Cycles are a natural part of living life. Sometimes you are riding high and other times you may find yourself scraping by. Regardless of where you are in life’s cycle, be sure that it will change because that’s the nature of a cycle. How you deal with your life cycle depends on attitude.

Where you are today? Is your situation better than a year, five years or ten years ago or worse? Think about your career or personal life separately because they may in fact be in different cycles.

If your situation is worse, know that it can get better when you focus efforts on improving a situation or on how you deal with it – aka your attitude.

Some situations don’t change quickly (career change, layoff, sickness or illness) or may never recover fully (divorce, loss of loved one). It is easy to get impatient, depressed or upset – that’s where a positive attitude makes a big difference.

A positive attitude can be acceptance of what you can control and not beating yourself up over things you cannot control.  It sounds simple – most of the time it is not because you are probably your own worst critic.

If you are fortunate enough to be riding the crest of your cycle, you probably have many friends and colleagues supporting your efforts along the way. The fact is, people like positive attitudes because it is a strong indicator of a winner.

When you need to sell an idea to upper management or sell yourself in a job interview, attitude and self-confidence influence decision makers – often over technical skills.

Positive attitudes, just like good karma opens doors to opportunities.

No one can change your attitude except for you.