Let’s start with the facts. The mind is a powerful thing and has the ability to reform pathways just by thinking more positively. William James said: “The greatest discovery of my generation is that humans can alter their lives by altering the attitude of mind.” Your attitude exposes your mindset, your beliefs and how you look at and handle situations. There are many who wrongfully assume that successful individuals don’t have problems when the fact of the matter is merely their attitude toward the problem.
Something as simple as changing your attitude can change your life. A good attitude does not only help you stay focused on your dream and make you more productive and determined but also increases your health, it helps you cope with your emotions, it enhances your self-esteem, it builds your skills and you learn more about yourself. To change your attitude is to change the way you view things in life. Start by turning a negative attitude into a positive one with these 5 strategies:
- Focus on the good in every situation. This is a difficult thing to grasp as someone in an extremely emotional or traumatic experience might not be able to see the good at that moment. However, if you look hard enough there is a silver lining somewhere. Force yourself to look at the situation as an outsider and try to see that everything happens as it should and when it should.
- Be grateful and say ‘thank you’ more often. “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance,” a quote by Eckhart Tolle which explains that when you are grateful for the things you have, good things will happen. Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., at the University of California, studied the impact of gratitude on our health, well-being and the effects it has on our relationships with others. Emmons and Anjali Mishra discovered that gratitude not only lowers your stress but also “….enhances effortful goal striving.”
- Surround yourself with like-minded people who have the right positive attitude. Stay away from negative people who influence your life and decisions in a negative way. They become toxic and negativity becomes contagious. Successful positive leaders are generally willing to share their positivity, learning experiences and tips with like-minded leaders. These leaders become coaches and mentors who help you achieve your goals.
- See setbacks as learning opportunities and not as failures. Every self-made millionaire will also tell you that failure is necessary to succeed. They did not give up but rather learned from their mistakes. They took their setbacks as challenges that they wanted to overcome in order to move forward. Again, their attitude determined their altitude.
- Compromise and accept that we are all human. Many people find it hard to compromise and accept that others have different viewpoints and opinions. To some, compromise can sometimes mean it’s either right or wrong. The key is to understand that acceptance does not equal agreement. We may view issues completely different but to accept that people have the right to have their own views is where compromise begins. This is where having the right attitude comes in. Leaders should not let their own egos set the tone, and be emotionally aware, in order to secure a ‘win-win’ outcome.
Leaders know the importance of building trust and empowering those they work with. A positive, motivated and inspired ‘let’s-do-this attitude’ rubs off on others. It influences how we work together and paving the way to reaching those goals. The Mindspa Institute offers a wide variety of various soft skills courses that can develop you and your staff to become the best versions of yourselves.
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