“I like your attitude!”

This is boss speak for, “Don’t screw up, I have to recommend someone for a promotion and right now you’re it.”  Attitude can influence all kinds of things.  Whether it be your job, home, spending habits, mood, creativity, etc. the attitude that you have towards a situation will set a tone for how you will act within that situation.

Here are seven attitude adjustments you can make to help you be more successful:

1. Smile- Strange things happen to you when you force yourself to smile.  People around you will see you as friendlier, caring, a better lover, and a leader.  Your body will actually start to feel better if you smile, to the point where you feel like smiling and no longer have to force yourself to do it.
2. Encourage- Any idea that comes your way, encourage the person to keep them coming (even if it’s a bad idea).  If you become someone that people like to bounce ideas off of, then you become a source for ideas, something that management likes a lot.
3. Do your best- I know, basic.  Yet, every organization has someone who doesn’t pull their weight sooner or later, and those people get fired. 
4. Toot your own horn sometimes- not always, but there are times when you should get credit for a good idea, or a lot of extra work.  A great way to do this, when working on a project for one of your boss’s higher ups, send it to both the higher-up and your boss.  Your boss gets rewarded for having a great team member, you get rewarded for being a great team member.
5. You can do that- unless it’s something nobody has ever done before, when given quotas, don’t complain, because you can meet them, step up and do it.
6. Ask dumb questions- Your boss will eventually ask them, might as well have an answer ready.  I try really hard to be an “answer man.”
7. Volunteer-  Be “that guy” there’s a reason your boss used to be “that guy,” and that reason is “that guy” stands out in a crowd.

What are some attitude adjustments you’ve made lately?  Are there any that should be added to this list?