Famed economist Stuart Chase once sat down to figure the calendar of his days. There is, he said, an ascending scale of human values and somewhere on it there is a line between living and mere existing. In how many hours of the week, he asked himself, had he truly and intensively lived? In how many had he just existed? Out of the 168 hours of the week, he found that he had been 'alive' only 40, or about 25 percent of the time.

If you would like to have greater earnings in this new year, enjoy life more, reduce fatigue and procrastination, increase effectiveness, get along better with your peers, contribute more to society, improve family relationships and possibly improve your health-then a right mental attitude is critical..

Attitude more than aptitude will determine your altitude.

William James, the father of American psychology, said the most important discovery of our time is that we can alter our lives by altering our attitudes. The good news is that if we do not like our attitude we have, it can be changed.

A pessimist is one sitting on the premises
Rather than standing on the promises,
An optimist is a person who takes action,
Who moves out ahead of the crowd.

Someone paused to ask a man on the street if it was National Apathy week, and he replied, "I don't know, and I don't care!"

A positive attitude will have positive results. Attitudes are contagious. To develop an attitude that will turn your life around, I believe one of the most important ingredients is enthusiasm.

Persistence, ability, brains, and other attributes are important, but without enthusiasm, even the greatest ideas can become bogged down. However, it must be sincere enthusiasm. Without sincerity, your excitement lacks a foundation or real meaning. Without sincerity, success will not be yours.

One of the best ways to cultivate sincerity is to dissociate yourself from criticism and fault finding. There is a silver lining in every situation. Finding it creates happiness and enthusiasm. Why not make this the day that you are going to decide, regardless of how you feel, that you will make a greater effort to be enthusiastic in your life?

"This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it" Psalms 118: 24.

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…" Philippians 2:3.