning, we are so attuned to finding fault and looking for what is wrong that we forget to see the positive picture. Even in paradise, fault finders will find faults. Most people find what they are looking for. If they are looking for friendship, happiness and the positive, that is what they get. If they are looking for fights or indifference, then that is what they get. Caution looking for the positive does not mean overlooking faults.

 LOOKING FOR THE GOLD

• As a young Scots boy, Andrew Carnegie came to America and started doing odd jobs. He ended up as one of the largest steel manufacturers in the United States. At one time he had 43 millionaires working for him. Several decades ago, a million dollars used to be a lot of money; even today it is a lot of money. Someone asked Mr. Carnegie how he dealt with people? Andrew Carnegie replied, "Dealing with people is like digging gold: When you go digging for an ounce of gold, you have to move tons of dirt to get an ounce of gold. But when you go digging, you don't go looking for the dirt, you go looking for the gold." What is your focus? Become a digger for gold. If you are looking for what is wrong with people or with things, you will find many. What are you looking for? Andrew Carnegie's reply has a very important message. There is something positive in every person and every situation. Sometimes we have to dig deep to look for the positive because it may not be apparent. Besides, we are so used to looking for what is wrong with other people and situations, we forget to see what is right. Someone once said that even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Remember when you go looking for gold, you have to move tons of dirt to get to an ounce of gold. But when you go looking, you don't go looking for the dirt, you go looking for the gold.

STEPS TO BUILDING A POSITIVE ATTITUDE

During childhood, we form attitudes that last a lifetime. Undoubtedly, it would be a ot l easier and better to have acquired a positive attitude during our formative years. Does that mean if we acquire a negative attitude, whether by design or by default, we are stuck with it? Of course not. Can we change? Yes. Is it easy? Absolutely not. How do you build and maintain a positive attitude?

•  Become aware of the principles that build a positive attitude
•  Desire to be positive 
• Cultivate the discipline and dedication to practice those principles

As adults, regardless of our environment, education and experience, who is responsible for our attitude? We are. We have to accept responsibility some time in our lives. We blame everyone and everything but ourselves. It is up to us to choose our attitude every morning.
 As adults, we need to accept responsibility for our behavior and actions. People with negative attitudes will blame the whole world, their parents, teachers, spouse, the economy and the government for their failures.
 You have to get away from the past. Dust yourself off, get back into the mainstream. Put your dreams together and move forward. Thinking of the positive things that are true, honest and good, will put us in a positive state of mind. 

THE CONSEQUENCES OF A NEGATIVE ATTITUDE

 Our life is an obstacle course and we become our own biggest obstacle by having a negative attitude. People with a negative attitude have a hard time keeping friendships, jobs, marriage and relationships. Their attitude leads to 

• bitterness 
• resentment 
• a purposeless life 
• ill health 
• high stress level for themselves and others

 They create a negative environment at home and work and become a liability to society. They also pass on their negative behavior to others around them and to future generations.

 WHEN WE BECOME AWARE OF OUR NEGATIVE ATTITUDE, WHY DON'T WE CHANGE?

 Human nature generally resists change. Change is uncomfortable. Regardless of its positive or negative effect, change can be stressful. Sometimes we get so comfortable with our negativity that even when the change is for the positive, we don't want to accept it. We stay with the negative.

 Charles Dickens wrote about a prisoner who stayed for many years in a dungeon. After serving his sentence, he got his freedom. He was brought out from his cell into the bright daylight of the open world. 

This man looked all around and after a few moments was so uncomfortable with his newly acquired freedom that he asked to be brought back to his cell into confinement. To him, t e dungeon, the chains and the darkness were more h secure and comfortable than accepting the change of freedom and the open world. 

HOW DO YOU RECOGNIZE PEOPLE WITH A POSITIVE ATTITUDE?

 Just like an absence of ill health does not equal good health, an absence of negativity alone does not make a person positive. People with positive attitudes have certain personality traits that are easy to recognize. They are caring, confident, patient, and humble. They have high expectations of themselves and others. They anticipate positive outcomes. A person with a positive attitude is like a fruit of all seasons. He is always welcome.

 THE BENEFITS OF A POSITIVE ATTITUDE

 These are many and easy to see. But what is easy to see is also easy to miss. To mention a few, a positive attitude increases productivity fosters teamwork solves problems improves quality makes for congenial atmosphere breeds loyalty increases profits fosters better relationships with employers, employees, and customers reduces stress helps a person become a contributing member of society and an asset to their country makes for a pleasing personality 

Experiences & Education

 2. Experiences 

Our behavior changes according to our experiences with people and events in our life. If we have a positive experience with a person, our attitude toward him becomes positive and vice versa. 

3. Education

 I refer to both formal and informal education, not just academic qualifications. Knowledge strategically applied translates into wisdom, ensuring success. I talk of education in the broader sense. It makes the role of the ; educator vital. A teacher affects eternity. The ripple effect is immeasurable.

 We are drowning in information but starving for knowledge and wisdom. Education ought to teach us not only how to make a living but also how to live. 

Environment

1.  Environment consists of the following:

•  Home: positive or negative influences 
• School: peer pressure 
• Work: supportive or over critical supervisor 
• Media: television, newspapers, magazines, radio, movies 
• Cultural background 
• Religious background 
• Traditions and beliefs 
• Social environment 
• Political environment

All of these environments create a culture. Every place be it a home, organization or a country has a culture. Have you noticed that sometimes you go to a store and you find the salesperson polite, the supervisor, manager and owner polite as well? Yet you go to another shop and you find everyone rude and discourteous.
 You go to a home and you find the kids and parents well-behaved, courteous and considerate. You go to another home where everyone is fighting like cats and dogs.
 In countries where the government and political environment is honest, generally you will find that the people are honest, law abiding and helpful. And the reverse is true too. In a corrupt environment, an honest person has a tough time. Whereas in an honest environment, the corrupt one has a tough time. In a positive environment, a marginal performer's output goes up. In a negative environment, a good performer's output goes down.
 Culture in any place always goes top down, never bottom up. We need to step back and look at what kind of environment we have created for ourselves and those around us. It is tough to expect positive behavior in a negative environment. Where lawlessness becomes the law, honest citizens become cheats, crooks and thieves. Isn't it time to evaluate the environment that we are in or we have created for others?