This week we continue our series on Attitude vs. Behavior with Part 2. In Part 1, we discussed the difference between attitude and behavior and talked about how they help keep you out of collisions. Now let’s talk about how we can control our attitude and behavior.
Attitude and behavior can affect one another, but we have more control over our behavior than our attitude – at least it seems that way. The philosopher William James once said “Am I singing because I’m happy, or am I happy because I’m singing?”. More specifically, he said “Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not.”
Basically, we can affect our attitudes through a practiced action. Your attitude cannot help but improve, for example, if you just take some time to smile 30 times every day. How can this translate to helping you drive collision-free? Through a practiced action – that is, frequent spaced repetition.
Every time you’re going to start driving, just take a deep breath or two, and use that to just relax and clear your mind. Trust me, this will help tremendously in reducing your stress level in the vehicle and help you focus on your collision-free driving habits. Reduce your stress and it will be much easier to keep that good attitude!
Watch this video for more on Attitude vs. Behavior Part 2.