This is the speech I made and gave for my second toastmasters presentation. Remember it is ment to be spoke/improved not read and understood. It is about positive, Yes! attitude and is based on the book Yes! attitude by Jefforey Gitomer.

Good evening we all know that your attitude can be the difference between success and failure… if you enter a room, start a conversation, or interact with clients with a bad attitude it will be  noticed immediately, and will set the stage for everything else to come.  I would like to share some useful tips on how you can assure that you are always nurturing your positive attitude… tips on how to start your day with a positive attitude and carry that attitude all the way through to the end, and then doing it again, everyday. 



It is extremely important that you start your day with positive energy, otherwise how will you be able to carry it all the way throughout it.  Now,  you might have to wake up a little bit earlier to incorporate some of these positive attitude disciplines,  but if you can keep it up you will be in a better mood and maybe since you are in a better mood you won’t even miss the sleep 

You want to feed yourself positive… and you can do this by Reading and writing every morning…



Read something positive, or something inspirational, or educational, all it needs to be is 2 pages… just something to get you going.  After you have read your attitude booster, take some time and capture your thoughts using a pad of paper, a computer, you could probably even dictate it and see the same results.   Most likely you will want to write about the few pages you have read, but if you are working on a longer piece of work you can continue it, but it has to positive or reflecting on positive ideas.  Spending 15 minutes writing as well as 15 minutes with your reading every morning and you can be sure you are reading to get your day rolling. 



I had previously been reading YES! Attitude (hold up book) every morning by Jeffery Gitomer, which has a ton of useful attitude tips.  And I am currently re-reading how to win & influence friends by Dale Carnegie,  both are available at your local bookstores and either could give you the positive nurshiment you need.  How to win and influence friends is probably the most popular personal development book ever written and has sold over 15 million copies.



 While you are at work, at lunch, or after work this week take 30 minutes to yourself and review your goals.  You do not have to do this every day,  but it is good to document what you want in life so you can make the plans to achieve it.  You may start off with 5 short term goals, for example one of your short term goals might be to finish up your first 10 toast masters speeches.  Well after you document your goals, write them on post it notes and put them on your bathroom mirror.  In the morning, or evening when you go into the bathroom you will see your goals, try to say them out loud at least once a day to keep them in your mind so you are always striving to accomplish them.  After you complete a goal, celebrate, go out and have an ice cream, go buy something fun for yourself and then move that goal, physically move that post it note into your bedroom mirror so now you can look at your accomplishments every day.   Now when you are waking up a little early you can smile at your accomplishments, go read and write and tackle the day.



The hardest place to keep the positive energy flowing is probably work but the best way you can keep it going is to keep your smile on!  I use to never smile, not even in pictures….no smiles…  I worked at a small pharmacy stocking shelves and running the cash register all through high school and patrons would always ask if something was wrong.  It took me awhile to figure out why they kept asking me that, and it was because I never smiled.  I probably could have won the lottery and could have been extremely psyched about it and still only move my lips to about a middle ground.   I still don’t smile enough but I consciously try and turn it on and it feels good, I figure if I practice enough it will always be on. 

But your smile

• Displays positive without every saying a word

• Shows warmth

• Shows your internal feelings externally

• Shows your happy

• Shows your open

• Shows your confident

• And sets the tone for the first spoken word

In the evening, to keep the positive coming you may have to consider watching different shows in the tube.  The absolutely best option is to give up the TV for most nights and read a book or write, draw, do something active , there isn’t much of a benefit from 99.9% of shows out there.  I made up my own rules about a year ago that I put in place when I am watching TV (this doesn’t apply to theatre or DVDS usually) but my rule is… 1) is it funny 2) will I learn

If it is funny, and  I am going to laugh, then that is all positive and I will might be in a better mood or learn a joke on two.  Shows like Seinfield, you can learn a lot about comedy, and it really helps you improve your sense of humor.   The other TV filter I use about learning is a pretty tough one, you actually have to LEARN something, this could be a PBS show, something on the History Channel, Jeopardy, and no, CSI Miami is not considered educational, they can’t really take parking garage security camera footage and zoom in a mile down the road to do a retinal scan.



 What you should really try to avoid if you want to keep that positive attitude going is violent TV shows and the local news!  I am not saying news is bad, but the local news on TV is delivered in a complete ‘problem’ format.  That’s 30 – 60 minutes a day of problems and pain getting thrown at you… it’s a big chunk of time and I haven’t met anyone who said “Im a success today because I watch the local news”  if you could take that 30-60 minutes and apply that to something you are truly interested in you would probably be an expert at whatever that might be in a couple of years.  Whereas thinking back over the last couple of years of local news all I can remember is  ‘same crap different day.’ And if it is really important, you’ll hear about it.

 The last bit of advice I have for keeping up a positive attitude and mindset is to end your day with the same discipline as you started it with.  Before you go to bed, if you have a lot of work on your mind get out a piece a paper and pencil and unload it… in under 15 minutes you should be able to spew out anything you need to be worried about and now it’s documented and off your chest so you can get a good night’s sleep.   As you get comfortable in bed and fall asleep think of past pleasant experiences, vacations, fun with friends, re-live those moments in your mind and that smile you fall asleep with should still be there when you wake up to start the process all over again.