Have you ever been in such a great mood that everything feels as perfect as it can get? It could be for many different reasons; maybe your boss gave you a great recommendation, or your kids are doing well in school. This frame of mind allows you to sleep well at night, and gives you a bounce in your step in the morning. Weekdays and weekends blend together, with no Monday morning blues or Wednesday hump day tempers, as you cherish every day and attack it with energy and vigor.

I hope you've had the chance to experience this state of mind at some point. Most of us dream of hovering in this constant state of happiness all the time. But likely, that is not the case. Most people allow a multitude of situations to influence them throughout the day.

Case in point: You had a great week at work. The project you and your team have been working on was very successful and your boss was pleased. Friday after work, you and your co-workers go out for a few drinks and pleasant conversation. At Saturday's hockey game, your kid scores the winning goal, and you just happen to capture a video on your iPhone to show all your buddies. As the weekend rolls on, you find yourself accomplishing household tasks with energy. Come Sunday, you're excited to get the kids off to another week of school and get to work on the next project your employer asked your help with.

Monday morning, you arrive at work early. As you enter your office building, you see a piece of trash on the sidewalk, pick it up, and place it in the nearby trash can, never missing a stride as you enter the building.

As you arrive at work desk, you see that a co-workers on whom you rely heavily throughout the day has a very long face. Being concerned, you ask gently, trying not to pry, to see what is bothering them. You now hear about the family blowup that took place with the in-laws, the rotten time this person had all weekend doing chores because the spouse was out on a trip with friends, the kids are not doing well in school, and on and on.

Attitude Is Highly Contagious

Your first thought after hearing all this is, “What the heck did I get myself into, asking them what's going on?!” Then you try to find a way to change the subject. Next, you probably try to look at your phone to see if you can say there is an important call that you have to take, while thinking, “Oh boy, glad I am not that person!”

So why does this happen? It's because you don't want anyone to rain on your happy parade. It's because most people try to avoid negativity, especially when they are not in a bad mood.

You extract yourself from the conversation, shake your head, and find yourself a little less energetic. “I have to work with this person all week!” you think to yourself. Then you catch yourself with a sigh, and your shoulders sag a bit.

Subconsciously, you let your co-worker's attitude affect yours. This happens all the time, probably more than you think. Even the most powerful positive thinkers are affected by attitude because it's so darn contagious, like an infectious disease. Your attitude, whether positive or negative, affects everyone you interact with, all day long.

Your attitude, whether positive or negative, affects everyone you interact with.

Sharing Attitude by Means of a Handshake

Over time, I've witnessed some interesting scenarios. First, some people try to copy others who have a great attitude. It's the “I want what they're drinking” theory, mimicking others they are envious of. When you see someone with lots of energy, that bounce in their step, that look in their eye, your first thought is to hang with that person and maybe it will rub off. Maybe I can be like them if I study what they are doing.

Well, you're right! You can self-teach, or mimic, a positive attitude.

To demonstrate just how contagious attitude can be, I use this experiment almost every day. I find it interesting to watch how people shake hands when greeting each other. The attitude each person demonstrates in this gesture is completely contagious. So not only do I shake hands as a form of saying hello, but I watch how people greet one another.

When I recruit and coach student athletes for our baseball team, I'm basically dealing with 18- to 22-year-old males. They're great athletes, and they usually have a good-size ego. I try to interact and converse with them not like I am their parent, but as their coach and mentor.

It is important to see what type of personality they have, which usually is evident in the first 30 seconds of an interaction. I can't tell you how many times I have met a player who does the “three shake, knuckle bump, hug” greeting. Admittedly, I usually have no idea what I'm doing, and usually just follow along, trying to copy what the 20-year-old shows me. It's a handshake he and his peers probably do 50 times a day.

The player will say, “Coach! Gimme some skin!” and continue to shake hands with me three or four different ways, then knuckle bump my fist, and finish with a hug.

People mimic other's movements and attitudes.

Like clockwork, I copy and follow right along.

There's also something I love to do when greeting someone for the first time. In our society, we typically extend our hand and engage in a three-second shake. But what happens when you use those seconds to also slightly pull your counterpart toward you and tap them on the shoulder? Well, they tap you back. Every time. They copy you. They might feel a bit uncomfortable, but they do it anyway.

How about that potentially awkward moment in the greeting process when the person goes in for the hug? You copy them and the attitude they bring and you hug right back. Ever been in that “hug” situation where both parties are hesitant? You both go for the shake, then one half-heartily starts the hug, so now you switch gears to hug mode, only to have the person fake you out and go back to the shake. It can be quite amusing as you copy every move they make.

These things happen because people tend to mimic the movements and the attitudes of others. Someone who shakes your hand with the knuckle bump or the shoulder tap is demonstrating some energy, with a bit of an aggressive attitude, and that person will dominate the greeting. And you don't want to be the negative Nellie, so you copy them, even if you don't quite feel the same way.

Change Your Thought Process to One of Positivity

Just as you can catch other people's attitudes, other people can catch yours. When you show up to work with the Monday morning blues, you affect everyone.

A big part of being a leader is how you present yourself.

A depressed look on your face, a slow shuffle in your walk—these telegraph to the entire office that you really don't want any part of being there. Others can feel your energy, your vibe, and your attitude, which can infect everyone negatively.

A big part of being a leader is how you present yourself. The people around you will follow your lead, whether positive or negative. In fact, if you've built the trust and loyalty needed to be a successful leader, your employees will follow you more than you think. They often assume that since you're in charge, there is a bit of pressure to follow you. If you're upset, they become upset. If you're happy, then they too will be happy.

You Choose Your Attitude

You can only fool the people you surround yourself with for so long. You may have heard the term “Fake it till you make it.” Although there may be times when you have to pretend to be positive when you really don't feel like it, it's not possible to trick your employees over longer periods of time. Remember, most of your team probably knows what makes you tick, especially if you worked hard to build relationships with them. If you're not genuine with your attitude and don't believe in what you're preaching, people will eventually recognize this. You can only fake it for so long. A false sense of enthusiasm will soon be exposed and can lead to you losing creditability as a leader.

Let me paint a picture of something that happens quite frequently in my role as a college baseball coach. The student athletes who play a Division I sport tend to have busy schedules: a morning strength workout prior to classes, then three or four classes, study hall time, and meetings with professors. Usually, once afternoon hits, they gravitate to their respective practice facilities and engage in a three-hour practice.

Those in the workforce experience similarly busy schedules. We get the kids off to school, get ready for work, check the calendar for meetings, work on the big project due at the end of the week, take conference calls, only to realize it's 4 p.m., and the kids need to be picked up.

And it usually doesn't end there—afterschool practice sessions, dinner preparation, getting kids to bed, then, if you're lucky, time to rest your mind.

Young adults in college may not entirely understand the significance of these responsibilities, but the intense schedules of student athletes can be a building block for their future. So it's extremely important for me, as their coach, to help them understand the value of focusing on the task at hand. Any wasted time can deter the team from improving, learning a new play, or simply working better together.

As head coach, my role is not only to teach, but to mentor and lead as well. Most days I too have a busy schedule. Long meetings, workshops, NCAA rules education, and more can all happen prior to gathering my group for a three-hour practice.

On any given day, prior to practice, my athletic director might chew me out because the program is way over budget and I have to find a way to raise that quickly. Then a recruit I've spent time pursuing for months might call to break the news that he has decided to attend a rival university. Next, I find out from a professor that one of our student athletes has been goofing off in class, and that professor is quite upset with him. Damn, there goes our team image, I think. While walking across campus, in comes a call to my cell phone from a resident director that another young adult has been disruptive after quiet hours in the dorms.

You get my drift: many distractions occur day in and day out. If I choose to show up to practice with a negative attitude influenced by all the day's events, it will affect the players around me. Because daily issues can take a toll, I learned how to turn my mood into a positive one quickly, so when I head into that office meeting or field practice, I refocus one hundred percent of my energy on my players and team. If not, the group will see and feel my bad attitude. If I spend that three-hour practice window yelling commands and pointing out all the failures, I will lose the group that day. Their focus will not be on the skills needed to improve during practice but on the process of “surviving” the day. No one wants to be around me when I'm full of negativity, which will ultimately keep the players from being in the right frame of mind to focus on trying to improve their skills.

There is a big difference between “faking” your attitude and learning how to refocus your attitude.

Don't get me wrong—there's always room for correction and discussions when working together as a group. Yet the outcome has to be one of positivity. The valuable time we have together can be adversely affected, leading us to fail to accomplish what we set out to do. There is a big difference between “faking” your attitude and learning how to refocus your attitude.

If you choose to allow the daily grind to affect your attitude in a negative way, it will certainly result in poor outcomes within your organization. Do your best to master the technique of willing yourself to have a positive attitude. This is not always easy, but there are many ways to learn to use breathing, mindfulness, and other techniques to accomplish this.

Do your best to master the technique of willing yourself to have a positive attitude.

Do you want to be around you when dealing with negative situations? Take a moment to observe yourself in these tough moments. How would you like to see yourself in times of crisis management, when things are not going so well? Can you envision watching a movie, with you as the lead character, and observe your attitude and behavior?

And as difficult as it can be some days, having the ability to find one simple, small thing to be positive about can go a long way. Remember, your attitude is highly contagious!

Be a Grinder, and Deal with Setbacks

Leaders often find it difficult to remain constantly positive. In fact, it isn't possible to be on the positive train all day, every day. There are always going to be setbacks, failures, lost accounts, and problems that pile up that can lead your attitude into a negative place. You are human, and that means you'll experience the many emotions that arise from both success and failure. It's okay to have a moment when you might let some negative emotions creep in due to a failure.

However, when you expect these challenges to happen and refuse to back down or give up, you'll find ways to change your attitude to a more positive one. We've all heard the glass-half-empty or half-full theory: the optimist will always look for the positive, not the negative, in a given situation. You need to develop the skill to look deep enough when posed with an issue, to channel your thoughts and energy into an optimistic approach. When you master this, you will certainly become a better leader. You will be more pleasant to be around, and your employees and teammates will gravitate toward you. When this magnetic effect happens, people are more willing to trust and listen to your ideas, and will ultimately follow your lead.

Fight through the “Muck”

Realize that there will be bad days, with failures, missed sales, and team losses. You have to address these issues, but if you can acquire the skill to derive a positive from a negative situation, others will follow. You chose to be the leader, the CEO, the head coach, the boss. That entails the responsibility of leading your group. Your leadership can only be long term if you show up on a consistent basis with an attitude that is infectious in a good way.

In the workplace, this can have a huge impact on success or failure. Take a moment to envision the banking world for an example. Imagine you drive up to the window at your bank to make a deposit, and the teller greets you with an enthusiastic smile and a hello. As she completes the transaction, she not only says thank you, but notices from your account information that your birthday is a week away, so she wishes you an early happy birthday. When you pull away, you feel better; the teller's nice personality warmed you. You are satisfied that you conduct business with this bank and appreciate the experience you had.

Teach your people to communicate with positive energy and attitude.

Fast-forward a few months. Now you're in the market to refinance your house and are looking for a mortgage. Your first stop will undoubtably be the same bank because you feel good about the place. You might even decide to pay a slightly higher interest rate because you gravitate toward the great customer service from this financial institution. All because a teller took the time to have a great attitude.

Of course, this can go both ways. That same scenario would be quite different if the teller was having a bad day, and her attitude reflected that when you stopped by that day.

Find a moment to communicate in a positive way. Teach your people to communicate with positive energy and attitude. It might be at your darkest hour or during crisis management, but that is when employees look to the top. They want someone to follow during tough times. My former college coach taught me a saying: “Tough times don't last, but tough people do.”

We frequently speak in the sports world of “tough people.” True toughness isn't about how loud you are or how much you pump your chest and posture at the opposing team. The toughest ones have focus, lock in to the task at hand, and above all have an attitude that is not only positive, but contagious. They understand the importance of following a set of standards and values that an organization has established to lead to a strong culture.

Remember, a handshake is all it takes to have someone begin to follow your lead.