6 Tips to Achieve a Positive Mindset
We have all heard it before, “Think positive”, “be more positive”, am I right? The power of “positivity” is a popular concept. We all want it and we all crave a positive life with positive friendships and positive experiences but it isn’t always easy to “think positive”. The tth is, we have to try. The physical and mental benefits of positive thinking have proven to give you more confidence, improve your mood, and even reduce the likelihood of developing conditions such as hypertension, depression and other stress-related disorders.
Sounds nice right, but how do you do it, constantly, always and every day?
Saying your going to do it is one thing. Doing it, is another. Here are six helpful tips on how to think more positive and lead a positive lifestyle for 2019 and beyond.
1. Start the Day with Positive Thoughts
The mindset you start the morning with will set the tone for the rest of the day. If you start the day with negative emotion, complaints and negative self-talk, you might be setting yourself up for a nasty day. Instead of letting bad thoughts dominate you, start your day with positive affirmations. Look at yourself in the mirror and say three good things about yourself and then say three positive things you will achieve that day. You’ll train yourself to focus on your positive self and your positive goals for the day. Take it one day at a time. You’ll be amazed how much your days improve.
2. Find Humor in Bad Situations
Laugh, laugh, laugh! Easier said then done sometimes right? Allow yourself to look at the brighter side of things. Did you drop your pencil and brake the lead? Ok, the bright side to that is, you have another in the drawer. Do your best to experience humor in every situation as much as you can. Remind yourself that this situation is fixable. It will probably make for a good story later.
4. Turn Failures and Hardship into Lessons.
You aren’t perfect and you are never going to be. During my pageant days, a mentor once said, “There’s always someone going to be smarter than you, skinnier than you, richer than you and more educated than you. Don’t focus on what they have better than you. Focus on what you have that will help you to be happy and successful”. It’s true you’re going to make mistakes and experience failure in life. This includes in friendships, at jobs, and in tough situations. The key is to acknowledge your failure and turn it into a lesson. Conceptualize this in concrete rules. For example, don’t try to be friends with everyone. Be friends with those that love you for who you are and who lift you up. In work, come up with three new rules for managing clients and/or projects to make the experience a positive and successful one.
5. Turn Negative Self-talk into Positive Self-talk
Women are good at negative self-talk. We do it to ourselves all the time, don’t we? Thoughts like, If only I could be skinnier or if only I could be good at that like her. We need to stop this behavior. Men go through this too, so this advice is for everyone. Negative self-talk can turn into internalized feelings making you feel negative about yourself all the time. This is destructive. When you catch yourself doing this, stop and replace those negative thoughts with positive ones.
6. Don’t Dwell on the Past
Bad things happen. We’ve established that. But, in order to think positive today, we must think of what’s good, today. Most sources of negativity stem from a memory of a recent negative event. Stay in the present moment. Think of what is positive in the present and how you can take the lesson you learned from #4 and turn it into a positive today and in the present.
7. Shed the Drama Makers and Negative Nellies from your Life – Surround yourself with authentic, positive people. Period. When you surround yourself with positive people, you’ll to turn to a positive person. When you surround yourself with people who truly like you and accept you for who you are, you will be happier and will like yourself too! Finding positive people to fill up your personal circle can be tricky at times, but you need to eliminate the negativity in your life before it consumes you. Do what you can to improve the positivity of others but make sure the feelings are happy and mutual. The relationship needs to be mutually beneficial.
Men, women, and children can benefit from this advice. As I said before, it’s hard to “always” be positive but if you change your natural outlook on things, being positive and knowing your self-worth will come a lot easier to you. Remember, positive thinking offers compounding returns. Practice positive thinking on a daily basis and you’ll see how bright life can be.
