A number of years ago, I was employed by a consulting firm, the George S. May Company of Chicago. Specifically, as an Executive Consultant, I worked with corporate presidents and CEOs to fine-tune their organizations. It was in this role that I began to research the impact of an individual's attitude on job performance and overall productivity. I found that there was a direct correlation.

One researcher indicated that fully 94 percent of all Fortune 500 executives attributed their success more to attitude than to any other factor. A survey of corporate vice-presidents and personnel directors at one hundred of America's largest companies listed their primary reason for firing employees as:

• Incompetence: 30 percent
• Inability to get along with others: 17 percent
• Dishonesty or lying: 12 percent
• Negative attitude: 10 percent
• Lack of motivation: 7 Percent
• Failure to follow instructions: 7 percent
• All other reasons: 8 percent

Although, incompetence, ranked number one on the list, you will notice that the next five are all attitude related. So, it is our attitudes of mind and the focus of our thoughts, that are largely responsible for shaping our daily lives. One of my favorite authors, John Maxwell, says it this way, "Our attitudes cannot stop our feelings, but they can keep our feelings from stopping us."

The Apostle Paul wrote:

Make Today Count,