It Is Your Attitude and Not Your Aptitude that Determines Your Altitude

Understanding this quote requires one to first of all understand its literal meaning. The particular word components would be a good point to start. Attitude in this case and according to psychological theories, refers to a persons expressed feelings, values, or opinion about something or a particular subject. Ones aptitude on the other hand, refers to their ability to perform certain tasks, which could be through learnt knowledge, acquired skills, or talent. Altitude in this case refers to the geographical height of a position in relation to the sea level. The literal meaning of the quote is therefore that, the feelings and opinions expressed by a person determines how high they go above the sea level, rather than the knowledge and skills the possess. The literal meaning in this case alludes to mere word juggling, which could also be done to achieve some degree of rhyme or alliteration, however, the amount of meaning is minimal from a literal perspective. The next step will be to look at the connotative meaning from the quote which stands a higher chance of providing meaningful thought.

Looking at the quote from a deeper perspective however, reveals some deeper connotative meaning. Again, by taking attitude to stand for its literal meaning and also as defined under psychology, and aptitude as well, then looking at the deeper meaning of altitude brings a whole new idea and meaning to the quote. If altitude is in this case taken to imply the level of ones achievement of accomplishment, then the quote would have the following meaning: ones expressed opinions, feeling, or value towards a goal, determines the extent to which they are able to achieve that goal regardless of their ability. That is, accomplishments and success are all about a persons outlook towards a subject. Therefore, all one needs is to have the right attitude towards something to realize positive outcomes. This is also similar to say that ability does not guarantee one success or accomplishment for as long as their attitude is negative.

Personally, this quote bears great relevance to my school work since it concerns my opinion towards disciplines and how that affects my performance. In reality, I find having a positive attitude towards certain subjects very influential. For instance, my positive outlook about mathematics has seen me allocate more personal free time to the subject. In addition, thoughts that certain disciplines are simpler and more friendly do not guarantee me a good grade, I often get poor grades in a subject I overlooked simply because I had thought of it being simple. In school therefore, one does not necessarily need to have the aptitude to pass examinations and score good grades, one could be an intelligent student and yet perform poorly and may be have to repeat grades. However, all that one needs is a positive attitude towards disciplines and make the right effort to succeed. This follows from learning theories in psychological that suggest that everyone has the ability to learn, it is only the pace that differs. Therefore, it is ones attitude and not aptitude that determines their level of academic accomplishment.

One highly inspirational quote about attitude is as follows: whether you think you can or you think you cant either way you are right.-Henry Ford.