Dear Sunrider Business Leader,

Some time ago while speaking at a Sunrider Regional Meeting , I shared an experience I had that led me to a greater understanding of the importance of our attitude. It all began several years ago when I was standing in the Salt Lake City airport security area with no shoes, no belt, no bag ... just waiting. I thought, "this is ridiculous" when the security fellow finally came by and pointed across the way and said, "you can get your stuff over there." So I found myself hiking across the large security area in my socks, holding my pants up and looking for my stuff ... hence, this cartoon had particular significance to me.

A moment of truth came and I thought, "I'm going to get my pilot's license and buy my own plane and get away from this as much as possible." And that is what I did.

Now fast forward to my first pilot lesson. My instructor, Karl, told me to stall the airplane. You do this by pulling the nose of the airplane up as far as you can until your speed gets so low it no longer has lift under the wing ... then the wing drops and you go into a spin. However, the point is to drop your nose the second you feel your wing drop out and stop the spin. So I did ... and the wing dropped, my stomach lurched into my throat, I dropped the airplane nose ... and saved the day.

As I sat there recovering Karl said, "So how is your attitude?"

I replied, "Considering I almost killed us, I'd say it's pretty good."

"No, not your attitude, the plane's attitude," he said, pointing to the attitude indicator.

"Oh that, yeah, it's good," I muttered and then Karl taught me a crucial lesson on attitude.

Your Attitude determines your Altitude ... huh?

If you get on an airplane and the pilot announces that "our attitude will determine our altitude today," I'd encourage you to get off the airplane. It doesn't work that way. It is ok for a cliché, but falls a little short in helping to understand the importance of your attitude in life.

Here is what you are taught as a pilot. The attitude of the airplane is "the position of aircraft relative to a frame of reference (the horizon or direction of motion)" or for us common folk it is which way the nose is pointing-- whether up, down, or level. The central instrument you see when you look at an airplane's cockpit panel is the "attitude indicator" (or AI) because you need to know your attitude at all times. Fundamentally, your attitude determines your speed, and the power you use will determine your altitude. Using different combinations of attitude and power you can do anything you want in an airplane, within the scope of its capabilities.

In life this means that your attitude towards any person, circumstance, or thing will determine the speed with which you will achieve whatever it is you want. How much of it you achieve will be determined by the amount of effort, mental and physical, that you use.

Where Your Attitude Is Pointed Is Where You Will End Up.

One of the simple joys of flying an airplane is that generally if you look out over the nose (attitude) of your airplane, you can see where you will end up. Your attitude will also be a predictor of where you will end up. Here are some questions to ask yourself ...

• Is your attitude pointed towards a clearly defined vision, specific goals with dates?
• Does your attitude encompass the willingness and ability to act upon the impressions and actions necessary to bring it about?
• Is your attitude reflective of the positive emotions that surround those who are successful, such as optimism, gratitude, hope, etc.?

Your Attitude Is Your Choice.

Many airplane crashes are attributed to "pilot error," which essentially means that for whatever reason, the pilot chose the wrong attitude during his flying experience. The unique thing is that your attitude is something you choose, and from moment to moment can choose to change.

Let me share a quick example. Succeeding at the institution of marriage is tough. However, I went into it having married a wonderful woman whom I love dearly, fully expecting to be as successful at marriage as I was at everything else in my life (attitude!). Tragically, as we settled into marriage and having children, it became apparent that she had not come fully trained and equipped to be exactly as I wanted her to be.

So my attitude was that with enough logic, training, encouragement ... if not downright pressure ... my wife would surely come around. After far more years than I care to admit, "My head was bloody, but unbowed" as William Henley so eloquently put it in Invictus and I trudged on, sure of my attitude that eventually I could ... shall we say ... get the job done.

Well, one day I woke up to find, metaphorically speaking, the nose of my marital airplane was pointed to the ground and the grass was rushing up way too fast. Fortunately, I realized that I was not going to change my wife, and was quite certain that I really shouldn't be trying to change her. So I changed my attitude. I decided to stop making any effort to change her and try only to support her as best I could. Without the pressure, it was easier to be positive and pleasant. Our relationship improved, life was far better, and if I wanted something that badly ... I just did it myself.

I can't tell you how surprised I was six months later when I realized that many of the things I'd spent years trying to change and get my wife to do ... she was doing all on her own. All I changed was my attitude, and with that came changes in my wife and major parts of my life, with little or no effort on my part.

Life is much like this; we try too hard with the wrong attitude and never achieve what we want. If we could just correct our attitude, what we want would come with far less effort ... and in far better ways than we expect.

Notice that due to an incorrect attitude, I had taken years to try and unsuccessfully achieve something ... that only took 6 months to achieve with the correct attitude. And with the correct attitude it took a lot less effort or power to get where I wanted!

Your Personal Attitude Indicator

When you learn to fly you are taught to constantly look at your Attitude Indicator to make sure all is well. The easiest way to monitor your attitude is by watching your own Attitude Indicator ... your emotions. If you find yourself with negative emotions, then your attitude is off and you need to correct it before you crash. If you have positive emotions, then you are on track to arrive at whatever destination you have chosen!

Positive Emotions to Embrace

• Gratitude
• Appreciation
• Love
• Happiness
• Positive beliefs
• Optimism
• Hope
• Commitment
  

Negative Emotions to Avoid

• Ingratitude
• Bitterness
• Hatred
• Boredom
• Pessimism
• Jealousy
• Frustration
• Despair
• Worry
• Blame
• Anger
• Revenge
• Guilt
• Fear
  

Your Attitude and Sunrider

Life happens. A fundamental truth in owning your own business is that business is mostly about solving problems profitably.

Things happen, prices go up, corporations change their policies and compensation plans, mistakes are made, people quit ... and every company in the world experiences these issues. Every distributor in every company experiences these same challenges.

Surround your attitude with positive emotions and a "problems?--so what!" attitude. Focus on what you would like, allowing the positive emotions and law of attraction to bring what you do want and need to you, while dealing with the challenges as they come along, and you will have the life you dream of ... guaranteed!

After twenty-four years of being in Sunrider, here are the things I'm grateful for:

• You, who have been our friends over the years and make building a network so satisfying.
• The wonderful products that have brought such great health to our family and thousands of our friends.
• The financial blessings, both large and small, to our family.
• The events that allow us to have so much fun together.
• The Drs. Chen--for starting Sunrider and working so hard over the years to keep it running smoothly.
• The great Sunrider employees who have helped us be successful for so long.

We believe this is a great business. We love the products. We desire to help everyone possible to have the same benefits we have had with Sunrider.

So it all boils down to this ... What is your attitude? 

Sincerely,

Paul Jensen

Assess where your attitude ... or where your nose is pointed. Will it get you where you want to be? If it is, then share this attitude with a new person today. Go to a new place and meet new people. If it isn't, commit to make the necessary adjustments ... then go out and share this with a new person today.