Attitude matters most ─ Our Desire to Change

Looking at my colleague's examples of common bad attitudes, I generalize that the one of the reasons behind such attitudes may be the availability of choices. Sometimes, no choice will determine the success of attitudes change more than the desire to change. When all else fails, we know that sometimes desire alone may keep people going in the right direction. There are real life examples of people gotten passed insurmountable obstacle to make themselves better when they realized that change is possible if they want it badly enough. But I personally think that desire only sometimes is not enough to change attitudes.

Let me use an example I have read to illustrate the point.

“.. While hoping about one day, a frog happened to slip into a very large pothole along a road. All of his attempts at jumping out were in vain. Soon a rabbit came upon the frog trapped in the hole and offered to help him out. He too failed. After various animals made many attempts to help the poor frog out, they finally gave up. So, they decided first to get the frog some food before they continue. However, not long after they took off to get food, they saw the frog hopping towards them. They could not believe it! “We thought you could not get out” they exclaimed. “Oh, I could not!” replied the frog. “But you see, there was a big truck coming right at me, and so I had to!”

This example illustrated that at times, it is when we “have to get out of the pothole of life” that we change our attitude. As long as there are acceptable options, change may not happen. We are all more comfortable with old problems than coming out with new solutions. Too many times, we are settled in the comfort zone and accept limitations placed upon us.

I believe that people can change their attitude, and the belief that change is inevitable is one of the greatest motivations of all. Nothing sparks the fire of desire more than the sudden realization that you cannot stay the same forever.