Continuing through this summary of Robert Greene’s Laws of Human Nature, found here:

Change your circumstances by changing your attitude.

You must not only be aware of the role of your attitude, but also believe in its supreme power to alter your circumstances.

How you look at the world
The way you look at and interpret the world around you is what creates your attitude. If you see the negative in all situations and are fearful, you’ll inadvertently create the situations you fear the most. Fear of failure means you won’t try new things, which ultimately results in failure to succeed.  

Narrow versus Expansive
There are two basic types of attitudes: negative and narrow, and positive and expansive.  
Negative/Narrow minded people are generally fearful. In order to control as much as possible and limit what can go wrong, they tend to limit what they see and experience.  

Positive/Expansive minded people will want to try new things and are open to new ideas.  

If you want to change your circumstances in life, first change your attitude.  

5 Constricted Attitudes to Conquer
1) Hostile  
They view the world as hostile, so they become hostile in order to guard themselves. They will tend to blame others, and make those around them more aggressive or defensive. If this is you, manage your hostility by telling yourself, when you meet someone new, “I like this person.”

2) Anxious  
Anxious attitudes fear losing control of the situation. They like to micro-manage. Deal with your own anxiety by channeling this energy into your work, or trying to become less of a perfectionist. If you’re dealing with someone like this, don’t let it affect you. Become a calm and soothing on them.

3) Avoidant  
Someone with doubts about their intelligence or competence, ore generally see the world through their lens of insecurities will avoid responsibilities or challenges because their self-esteem may be called into action. Be cautious about forming partnerships with someone like this.  

If this is you, you can diminish the fear by taking on small projects and make sure you complete them.

4) Depressive  
This stems from feelings of unworthiness and being unloved. They tend to betray, criticize, or wound others to feed their own depression. Success or progress is sabotaged before they can fully be accomplished. People will actually be attracted to this kind of attitude because they want to help them. However, this usually results in them also being criticized and then discarded. To help this person, subtly steer them towards positive experiences. If you find yourself in this state, try and channel it into your work, or the arts.

5) Resentful
They feel wronged and see oppressors everywhere around them. People who have more than them are seen as a sign of injustice. Anything seen as a sign of criticism or disrespect towards them is taken VERY seriously. They won’t explode, but they’ll stew in their emotions. They hold grudges and if given the power and opportunity, they’ll express their resentment in vengeful or vicious ways. If this is you, learn to let go of grudges.  

The Expansive/Positive Attitude
Explore new ideas. Leave certainty behind and play with new ideas. Challenge yourself with new ways of thinking. Adversity and pain are largely out of your control, but you can control your response and emotions to any situation. Don’t accept, or place, limits on yourself as you grow older. If you believe you can’t do something, that will create a self-fulfilling cycle.