6 Ways to Make Positivity and Optimism Commonplace In Your Life
1. Gratitude.
It is much easier to maintain a positive outlook if you are able to find something to be grateful.
- Train your mind to overlook negativity and to focus on positivity.
- To accomplish this goal, I recommend keeping a gratitude journal. Every time you have a negative thought, you are going to write down two things you are thankful to have in your life.
2. Living in a positive environment.
- The information you take in directly impacts the way you see the world around you.
- To make sure you have built a positive environment, I want you to write down the four influences in your life. These could be people or they could be the information (TV, radio, social media) you allow yourself to absorb.
You can’t create a long-lasting impact by forcing yourself to stop doing something that you like. That is why I offer discipline-free approaches. I want you to slowly experience the results so become excited about the opportunity. Then it is not a discipline (force) approach, but something that does not require you to force yourself to do anything. You have put systems in place that will make it really easy to succeed and very difficult to fail.
The plan is to change what you like, so you’re still doing what you like, you just like doing something different. [09:30]
3. Add value to someone else’s life.
- Help them by spending time with them, donating to a cause, giving to those less fortunate.
- You have the added benefit of those people being so grateful, so thankful that you feel more positively about your life and your impact in the world.
4. Let it go, forgive and move on.
Nelson Mandela has this saying that holding a grudge is like drinking poison and waiting for your enemy to die. If you have ever known or held a drudge yourself, then you know it changes you. Holding a grudge rots you from the inside and robs of your happiness.
5. Start your day in a positive note.
It could be anything. Your goal is to think of something you can do everyday that will let your mind know you are going to have a great day.
6. Challenge your negative emotions.
This is important because our natural reaction when something “bad” happens is to say, I failed. Instead of beating yourself up and feeling down, it is more accurate to say, things did not turn out the way I planned.
- Maybe you chose the wrong vendor, the wrong day or the wrong color. Whatever your mistake was, it is not an indication that you have an issue. It only shows you were lacking some information that you now have to make a better choice going forward.
- You want to allow your negative emotions to exist outside of you. Do not internalize your negative emotions. Do not allow yourself to believe you have an innate problem. Take a moment to analyze what could have been done differently, and then adjust your plan accordingly.