Most of us know people who are generally glass half full type of people. Even when things are going to pot, they can crack a joke and smile throughout the day. They always see hope, even in dire circumstances. Somehow, they always rise to the top, and no circumstance keeps them down for very long. We can see the power a positive mental attitude has in their lives.

A positive mental attitude is described as a person’s ability to make positive assessments of their current circumstances. A positive mental attitude is arguably the most critical facet of success in all domains of a person’s life. From relationships to careers, all areas of one’s life can be improved with a positive attitude.

The thing with people who have a positive attitude is that you can spot them relatively quickly. People with a positive mental attitude have an infectious way about them that compels others to gravitate in their direction. With all that is happening in the world, meeting people with a positive outlook is always refreshing.

Positive thinking people aren’t guaranteed success in business, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. The power of positive people is that they tend to have better relationships, a better disposition, and job and life satisfaction. The science even tells us that having a positive outlook has a real impact on our health. So, from your health, career, and relationships, the power of positive thinking is well documented. The science again tells us what we know already: that people with a positive mental attitude live longer and tend to be more successful.

The good news is that the benefits of a positive attitude can be yours. You can adopt a more positive attitude; this article will show you how.

The bad news is that we can also become people with negative attitudes. Most humans tend to become more negative over time. Our brains are wired to feed us thoughts that it thinks are protecting us.  These thoughts are continuous and have a negativity bias.

Like it or not, many generations in our past have hard-wired our negativity bias for a reason. Overemphasizing negative events enabled our ancestors to survive. The Caveman might live a more anxious life, hiding in a cave and worrying every sound outside is a predator, but that Caveman will live longer than the one who assumes every noise means nothing.

So, your brain only does its job when it sends you negative self-talk. These thoughts are so continuous that most people don’t even realize them anymore.

The key takeaway is that your mind continually feeds you a negative bias. Combine this with all the stresses of everyday life, and you can see it doesn’t take much to push us into an attitude of soberness and gloominess.

To start with, we know our very own mind is feeding us with a negativity bias. You just need to read the first few articles of any news app to know that almost all media also provides us with a negative bias. Most marketing is based on highlighting a problem (we didn’t even know we had this problem) and then offering a product or service to fix this problem.

More often than not, most literature and TV are based on some tragedy. There has been a murder, robbery, fight, divorce, family issue, etc. Add to this a problem or two at work, a sick child, or some heavy traffic that makes you late. We are inundated with negativity and stress.

So, almost all information and circumstances presented to us throughout the day have a negative bias. Don’t beat yourself up if you start developing negative emotions. How do we build positive emotions amongst all of this?

The road to developing a positive mental attitude needs to be very intentional. It will not just come to you; it requires work and focus.  Follow the following five steps –  religiously – to build on your optimism and to harness the power of having a positive state of mind:

We know the importance of positive thinking and understand why we tend towards negative thinking patterns. To improve our lives and overcome the negative bias, we must work extra hard at cultivating a positive mindset. This starts with looking at our underlying beliefs.

If we want to change our lives, it makes sense that we have to change what we are doing.

“If you always do what you‘ve always done, you always get what you‘ve always gotten.” Jessie Potter

Nothing will change if you always do what you have always done. How do we change what we are doing? We have no choice but to change what we believe. You do what you do because you believe what you believe. Your beliefs determine your actions.

If you believe you are not worthy, you are not capable, you are too old, not smart enough, lazy, etc., then guess what? You won’t be stepping out in faith or trying new things. It is unlikely you will be taking on unknown risks.

If you can do a U-turn with your beliefs, you at least have a better chance of trying different things. The first step to tapping into the power of a positive mental attitude is to change what we are getting. Changing what we are getting means we need to try different things. We can change what we are getting by changing our beliefs. You start getting some wins on your side; it is a whole lot easier to see the world in a more positive light.

The only way you will change what you are getting is by changing your underlying beliefs. You will only change what you are doing if you change your beliefs.

Changing our beliefs allows us to change our actions. This is the only way we get different results.

Do you want to change your outlook on life? Are you looking to transform your life? The underlying foundation of any success in life comes from hearing and then doing. It is that simple.

The only way to change your beliefs is to get new information. You will not change your thoughts if you have the same old information you have always had. This is why step one & two is about changing the information we receive. This is the only way to modify your beliefs.

If we get new information, we can change our beliefs, which changes our actions. We can then slowly start changing what we are getting.

Earl Nightingale talks about our minds being like fields. He says, suppose a farmer has some land, and it’s good, fertile land. The land gives the farmer a choice; he may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn’t care. It’s up to the farmer to make the decision. The farmer plants both nightshade (a deadly poison) and corn. He waters and takes care of the land…and what will happen? Invariably, the land will return what was planted.

As it’s written in the Bible, “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.”

Remember, the land doesn’t care. It will return poison in just as extraordinary abundance as it will corn. So up come the two plants – one corn, one poison. The human mind is the same. It doesn’t care what we plant, but what we plant will return to us.

If, as we have learned above, a negative bias hits us all day, we will invariably build a negative outlook. We must consciously and intentionally be exceedingly careful about what we feed our minds. In almost every situation throughout the day, we should be looking to fill our minds with beneficial, uplifting, and helpful information.

Figure out a way to feed yourself this information effortlessly. Make it almost a mundane part of your day. On your way to work, walk or run, or on your way to a sales call. Read books on positive psychology. Anytime and place where you can feed yourself information that will benefit your life continuously.

You see, the human mind is an incredible piece of kit. It contains riches beyond our wildest dreams. It will return anything we want to plant.

If you can generate some wins, you will change your life. Generate a few positive outcomes, and you are set. Your mental health and well-being will skyrocket once you start cranking out some wins.

If you want some wins in your life, you need to change your actions. To change your actions, you need to work on your beliefs. Your belief system can only be changed with a change in the information you feed your mind.

The subconscious part of your mind works through repetition. This is why you need to protect what you feed your mind every day, all day. Changing your beliefs will be much easier if you aren’t providing your mind with negative and stressful information. Starting each day with reading the news is a great way to change your life – for the negative. If you start the day reading about murders, political problems, economic problems, robberies, etc., then guess how your day will go?

If you start your day being grateful, it will give you a very different start to your day. Starting the day with thoughts of thankfulness that you woke up or thankful you can get out of bed. If continued throughout the day, a start like this keeps you in the right attitude and is essential to success.

I have been through times when I honestly did not feel like being grateful. To my shame, I would rather wallow in my pain and suffering than thank God for what I had. It has meant I have had to force myself to be thankful at times. To sit myself down, tell my mind and body to be still, and start listing off things I am grateful for, from the small to the big. Spend ten minutes each morning just thanking God for what you have, who you are, what projects you are working on, friends, family, literally anything.

Sometimes, I sit outside and feel the wind on my face or the sun warming me up. This feels good and is a handy tool to start a process of thankfulness and gratefulness. There is almost nothing better than feeling the wind on your face and being deep in a prayer of gratitude for the wind on your face, for being alive, for being able to contribute to others.

Look at this chain; you feed your mind new and helpful information daily. This will start to change your beliefs. This means you begin to take different actions. If you start doing things differently, you will start getting different results. Being grateful in this process helps to keep an optimistic attitude during the day.

The fly in the ointment here is that often when we start to take different actions, every fibre in our body rebels. We also may be moving out of our comfort zone, and these new actions may, in fact, initially hurt us. Our minds like to be in a safe, cocooned state. Your mind will not like taking unknown risks and trying new things.

Change is not easy; if you notice, people with a negative attitude do not like change. One of the characteristics of a positive mindset is the willingness of somebody to take risks and believe in their abilities. Although a positive outlook means we expect positive results, this is not always the case. Sometimes, we will fail; it will hurt. All the energy, resources, and work we have put into a project may fail.

This is when it is critical to preach to yourself and not listen to yourself. Your mind will do all it can to stop you from taking risks, to stop you from moving outside of your comfort zone. I wrote an article for a more in-depth reasoning on why your mind does this. For now, let’s look at a simple technique for combating the negative thoughts our minds will be bombarding us with.

The key is to begin ‘catching’ these thoughts coming into your head. This is a skill that takes time to learn. If your mind has been preaching to you all your life, it is not something you may even be able to sense initially.

You may have to sit your body down, close your eyes, and start catching thoughts coming into your head. Your latest venture isn’t working out; is this making you anxious? Are you scared? Is this causing tension in your back or stomach? It isn’t helpful to get angry at these thoughts. They are trying to protect you. Suppression of these thoughts isn’t the answer. Instead, run the complete idea through your head. So, this venture or project isn’t working out. Is this the end of the world? What have you learned in this process? How can you pivot? Where do you need additional skills?

A failure isn’t the end. It is the beginning. Almost nobody pulls off some wins without a few failures along the way. Success is built on the shoulders of failure. That is just how life is. This is when you need some discipline; start with some positive affirmations.

If you feed yourself new, uplifting, helpful, and beneficial information daily, it is easier to ‘talk’ to yourself.

It becomes easier to control your thoughts. It is easier to look at all the positive things that change is bringing you.

Maintaining a positive attitude not only takes all of the above, but it also takes sacrifice and discipline.

To want change in your life means you want something more. You are not happy with the status quo. This means you have an idea in your head of what you want. It is really helpful to then write these ideas down – on paper. These goals or ideas then become your North Star. What do you want to achieve, what type of person do you want to become, and when? I wrote an article on setting goals that may be helpful.

Once you have this framework, break it down into daily disciplines. What do you need to do each day to reach this North Star? It may mean you need to learn new skills or spend extra hours each day working on your project or venture. What will you have to sacrifice each day to achieve the goals you want out of life? These are called your daily disciplines.

“If you don’t sacrifice for what you want, what you want becomes the sacrifice” Brad Lea

If your goals are compelling enough, you will do what is required daily to achieve your North Star.

These daily disciplines have another incredible advantage in your life. Suppose you are consistent at working on your daily disciplines. You soon become a person of discipline. The benefit of positive thinking is the change it will make in you.

“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.” Jim Rohn

Start celebrating the daily disciplines. Did you get up two hours earlier each day this week? Have you sacrificed TV each evening this week to work on your goals? Pat yourself on the back. These little wins need to be celebrated. You can walk a little taller, put your shoulders back, and lift your head. If you keep hitting the daily goals, you soon have a month of work under your belt. You start getting stuff done!

These small positive experiences keep you in a positive mental and emotional attitude.

The ability to think positively is a learned skill. This is not achieved overnight. If you follow the above steps and are consistent and disciplined, you will reach a place where you can easily see the bright side of life.

Eventually, you will naturally start putting a positive spin on most circumstances in life. There are so many advantages to having a positive outlook on life. Get into the habit of thinking positively; it will help you develop better health. If you build and maintain a positive outlook, your life somehow attracts positive changes and increases achievement in all areas of your life. When our attitude improves, our life attracts positive changes.

Improve your life, engage in a positive mental attitude, and you will start harnessing the power of positive thoughts.

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