“The important thing is to have attitude.”
“Keep a positive attitude.”
“Change your attitude and your life will change. ”
You’ve probably heard these phrases ad nauseam. They’re repeated on social media, on motivational mugs, and from that friend who solves everything with motivational quotes.
They sound good. No doubt about it. But if attitude were enough, we’d probably all be living in our own fairy tales, happily ever after.
The reality is different. Attitude helps, yes. But it’s not enough. You can have the best disposition in the world. You can foster the most positive mindset in the universe. But if you do nothing, you’ll stay exactly where you are. Or worse: you’ll fall behind because everyone else will have moved on.
Necessary parenthesis: what is attitude – and what is it not?
Attitude is a relatively stable mental disposition that guides us in one direction or another and influences how we perceive and respond to situations. Therefore, it is a kind of emotional and cognitive filter that shapes our decisions and behaviors.
As a result, a positive attitude fuels the tendency to see opportunities before obstacles. If our attitude is negative, we’re likely to find everything difficult and focus more on mistakes than successes.
The problem with blindly trusting attitude
We live in a culture that romanticizes a positive attitude as if it were a magic wand. “Just smile, the rest will come.” But it won’t. What will likely follow is frustration and guilt.
Guilt, because if things don’t go well for you, you’ll assume it was because you didn’t have the right attitude. And that’s unfair. Not everything depends on you. In fact, there are a thousand and one things that don’t depend on us.
That’s where attitude falls short. Having a good attitude isn’t a guarantee of anything. It’s just the first step. We can have the most optimistic attitude in the world, but if we don’t do anything with it, it’s like having a spectacular car without fuel. You might admire it, but it won’t get you anywhere.
It’s not enough to want to change, to have the will, or to visualize success. You have to move. Do what’s uncomfortable. Move beyond complaining and into action.
“Actitute”: Bridging the Gap Between Intention and Action
Actitute is the willingness to act and move forward without waiting for everything to fall into place from the start. This term, from productivity specialist Alfonso Alcántara, combines “attitude” with “doing” to encourage us to take the first step even if we’re not entirely clear, even if the pieces don’t fit perfectly, or even if we’re not 100% ready.
Actitute is getting up and going for a walk, even if you have no motivation.
It’s about starting that project, even if you’re afraid of making mistakes.
It’s having that uncomfortable conversation, even though you know it will hurt.
It’s writing the first line, even if you don’t know how the book will end.
The actitute recognizes that:
- Wanting isn’t being able to do it. Doing is.
- Motivation can come after you start, not necessarily before.
- The “perfect moment” does not exist.
- Progress, no matter how small, generates more progress.
How to cultivate “Actitute”?
JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter while going through what she called “the worst time of my life.” She had recently divorced, moved to Edinburgh, where she had few friends, and had to rely on welfare to support her young daughter.
Yet in 1994, Rowling strolled around Edinburgh with her daughter in the stroller, waiting for her to fall asleep before running to the nearest café and writing the book she had in mind. She didn’t wait for free time or for the conditions to be right. She just did it.
If we wait until ideal conditions arise, we’ll likely never get anything done because it’s very difficult for all the stars to align to clear the path for us. Persuasiveness understands that action is the first step. That starting “badly” is better than not starting at all. That mistakes teach more than brilliant ideas stored in your head or the most positive attitude in the world.
Of course, taking action involves taking some risks. And that’s scary. When you only think or cultivate a positive attitude, you maintain control. On the other hand, when you act, you expose yourself. You expose yourself to failure, to dislike, to not meet your own or others’ expectations. But if you don’t dare, you’ll never know.
Now, how do we move from attitude to actitute?
- Accept that you won’t be ready. Ninety percent of the truly important things in life will be done with fear, doubt, and some awkwardness. Acceptance is accepting that you may not be fully prepared, but that you can learn as you go.
- Stop negotiating with your mind. If every time you have to do something important, you start arguing with yourself, you’ll become paralyzed. Doubts will assail you, and fears will grow. The right approach is to reduce that inner dialogue and take action. It means thinking less and doing more.
- Start small, but start. The achievement isn’t epic. You don’t have to run a marathon, write the novel of the century, or build Schwarzenegger’s body – just start. The brain needs proof that you can move forward. Give it just that. When you break the inertia, the rest will flow.
A positive attitude is like coffee: it gives you energy, but it doesn’t do things for you. Positive attitude is what turns your motivation, ideas, and drive into results. It’s not a promise that everything will turn out well, but rather that you will move forward, learn, and build.
Because in the end, life isn’t transformed by good intentions or a positive attitude, but by doing what you know you have to do, even when you don’t feel like it, are afraid, or aren’t sure. And that’s the true magic of haztitude.
Leave a Reply