This is the first post in a new series. Each Monday will bring a nugget of inspiration from our founder Mac Anderson. This week’s post is entitled Manage your attitude.  Enjoy!

After more than thirty years in business, I’m convinced that the difference in success and failure is not how you look, not how you dress, not how you’re educated…but how you think.

It’s impossible for me to overstate the importance of maintaining a positive attitude. On the other hand, it’s impossible to understate the difficulty in actually doing it. Staying positive is not easy, and it’s a very personal thing. But it can be done. I can only share what works for me and hope that you can relate to my experience.

First on my list is exercise. Without question my levels of motivation and energy are tied to exercise. Have you seen those long strands of Christmas lights with about one hundred little white lights on each strand? What happens when one of those bulbs becomes loose? They all go out. They shut down. That’s what happens to me when I don’t exercise. It’s my top "stress buster."

Second on my list is to live with gratitude. William James, one of the fathers of modern psychology, said, "The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter their life by altering their attitude." Abraham Lincoln said, "People are as happy as they make up their minds to be."

We are blessed in so many ways, and we need to remind ourselves continually of those blessings. When we wake up each morning, we have choices to make: We can choose our socks, choose our underwear, and most importantly, we choose our attitudes.

The third key for me to manage my attitude is to laugh at myself and laugh with others. Many people take themselves far too seriously. As kids we laugh a lot, we dream a lot, but then we grow up and we become a heart attack waiting to happen!

Researchers have investigated why some people can’t cope and found three reasons:

• Low self-esteem
• Living in the past
• Can’t laugh at themselves

In fact, one study indicates that we need a minimum of twelve laughs a day just to stay healthy. Laugh at yourself! Laugh with your friends, your family, your co-workers. It will keep you going, keep you healthy, and keep you motivated.