Of all the words in all the languages of the world, what word would you say is the most important when it comes to this business of living successfully?

According to the experts, the word is “attitude”. And it’s a fact that this word - or , rather, what we mean by this word - will determine, more than any other single thing, what happens to us. My dictionary defines the word “attitude” as a noun meaning, “position, disposition, or manner with regard to a person or thing.”

It is our attitude that determines what happens to us in life. As William James of Harvard once put it, “It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else will affect its successful outcome.” (I may not have that word for word, but that’s about it.) And what he meant was that the kind of an attitude we have when we start some particular task will determine to a tremendous extent whether or not we’ll enjoy it - - and whether or not we’ll be successful.

One of the best stories I ever read about “attitude” concerned a couple of young women who worked in a telegraph office. They were just about ready to quit because the people who came into their office were so miserable, complaining, officious, even downright insulting. (Can you relate?) Just before quitting, though, these two young ladies did a very wise thing. They decided on their last day, just for the fun of it, to bend over backwards being sweet to people. They agreed that no matter what the person looked like or how they acted when he or she came into their office, they’d just be overwhelmed with courtesy and efficiency.

Well, before the day was even over . . the girls got the message! They didn’t have a single miserable or complaining customer all day! They enjoyed the experience tremendously, and it was wonderful having people smiling and being polite to them. For the first time they realized that the customers who had seemed so terrible before had simply been reacting to the poor attitude the girls had been assuming.

The number one cause for people losing jobs is their inability to get along with other people, this has long been known. And the strangest thing is that these people never catch on to the fact that we get back, measure for measure, just exactly what we put out. And if you’ve gotten the idea the world is picking on you, it might be worth your time to study the front you’ve been presenting to the world. Check your attitude.

I had an office high in a skyscraper one time, and the very first day I was taken up by an elevator operator who was the surliest, unhappiest, most unfriendly character I had ever seen. Everything he did was just barely on the safe side of being an insult. Just for the fun of it, I made up my mind to really work on this guy. Every time I got into his elevator, I’d give him a cheery greeting, and ask about his health, his family, and so on. For a while, he didn’t even answer me. But gradually he thawed, and in a couple of months he was a fairly nice guy. In a year he was the friendliest operator in the building . . . and was always doing favors for me and for the people in my office.

Each of us has a choice, no matter what the circumstances may be, to be either cheerful or not. There is absolutely nothing to be gained by not being cheerful, so why even consider it. If we develop the right attitude it’s amazing how quickly the world changes - how things start to go our way - and how lucky we seem to become. Like the two girls in the telegraph office, we might make an amazing discovery.

As Henry Chester Said, “Faith and initiative rightly combined remove mountainous barriers and achieve the unheard of and miraculous. An enthusiastic attitude is nothing more than faith in action.”