Your Attitude Is Your Choice
by Rev. Dr. Carl A. Nicklas
Leadership has taught me many lessons over the years, but few have proven more valuable than one simple principle that has become something of an infamous motto of mine:
Your attitude is your choice.
I have said it in meetings. I have said it to teams. I have said it from the pulpit. I have said it to people walking through difficult seasons, and I have had to say it to the man in the mirror more times than I can count. The reason is simple. We do not get to choose everything that happens to us, but we do get to choose what happens within us. That distinction is one of the dividing lines of effective leadership.
A business owner cannot control every shift in the economy. An executive cannot control every decision made by a competitor. A manager cannot control every personality on a team. A professional cannot control whether a client says yes, whether a proposal is accepted, whether a promotion comes when expected, or whether an unexpected challenge appears on Monday morning.
What we can control is the attitude we bring to those circumstances. And often, that choice determines what happens next.
Leaders Set the Temperature
I have often thought about the difference between a thermometer and a thermostat. A thermometer simply reports the temperature of the room. A thermostat influences it. Too many people in leadership positions become thermometers. When morale is low, they become discouraged. When business is difficult, they become negative. When the team is anxious, they become anxious. When someone walks into the meeting frustrated, they allow that frustration to dictate the atmosphere.
Leadership requires something different.
Leaders set the temperature.
That does not mean pretending problems do not exist. Positive leadership is not denial. There is nothing admirable about looking at a disappointing quarterly report and pretending the numbers are wonderful. Mature leaders face reality. But they refuse to surrender their attitude to reality. There is a deeply rooted biblical principle behind this.
Scripture consistently teaches that our inner life deserves careful attention because what we allow to take root inside us eventually influences what comes out of us. It also teaches us to renew our thinking rather than simply conforming to the pressures around us. In business language, we might call that emotional discipline. In leadership, it is indispensable. Your team is watching how you respond when the numbers are down. They are watching how you treat people when you are under pressure. They are watching what happens to your character when the plan changes.
And perhaps most importantly, they are watching whether your attitude changes when things stop going your way.
Pressure Reveals What Position Can Hide
It is relatively easy to have a good attitude when the company is growing, the customers are happy, the team is performing, and every graph is moving up and to the right. The real test comes when the graph turns the other direction. Pressure has a way of revealing what position can conceal.
Consider Joseph, whose story in Scripture is a remarkable study in leadership development. His circumstances changed repeatedly and often unfairly. He experienced betrayal, false accusation, disappointment, and delay. Yet none of those circumstances was permitted to determine the quality of his character. His environment changed. His responsibilities changed. His title changed. But he continued to serve with excellence wherever he was placed.
That principle translates powerfully into the modern workplace.
You may not be able to choose your assignment, but you can choose your excellence.
You may not be able to choose your supervisor, but you can choose your professionalism.
You may not be able to choose the economy, but you can choose your creativity.
You may not be able to choose the setback, but you can choose whether the setback makes you bitter or better.
Your attitude is your choice.
Attitude Is Not Emotion
This is where the principle sometimes gets misunderstood. Choosing your attitude does not mean choosing never to feel disappointment, frustration, grief, or fatigue. Leaders are human beings, not machines.
There are days when leadership hurts. There are decisions that weigh heavily. There are betrayals that disappoint us. There are opportunities we believed were certain that disappear without explanation. There are seasons when our best effort does not immediately produce our desired outcome.
Choosing your attitude is not denying those emotions. It is deciding that your emotions will be passengers and not drivers. Biblical wisdom repeatedly points us toward perseverance through difficulty. Trials can develop endurance, endurance can deepen maturity, and difficulty can produce something in us that comfort never could.
That means the question a leader asks must eventually move beyond, “Why is this happening to me?”
A better question is, “What can this develop in me?”
That question changes everything.
Imagine two department heads receiving identical news: revenue is below projections and expenses must be reduced. One enters the next team meeting defeated. His body language communicates fear before he says a word. He begins assigning blame. Creativity disappears because everyone becomes concerned about protecting themselves. The other leader acknowledges the seriousness of the situation, communicates clearly, and says, in effect, “This is difficult, but difficult does not mean impossible. Let’s determine what we can control, make wise decisions, and move forward together.”
Same report.
Same numbers.
Same challenge.
Different attitude.
And very likely, a very different outcome.
Your Attitude Becomes Someone Else’s Environment
This may be the greatest challenge for those of us who lead: our attitude rarely affects only us. The higher you rise in leadership, the further your attitude travels. A discouraged employee may affect a cubicle. A discouraged leader can affect an entire organization. Conversely, one leader with courage, gratitude, humility, and hope can steady a room full of people.
That is why servant leadership matters so much to me. One of the great leadership patterns found in Scripture is that genuine authority is demonstrated through service. Leadership is not merely about having people respond to us; it is about accepting responsibility for how we respond to them. When leaders choose humility over ego, solutions over blame, gratitude over entitlement, and courage over fear, people notice. Culture is built in those moments. Not through the slogans hanging in the lobby, but through the attitudes modeled when things become inconvenient.
Make the Choice Before the Crisis
The best time to decide what kind of leader you will be under pressure is before the pressure arrives.
Decide now.
When criticism comes, I will remain teachable.
When disappointment comes, I will remain hopeful.
When success comes, I will remain humble.
When pressure comes, I will remain grounded.
When plans change, I will remain adaptable.
When others become negative, I will not surrender control of my spirit to their negativity.
This does not happen accidentally. It is a daily discipline. Every morning, leaders make choices long before they enter a conference room or open their inbox. We choose what will occupy our thinking. We choose which offenses we will carry. We choose whether yesterday’s disappointment will be allowed to negotiate today’s potential. And sometimes leadership begins with making that choice again at 10:30 in the morning. Then again at 2:15 in the afternoon. And perhaps once more before walking through the front door at home. Leadership is rarely one great decision.
More often, it is a lifetime of small decisions made consistently.
So whatever challenge is sitting on your desk today, remember this:
You may not have chosen the circumstance.
You may not have caused the problem.
You may not be able to control the outcome.
But there is still something nobody else gets to choose for you.
Your attitude is your choice.
Choose wisely.
Because the attitude you choose today may become the atmosphere in which someone else discovers the courage to succeed tomorrow.
Your attitude is your choice, so choose to have a fantastic day!!
