Dear John,

Has anyone ever accused you have having a ‘tude? As in, “Drop the ‘tude, dude!” It’s something more than one parent has said to a teenaged child, for sure!

In that example, the ‘tude means ATTITUDE in the negative sense, but I’m here to tell you that attitude is just one of 5 ‘tudes you can have, and believe me when I say you want to give each ‘tude its due attention.

So yes, the first ‘tude is attitude. Psychologists have maintained for generations that attitudes are more important than facts. Dad said, “Your attitude, more than your aptitude, will determine your altitude.”

Attitude is a determining factor in the major accomplishments of life and, fortunately, attitude is something you can control. Dad loved to remind me: “It’s not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life, it is how you handle what happens to you.”

Another famous Zig quote is this: "Of all the attitudes we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important, and by far the most life-changing."

So the second ‘tude is gratitude, because the more you express gratitude for what you have, the more you will have to express gratitude for. It's equally true that you will never find a happy person who is not a grateful person, so gratitude is a marvelous place to start.

The next ‘tude is magnitude. We need to magnify the important things and reduce the magnitude of things that appear to be insurmountable problems. "Don't make mountains out of mole hills" is a wise saying all of us would do well to observe.

Another ‘tude is latitude, which is another way of expressing the fact that we have the freedom to do virtually anything within the bounds of human decency and law in this land of ours. We have the latitude to be all that we can be, and accomplish some incredible objectives. Regardless of our ancestors, the circumstances of our youth, etc., we have the latitude to move from where we are to where we want to be.

The final ‘tude is multitude. We face a multitude of challenges and opportunities every day. Did you know you can hold a dime close enough to your eye to blot out the sun? If we use the multitude of challenges we face like a dime, we will blot out the many opportunities of life.

It is equally true, though, that if we use the opportunities like a dime, we will blot out the challenges to the degree that we can overcome them.

With a good set of ‘tudes you can accomplish some incredible objectives, so next time someone asks if you’ve got a ‘tude, tell that person, “Yes, in fact, I’ve got 5 ‘tudes!”

You were Born to Win, so go ahead and Live to Win,

Tom

PS - Quote of the Day: “We all need a daily check-up from the neck up to avoid stinkin’ thinkin’ which ultimately leads to hardening of the attitudes.” — Zig Ziglar