Beware: A bad attitude will affect your performance

By Charlotte Ninsiima

Having worked for eight years with no promotion, salary increment or benefits, Sheila Naka resorted to badmouthing the organisation where she worked.

She spent most of her working hours talking about the injustices at the workplace and she was in a way rallying staff to either demonstrate or call for a meeting to air out their grievances.

The organisation realised just how toxic she was and before long, she was shown the exit. Although there are bad bosses in different organisations, many a time, it is not about other people. The problem is with us but we try to play smart by thinking we are being maliced.

Set of emotions
In psychology, an attitude refers to a set of emotions, beliefs, and behaviours toward a particular object, person, thing, or event. Attitudes are often the result of experience or upbringing, and they can have a powerful influence over behaviour.

Attitude is the way we see things and how we respond to them. Peter Kimbowa, team leader and chief executive officer at Summit, says attitude is the most important assets that every human being has.
“Attitude comes first, seconded by skills, knowledge and character. All these contribute to one’s performance at work. If you believe life has been unfair to you, this will affect the way you relate with people.

Once you have a negative attitude, you will hate your workplace, your concentration levels will go down and you will be so stressed.
Kelvin Kiyingi, a financial inclusion coach, says reading psychology books such as Norman Peale’s Power of Positive Thinking may help. Get aware of your environment and thoughts, replace any negative thoughts with positivity.

According to an online site wheniwork.com, it is important to look out for things that bring out positivity in a person. Listening to positive music with headphones, uplifting audio books as you head to work, reading encouraging books, watching videos and listening to podcasts that are positive are some of the ways that stimulate positivity. If the saying ‘you are what you eat’ holds true for your body, your mind is what you feed it.

Control your language
This is about being conscious of the words you use when speaking. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that the structure of language affects a person’s view of the world, and the way they think. Taken to the furthest extent, your language actually limits or delineates how you are able to perceive the world.

But on a smaller level, the language you use every day, both in thought and spoken word, has a cumulative effect on how you think about yourself, your work, and those around you.
This may seem like a silly example, but it might be the difference between seeing your day as filled with tasks, or filled with opportunities. The former is tiring and arduous, making you feel trapped in a daily grind. The latter is exciting with potential.

Own up
Refusing to take responsibility for your actions and your situation, or not taking control of how you respond, kills a positive attitude immediately. After all, if something happens and you’re at fault or in some way responsible, refusing to acknowledge it, means you can’t correct the behaviour. When it happens again, you set yourself up for a victimhood mindset in which things happen to you.

More control
You will be more positive seeing life as something you have some control over rather than being at the mercy of fate. Think of it as an equation: E + R = O (event + response = outcome). How you respond has an effect on the outcome, even when events are out of your control.An American poet, memoirist, author and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou, once said: “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.