It was in 1986 I attended an awards dinner for real estate agents as a guest.  The featured speaker was Mike Ditka, coach of the then recent Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears.  After an entertaining and motivating speech, Mr. Ditka was approached by several attendees wanting to meet him or get his autograph.  My host was a big fan and we approached the podium.  A woman in the crowd noticed his lapel pin.  It was gold and it simply spelled out the word “Attitude.”  When she let Mr. Ditka know how much she admired the pin, he immediately removed it and gladly handed it to her.  It was a wow moment for all of us.  “Success begins and ends with attitude,” Mr. Ditka said.  That moment was worth the entire price of admission.

Last week I was talking to one of our most veteran and successful sale reps about his desire to join a printing trade business group in his area.  At the end of the conversation, I asked him what he was seeing in his market right now.  His answer went something like this:  “The market is doing better and I am seeing a lot more activity and opportunities.  I realized that I needed to change my attitude and get back to the basics that made me successful.  I was out there hurrying my sales calls and looking only for orders.  In this tough market, I became more focused on the numbers and less on helping the customer.  Helping customers is how I became successful.  Over the last year or two, I had migrated away from that.  In the last month or so, I recognized this.  When I bring a helping, positive attitude into the sales call, the results have been so much better.  The customers are more engaged and I’m having a lot more success, and fun.”

A positive attitude is contagious.  When you think about it, it’s the everyday activities you do that benefit most from a positive attitude.  Focus on those and the results will take care of themselves.