At Pike Place Fish Market, a worker can throw a salmon twenty feet across a busy counter, catch it with one hand, and hear the whole team call out the order. Customers laugh. Coworkers move with energy. The market feels more like a shared performance than a place to buy dinner.
That scene helped inspire the FISH! Philosophy, but the fish are only part of the story. The deeper lesson is the attitude the fishmongers bring to their work. A fish market can be cold, wet, smelly, and demanding. The work itself does not change because people decide to approach it differently. What changes is the way people show up for one another, the customers in front of them, and themselves.
One of the fishmongers explained the idea this way: there is always a choice about how you do your work, even when you do not have a choice about the work itself. You can bring a moody or grouchy attitude and make a hard day harder for everyone. Or you can choose an attitude that helps you stay useful, connected, and ready to do your best.
That is the heart of Choose Your Attitude. You cannot control every event, request, customer, deadline, or decision. You can take responsibility for the attitude you bring to what happens. That choice affects you, the people around you, and the culture your team creates together.
What does Choose Your Attitude mean?
Choose Your Attitude means becoming aware of how you are responding and deciding what attitude will help you move forward. It starts with a simple question: Who do I want to be today, and what impact do I want to have?
The practice does not ask you to pretend that every day is easy. It does not ask you to smile through grief, ignore a serious problem, or act cheerful when you need support. It asks you to notice what you are bringing into the moment and take ownership of your next choice.
You may feel frustrated when a project changes at the last minute. You may feel angry when a customer treats a coworker poorly. You may feel worried about a difficult conversation with your manager. Those feelings contain information. You can acknowledge them and still choose how to respond. You might choose to be focused, curious, patient, courageous, or ready to ask for help.
This matters because attitudes spread through relationships. A leader who walks into a meeting tense and dismissive can make people hold back. A team member who brings patience and curiosity can help others think more clearly. Neither person controls the whole room, but each person influences it.
The FISH! Philosophy is a way of being, built around four simple practices that help individuals, and the organizations they make up, become more engaged in their work. Choose Your Attitude works alongside Be There, Make Their Day, and Play because the attitude you bring affects whether you can focus on another person, serve them well, and bring energy to the work you share.
Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report found that employees who believe they have choices in what they do report stronger wellbeing and higher workplace engagement. Choosing your attitude does not solve every workplace problem, but it gives you a meaningful choice inside many situations that otherwise feel fixed.
How do you choose your attitude at work?
Choosing your attitude at work is a daily practice, not a one-time decision. The following five habits can help you make the choice visible and useful.
1. Write your attitude down as a reminder
A written reminder can interrupt autopilot before the day gets moving. The word does not have to be “happy” or “positive.” Choose a word that fits the person you want to be and the result you want to create. You might write patient, focused, open, resourceful, or supportive.
Put the word somewhere you will see it: on a note beside your monitor, on the first page of your notebook, or near the door you pass on your way to work. A team can also choose a shared attitude for a project, such as curious, dependable, or solutions-focused.
For example, a customer service representative may write “steady” before a shift that includes a difficult account review. The word does not mean every call will be easy. It gives the representative a way to pause and return to the chosen response when a conversation becomes tense.
2. Check your attitude throughout the day
Morning intentions can fade when the inbox fills, the schedule changes, or a conversation lands badly. That is why awareness needs to continue during the day. Pause before a meeting, after a phone call, or when you notice your body tightening. Ask yourself: What attitude am I in right now? What is causing it? Is it helping my team or my customers?
This check is not a judgment. It is a chance to notice what is happening before your attitude takes over your words and actions. You might realize that you are rushing, blaming, or withdrawing. You might also notice that the attitude you chose is helping you stay clear and constructive.
Imagine an office team reviewing a delayed project. One person begins interrupting and describing every mistake as someone else’s fault. A short pause can reveal that the current attitude is not helping the team solve the problem. The person might choose to become more curious: What information is missing? What can we do next? That shift can change the direction of the discussion without pretending the delay is acceptable.
3. Plan ahead for situations that test your attitude
Choosing Your Attitude is a practice that works in all environments.
Some moments test the same part of you again and again. A particular meeting may leave you defensive. A recurring handoff may create tension between departments. A long line of customers may make patience harder to access. Planning ahead gives you more choices before the pressure arrives.
Think about the situation and name the attitude you want to bring. Then decide what you will do when the old reaction appears. You might take one breath before replying, ask a question instead of making an assumption, or use a phrase such as, “Let me understand what you need.” You can also decide whom to ask for support.
A nurse beginning a demanding shift may know that a staffing shortage will affect every part of the day. The shortage is real, and the pressure deserves attention. Planning an attitude of calm focus can help the nurse communicate clearly, protect patient care, and raise concerns without adding blame to an already difficult situation.
4. List what you are grateful for
Gratitude helps you notice resources that frustration can hide. It does not erase a problem. It widens the picture so the problem is not the only thing you can see.
At the start or end of a workday, write down three things you appreciate. They may be large, such as a colleague who supported a project, or small, such as having the information needed for the next task. You can also name qualities: a team’s persistence, a customer’s patience, or your own willingness to keep learning.
Suppose a school team is preparing for a difficult family meeting. Before the meeting, the team names what is working: a teacher knows the student well, a counselor has built trust with the family, and the team has time to listen. Gratitude does not remove the concern that brought everyone together, but it helps the group enter the conversation with more steadiness and care.
5. Look for the best
Your attention tends to find evidence for the attitude you bring. When you expect the worst, you may notice every delay, mistake, and irritating comment. When you look for the best, you begin to see possibilities, effort, and openings for improvement.
Looking for the best does not mean overlooking risk or excusing poor work. It means asking a more useful question: What else is true here? A missed deadline may also reveal that a process needs more support. A frustrated customer may point to a confusing policy. A colleague who seems resistant may have information the team has not considered.
An office team that is launching a new system can use this habit during the first week. Instead of treating each problem as proof that the rollout failed, the team can look for what users are learning, what features are helping, and what needs to be explained better. The attitude creates room for practical problem solving.
Does Choose Your Attitude mean always being positive?
No. Choose Your Attitude does not mean putting a bright coating over every experience. It means naming what you feel, understanding the effect of that attitude, and choosing a response that serves you and the people around you.
The FISH! Philosophy describes this process in three movements: acknowledge, look from a different angle, and take action.
First, acknowledge how you feel
Start by saying what is happening for you. You may feel frustrated, angry, fearful, or without hope. Naming the feeling can help you understand it instead of letting it run in the background. A leader might say, “I am frustrated that this decision changed again.” A team member might write, “I am worried that I will not finish this work on time.”
Acknowledgment is not the same as acting out. You can recognize anger without directing it at a coworker. You can admit fear without letting fear make every decision. The point is to stop pretending that the feeling is absent so you can decide what to do with it.
Next, look at the attitude from a different angle
Once you have named the attitude, ask what useful quality may be inside it. Frustration can point toward creative problem solving. Anger can become commitment to improve a situation. Fear can show you where to seek help, gather information, or protect something that matters.
This shift does not require you to call a bad situation good. It asks you to look for language that opens a path forward. Instead of “I am stuck,” you might choose “I need another approach.” Instead of “No one cares,” you might ask, “Who can help me understand what is happening?”
Finally, take action with better language
Write down the attitude and language that will serve you better. Keep the note where you can return to it. The new language might be a sentence such as, “I can be a creative problem solver,” “I can stay committed to making this better,” or “I can ask for help and be part of the solution.”
Then take one action that matches the choice. Schedule the conversation. Ask for the missing information. Offer a workable idea. Set a boundary. Thank someone who helped. A chosen attitude becomes real when it changes what you do next.
How does Choose Your Attitude connect to the other FISH! practices?
Choose Your Attitude works alongside the other practices because the attitude you bring affects how you Be There, Make Their Day, and Play, while those practices can also strengthen and reshape the attitude you bring.
You can be physically present with someone while your attitude is impatient or dismissive. Choosing an attitude that supports respect makes it easier to Be There—to listen, pay attention, and respond to the person in front of you.
You can also perform a helpful act while resenting the person who needs it. When your attitude includes care and willingness to contribute, Make Their Day becomes more natural. You begin to notice small ways to serve, encourage, and recognize people.
Play is more than a joke or a special event. It is a spirit of creativity, enthusiasm, and curiosity. It works alongside the other practices, so a team can experiment, laugh, and try new ideas while still respecting people and the work. Together, the practices support a way of being that feels genuine and connected.
Together, the practices describe a way of being at work. Choose Your Attitude helps you decide how you will show up. Be There helps you give your attention. Make Their Day turns that attention into meaningful contribution. Play brings creativity and energy to the work.
How can leaders and teams practice Choose Your Attitude together?
A leader cannot choose an attitude for everyone else, but a leader can make choice and reflection part of the team’s daily work. The goal is not to make everyone use the same word or act the same way. It is to create a shared language for discussing how attitudes affect service, teamwork, and results.
Start a team conversation with questions such as:
- When is it most difficult for us to choose our attitudes?
- What attitudes help us do our best work together?
- What attitude are we bringing to this project right now?
- How does our attitude affect customers, students, patients, or one another?
- What can we do to help each other choose an attitude that supports the work?
- What is one attitude we want to practice this week?
A facilitator can use a simple “Choose That Attitude!” activity. As people arrive, invite them to write the attitude they are bringing into the room on a name tag. The exercise gives people a way to notice their starting point without shame. Later, invite them to choose whether they want to upgrade or change that attitude for the session.
Another activity is to ask each person to write down a current concern or emotion. The papers do not need to be shared. After everyone has written, invite the group to set the papers aside and become present for the session. This creates a clear transition from whatever happened before the meeting to the work the team is about to do.
Teams can also choose an attitude for a specific challenge. Ask people to imagine how the same situation would look if they approached it with frustration, curiosity, patience, or commitment. What solutions would each attitude make easier to see? What actions would each one encourage? The purpose is not to label one person as a problem. It is to help the group see that attitude changes perception and behavior.
Leaders should model the practice by naming their own choices. A manager might say, “I am disappointed by the result, and I want to stay curious so we can understand what happened.” That sentence makes room for the feeling while showing the team how to move forward. It also reminds people that choosing an attitude is a practice leaders need to keep practicing.
Rob Gregory, owner of Rochester Motor Cars, described the broader effect this way: “The simple principles in FISH! helped us to transform our culture from indifference to enthusiasm.” Culture changes through repeated choices, conversations, and actions. A team builds its attitude one interaction at a time.
What does Choose Your Attitude look like in different workplaces?
Healthcare: A care team may choose compassion and clear focus during a crowded shift. This does not remove the workload, but it can improve handoffs, patient conversations, and support between coworkers.
Schools: Teachers and staff may choose curiosity when a student is struggling instead of assuming the student does not care. That attitude can lead to better questions, stronger relationships, and more useful support.
Customer service: A representative may choose patience and resourcefulness when a customer is upset. The representative can acknowledge the concern, explain the next step, and protect the quality of the interaction.
Office teams: Project partners may choose openness when plans change. They can name the impact, listen to different views, and look for the best next move instead of spending the meeting assigning blame.
What are the four principles of the FISH! Philosophy?
The four practices are Choose Your Attitude, Be There, Make Their Day, and Play. Together, they help people bring more awareness, connection, contribution, and energy to work. Choose Your Attitude works with the other three because the way you show up affects how you practice them, and the other practices can also influence the attitude you bring.
What is an example of choosing your attitude?
A supervisor receives a sharp email about a project delay. The first reaction may be defensiveness. Choosing an attitude means noticing that reaction, deciding not to answer from it, and choosing curiosity or calm focus instead. The supervisor can then ask what happened, clarify the next step, and address the real issue.
How can I change my attitude at work?
Begin with awareness. Name the attitude you are in, identify what triggered it, and ask whether it is helping you create the result you want. Then choose language and one action that fit the person you want to be. You may need to repeat the choice several times during the day because attitudes can shift as circumstances change.
How can a leader help a team choose its attitude?
A leader can create space for reflection, model the practice, and connect attitude to the team’s purpose. Ask what attitude would help the group serve its customers and work well together. Recognize people when they bring that attitude into a difficult moment, and address behavior that harms trust without asking people to hide their feelings.
Can people on a team choose different attitudes?
Yes. A team does not need one approved emotion or personality. People can be serious, hopeful, focused, thoughtful, or determined while still supporting one another. The important question is whether the attitude is chosen with awareness and helps the person and the team move toward their purpose.
A simple way to practice Choose Your Attitude this week
At your next team meeting, place one question at the center of the conversation: What attitude will help us do this work well together? Give everyone a moment to answer. Write down the words you hear, choose one or two that fit the week ahead, and revisit them when the team faces pressure. Over time, the practice becomes more than a slogan. It becomes part of how people work.
Choose Your Attitude begins with a personal decision, but its effect reaches beyond one person. When you notice your response, name what you feel, and choose a useful next step, you make it easier for others to do the same. That is how a team moves from reacting to creating the kind of workplace it wants to be.
Ready to see the FISH! Philosophy in action? Try the FISH! Philosophy upgraded trial, which gives your team 30 days of access to the FISH! film and its digital guides. Watch the story together, explore Choose Your Attitude, and start practicing the four practices as a team.
