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Attitudes Are Contagious

Last week, I wrote about attitudes incompatible with life. Earlier this week, I was wandering through an office in the beautiful city of West Palm Beach, Fla., when I noticed a sign that said “Attitudes are contagious: Is yours worth catching?” Good question.

Have you noticed that the easiest attitude to catch is a bad one? When one person in a group is down, they can easily bring the whole group down. Three of the four folks at work can be psyched about the day to come, but No. 4 thinks the job sucks. A few hours later, two of the four are still psyched, and the other two think the job sucks. A few hours after that, and three out of four think the job sucks ... amazing.

If you think your job sucks, it probably does, and it’s most likely your problem — not everyone else’s. As cool or as self-important as you may be (thinking the place won’t run right without you), when your co-workers see you coming, they’re not looking forward to the day with you. They’re thinking, “I wonder how he’s going to ruin my day today?”

Keep this in mind: You may think your job sucks, but pretty much everyone around you probably thinks it sucks to hear about it. Everyone will be much better off if you do a job you actually like. So, you need to do whatever it takes (legally) to stop your job from sucking. And stop ruining everyone else’s day!

Veteran firefighter Scott Cook writes about the wide range of decisions that effect firefighters every day. His FireRescue1 exclusive column, ‘Firefighter Note to Self,’ will keep you informed about everything from SOGs to firefighting war stories to company officer elections.