This week we debut our premiere issue of Attitude Digest, a quarterly magazine about attitude enrichment, employee motivation, and team building. We created Attitude Digest for managers and business executives who want to motivate employees and increase chances of success in the workplace, relationships, and life.

What makes Attitude Digest unique? The magazine is published in an “A.D.D.-friendly” format. Which means it is highly approachable and streamlined, designed to be easily digested in bits and pieces with short, entertaining articles, brief reviews, and bulleted main ideas. Attitude Digest editor, Jocelyn Godfrey, has 12 years of experience contributing to national magazines, ghostwriting and book editing.

You can subscribe right now to Attitude Digest http://www.everythingattitude.com/store.magazine.html.for $59.00. The first 1500 subscribers will also receive my latest book, “Who Put a Lizard in My Lasagna,” and a motivational video/DVD (a $99 value).

I admit it, I’m a big NASCAR fan. As much as I get psyched up about the hard driving action, Nascar driver attitudes on and off the track can be offensive. Over at LisaM321’s blog, she’s worried that Kyle Busch’s post-race win boasting will lead to Tony Stewart bad attitude traits. And NASCAR is notably littered with bad attitude rockstars. They can’t control their temper. They make crazy moves on the track.

Do you have to act like a jerk to lead and win races? Do you have to be a driver that fans love to hate?

Maybe not. Danica Patrick believes the “right attitude” allowed her to become the first woman to win an IRL IndyCar race in the male-dominated world of motor racing. And a ton of folks are saying that NASCAR needs Danica Patrick. FOX race analyst Jeff Hammond led Darrell Waltrip to two of DW’s three Winston Cup championships as his crew chief. And he has recently reported on Darrell racing at Darlington, suggesting that the intriguing and challenging racetrack “is all about attitude.”

Taking the checkered flag in NASCAR and in life requires a positive attitude. And demonstrating self-control requires good emotional management. I’m not suggesting that you suppress your negative emotions. I’m only suggesting that you relieve your negative emotions in a more constructive way. It can help you prevent a disastrous finish. A few tips for NASCAR drivers and for everyday folks like you and me:

• Practice Patience
• Recognize the elements that push our buttons (change, challenges, unexpected events, negative people) and inspire us to respond
• Let it go, and choose to make every situation better
• Renew your mind and body so you can get to a place where your thinking is better
• Don’t sweat it. You can always rally to overcome an early spin that could have knocked you out of contention

Poor Mayor of Oaklawn, Illinois, Dave Heilmann. Back in September 2007, Oaklawn created a memorable and quirky public service stop sign campaign, adding comical slogans the likes of “…and smell the roses,” and “means that you aren’t moving” to the bottom of STOP signs. The City of Oaklawn created the unique signage to in an effort to increase jaded motorists’ attention and inspire them to pause, if for nothing else, to read the phrases. The signs were the idea of the City President, and local residents were encouraged to submit their own ideas. Found throughout the city, the signs garnished attention with the press.

This week, dry personality and humor intolerant IDOT (the Illinois Department of Transporation) squelched the creative slogan stop signs. IDOT suggested the signs violated the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (the instructional bible for all things transportation safety-related).

Kudos to Mayor Heilmann for attempting to come up with a unique and eye-catching way of slowing speeders. It’s too bad that Oak Lawn has yet to publish statistics on whether the signs reduced accidents or stop sign running. We can’t wait to see these numbers.

In the meantime, we are awarding IDOT (the Illinois Department of Transportation) with Everything Attitude’s Worst Attitude of the Week Award. Life is short, so lighten up, IDOT. Humor creates positive human connection and saves us all from terminal professionalism. Ahh the price of uniformity!

When federal or local government regulations supress creativity, they decrease public awareness, empathy, responsiveness, and potential accountability. We need to fight censors and the mechanization of culture that surpressses creativity. Hang in there, Mayor Heilmann. Find the opportunities in your adversities. And find comfort in your biggest fans (those who are supporting you and Oaklawn’s ingenuity):

- John Howell and Cisco Cotto
- My Crazy Hobby Blog
- Illinois Reason Blog
- My Hero of the Day
- Southtown Star

I’m always on the lookout for stories of real people who realized tat they could change their life through attitude. These stories are constant reminders that what I strive to communicate truly is powerful.

This week, I came across this great post on a blog titled “ Antique Mommy .” This post titled “ A Decision ,” spoke of a time when this particular blogger was feeling down and out. As she put – she was drowning in her sorrow and didn’t feel like life would ever be good again. It wasn’t until she heard a story from her father that she made the conscious decision to turn her life around.

It’s true –life can be pretty bleak if you only focus on the bad and you let a negative perspective take over. But what’s amazing about being human is that you can choose at any moment how you will perceive things. It doesn’t mean that bad things still won’t happen, but you can certainly choose how you react to them.

My decision came when I was feeling down on my luck and a friend told me that “luck” had nothing to do with it. He told me that it was me. Not the easiest thing to hear – in fact it irked me a little. However, once I chose to listen to my friend, I realized that he was right. The power to change my life was in my hands – and changing began with attitude.

I’d like to hear your stories, everyone. When did you make your decision?