‘A’ Is For Attitude

By: D. A. Slinkard

It is a new year and time for a new beginning. It does not matter what you did last year because last year is history! What are you doing with this year? That is the question you need to focus on and also, “How are you going to make this year different than last year?” We cannot control everything that happens to us, but we can control how we respond and how we handle certain situations. With that said, I have decided to do things differently when it comes to my articles.

“Slinkard On Success” is about to hit five years of being printed in the Athens Now publication and I am quite thankful for the impact Ali Turner has had on our community and on me personally. Major kudos goes to her and the tireless determination she offers to so many people. If you ever need a person to pick you up when you are feeling low, Ali Turner is the perfect person for the task. I do not believe she will ever truly understand the thousands of people she has impacted with this newspaper.

All the mushy stuff aside, “Slinkard On Success” is going to make an adjustment to how articles are written this year. I am truly appreciative for the kind words and compliments so many people have given me over the years, so I have decided to develop the “ABC’s of Slinkard On Success” and I feel this year is going to be the best year ever. I am planning on using the alphabet pertaining to each topic I write about with each article.

For instance, “A” is for attitude. If you want to have the best year possible, it is time to check your attitude and see how it checks out. What does your attitude say about you? If you were to be honest and really evaluate the impression you give out, what does that vibe say about you? You might be thinking to yourself, “I really don’t care what others think of me…” and I just want to stop you right there. It has been my experience that if you comment that you do not care what others think about you, you tend to be the person with the vilest attitude of all.

If that is you, then 2022 needs to be different for you, and that is the end of the story. Time to change your way of thinking if you want success this year. So many people are walking around with a bad attitude and they have become blinded to the negative attitude they have. They cannot figure out why people do not want to be around them. They cannot figure out why people do not want to associate with them, and they cannot figure out why everyone seems to be against them. Life comes down to the attitude you have.

I have said it before, and I will write it here – one of the hardest things in life is to have a positive attitude. It so much easier to think negatively than what it is to think positively because it takes less work to be negative. It is a battle and if you struggle to control your attitude, it will be a battle every day of your life. It takes work to have a good attitude. It is not easy and if it was easy, then everyone would be doing it. We cannot worry about others. We cannot control what others do to us, however, we can control how we respond and how we handle certain situations.

I want this year to be different for you just as I want it to be different for me. This is going to be our work in progress, and we are going to attack life together with this column. The first step is going after our attitude towards life. Starting today, I want you to make a list of the attributes of the person you want to be. Write down each attribute, name them one by one and be descriptive. I want you to take time to reflect on how you can achieve each attribute of the person you want to be when it comes to your attitude.

This will not be something that happens overnight, but with each day you will be making the necessary adjustments to winning in 2022. It is going to take effort and it is going to require work, but if you stick with it, you can have success.  “A” is for attitude.

By: D. A. Slinkard

D.A. Slinkard would love your feedback. You can contact him at da.slinkard@gmail.com