All I ask today is that anyone with doubts regarding information on attitude please suspend judgment until you finish this page. If your life isn't the way you want it to be, how about considering a paradigm shift? Maybe all the hype on attitude isn't fluff, maybe there is something to it? I have learned that most people that avoid attitude improvement information do so because they believe they were born with the attitude that they have. Everywhere I go to speak I hear the same weak battle cry from people who are currently underachieving, "I am not a pessimist, I'm a realist!!" Just consider for a moment, could "positive mental attitude" be a choice? If it is, how much of a difference could it make? Think of the possibilities.

Your mental attitude is the major factor which attracts people to you or repels them depending on whether your attitude is positive or negative. I believe you are the only person who can determine this choice. Many people that have had some painful hard knocks chose great attitudes. It is clear that their life is much, much better because of it. Also, many blessed and gifted people choose painfully negative attitudes. How gifted do you consider the following list of people: Len Bias, Marylin Monroe, Janice Joplin, Elvis Presley, John Bulushi, and Curt Cobane?

All made the decision that life was too negative to live. All of them died from a drug overdose. Were any of them born with good looks, great voices, acting talent, or incredible physical ability? Obviously, yes, but they also made choices based on their attitude independently of their talent, and they were the opposite of what you or I might think they should be. "If only I had those looks or that talent or that body, I could really be happy then…." Isn't that what we say? These people didn't follow that pattern. Their choice to be negative was independent of their circumstances.

Mental attitude is also an important factor in maintaining sound physical health. Most doctors now admit that the patient's mental attitude is more important in curing physical ailment than any other single factor.

Your mental attitude determines, to a great extent, whether you find peace of mind or go through life in a state of frustration and misery. It is my opinion that attitude is everything. Mental attitude is the one and only thing which we have been given the complete privilege of personal control. We cannot control the thoughts or actions of other people! No one can control ours! The choice of attitude is the single most profound and most significant of all facts that influence the outcome of an individual's life.

I want to challenge you to try something. I would like you to take a 7 day challenge. Make a decision that your new approach to life is one of positive attitude. I want you to go 7 days without any negative thoughts. If you have a negative thought during the 7 day challenge, I want you to acknowledge it and rework it. Figure out how to change it to a positive thought.

I have done this in many groups and with many individuals over the years. I did this every year at the University of Evansville with the freshman class of athletes. They were always shocked by what the week was like. They could not believe how many negative thoughts they were having or how many little things would side track their day. Please try this challenge. You might find out that attitude is a choice and you like your new options!!

Jeff Sellers, Managing Editor of Revolution Magazine, is a former World Record Holder in the Squat, has coached 2 NCAA Division I National Championship Powerlifting Teams, and is a highly sought after motivational speaker with national engagements almost every week.