PMA
Positive Mental Attitude, Positive Thinking or PMA, we hear so much about it. Some people find it difficult to talk about, others find it difficult to do. It totally passes many people by! Indeed, the vast majority of the population spend their entire lives totally unaware that they can be positive and indulge in a spot of personal development for their own benefit. In all honesty, it’s not their fault, no-one gave them the chance, or more to the point they didn’t give themselves a chance.
So many people simply wish and waste their lives away. They live for Friday nights and then go out and piss their lives away in the pub. There can be so much more to life, and a positive attitude can help bring the rewards that life potentially has to offer. As with the last section, I could write about ten websites on PMA, all the various techniques and methods that are available. Unfortunately, there just isn’t space here to do that and anyway, this isn’t a book about attitude – although you do need to adopt a positive attitude on your job search.
Positive Mental Attitude
Having said that, it is vitally important in your job search. Why? Well, firstly we have talked about many things in this book that will give you the edge over the competition. An attitude that is positive will give you an advantage that is beyond belief. It is like giving your interview one great big turbo charge. It is a 5 litre V12 engine versus the standard 16 valve 1.8!
It is fact that on surveying employers, the most important factors when making a hiring decision (and this is above all skill attributes) is EAGERNESS and a CAN DO mentality. That means a positive mental attitude. The catch-phrase is simply this;
Your altitude is controlled by your attitude.
In other words, if you have the right attitude to your job, you really can scale the heights.
It is also interesting to note that attitude is so important that it comes above any other factor including religion, social status and race. It is refreshing to know there are some things which can genuinely overcome some of the prejudices we have to put up with!
Positive Thinking
Unfortunately, too many people put too many false barriers in their own lives. They build these wonderful “neg” shells around themselves, and they go around radiating doom and gloom. Are you one of these people? Put yourself in the hirer’s position. Would you hire someone who comes in every morning with a face like thunder, complaining that it always goes wrong for them, nothing ever goes right. Life? Don’t talk to me about life.. etc, etc.
Of course you wouldn’t. For one thing, someone like that soon has the entire office on a downer (for your information, it’s called the ripple effect). When the office gets like that it is a rapidly escalating downward spiral. Ever been there? Awful isn’t it? The bad news is there are many offices like that, with negative people causing just this scenario. That is why someone with a positive attitude is so sought after. If you have a negative situation, and someone with a highly positive frame of mind joins, it can lift the entire place. More work gets done, the work is of a better quality, the other employees are happier, and the spiral is reversed.
Think about your own situation. How does it make you feel if you go into a shop and get really bad service? You know, where the assistant simply grunts at you, makes no eye contact (seems to ignore you), and has a surly look about them? Makes you feel awful doesn’t it? You certainly don’t want to buy from that store; you quickly form a negative impression of that particular shop. You do it, so you know it is true. So, if you have a negative attitude, that is how you will affect the interviewer.
And guess what, you won’t get the job. Q.E.D!
The feelings that you give to other people are called strokes. Positive strokes are good news and make people feel happy. Things such as praise, thanks, interest or admiration. All positive emotions are generated by a positive attitude. They will make colleagues, or indeed interviewers, relate to your cause.
Negative strokes, however, make you feel bad. Things like criticism, ingratitude, lack of attention and ridicule, will alienate you in not just the interviewers’ eyes.
“Can-Do” Attitude
So think about your attitude, and what your attitude says about you to others. As I said eagerness and positive attitude, if displayed at interview, can easily override shortcomings in other skills or experience. The willingness to get in and do a job, or learn a job, with a good heart is vitally important. It can overcome some major gaps in your experience.
Even if you have all the relevant experience for a particular vacancy, if you demonstrate a highly positive attitude, it will put you further ahead of the competition than anything else written in this book. This short chapter is probably the most important.
Personal Development
Some people are born with a positive attitude, some develop it during their life. Whatever, if you decide to adopt it, it needs to become your way of life. PMA is not something you can turn on and off. Sorry, it doesn’t work like that. You have to work at it if you’re not a natural. It takes time, but the investment is well worthwhile. Granted, even the most positive person in the world has the odd “off day”, but if you cultivate a positive attitude, you will gradually find the good days outnumber the bad.
You will also find that other people respond to you differently, and the major benefit is that people will more easily respond to your wishes. It’s amazing. Be grumpy and off with people, and they will not want to know you. However, demonstrate a positive, “can do” attitude, use PMA and the will to get on with people, and the results will be truly remarkable. One final point, your personal development crusade should be ongoing throughout the course of your life…it doesn;t stop after reading one PMA book!