October 8, 2015

5 Ways to Create an Optimistic Attitude

Cydcor 5 Ways to Create an Optimistic Attitude
Flickr CC via Kompania Piwowarska

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Every morning as you prepare for the day you face a simple choice: how are you going to accept the big and the small obstacles that you encounter during the day? Will you let these challenges become impossible obstacles or will you think like an optimist and turn them into opportunities?

Optimism is the tool you need, and the good news is that it can be developed. To engage your optimism, you need to mature the ability to pause for a moment when you encounter an obstacle. During that pause, begin to reframe what you’re seeing. Learn how to see an obstacle as an opportunity. Optimism isn’t a gift you’re born with—you develop it with practice and eventually you will become an authentic optimist, ready for any opportunity.

Consider these 5 ways an optimistic attitude will create positive results in your life. Try one at a time. Remember that becoming an expert with a new tool takes practice.

  1. Start With Gratitude

Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance. – Eckhart Tolle

It feels good to start your day with a grateful attitude. Your attention moves from the negative to the positive. Consider the good things in your life and your successes; even the small things are important. At the end of the day, before you fall asleep, think of five things that you’re grateful for and feel the happiness they bring to your life.

  1. Turn Obstacles Into Opportunities

What matters most is not what these obstacles are but how we see them, how we react to them, and whether we keep our composure.- Ryan Holiday

If you identify something as an obstacle, your mind will respond with ways to make repairs; That means your energy is heading in the wrong direction- toward the negative. When you correctly identify a task, assignment, or a deadline as an opportunity, you begin to activate your optimism and align your skills toward a positive outcome.

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  1. No Room for Ruminating

You do not need to be a victim of worry. Reduced to its simplest form, what is worry? It is simply an unhealthy and destructive mental habit. –Norman Vincent Peale

Low optimism is evident when you’re confronting feelings of anxiety and fear about the future, which often leads to rumination, a negative type of self-talk that imagines everything that could go wrong. An alternative to ruminating is imagining the positive. Create a movie in your head that visualizes your confident self, feeling powerful and achieving success.

  1. Use Positive Language

People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude. John C. Maxwell

Language defines our emotional state and creates the space in which we respond to a challenge. Instead of saying, “it’s impossible,” say, “it’s a challenge.” Shift your “no” toward “yes”. Stop complaining about personal problems and things that are getting you down. Greet the people you encounter with an optimistic response. If someone asks, “How are you?” Your response will be, “I’m doing great today.” Optimism is powerfully contagious and will make a great impression on the people you meet.

  1. Embrace the Positive

No one knows more about optimism than a Cubs fan. After waiting 104 years, it’s our optimism, and not the winning, that binds us together. We really do believe the next year will be the year. -Grant DePorter

Begin to pay attention to sources of negativity in your life. Does listening to the nightly news lead you to feeling sad? Then find a commentator or writer who answers despair with hope and celebrates positive stories. Volunteer your time working on a cause that helps others. Cydcor provides employees with an opportunity to support Operation Smile. Joining a group that’s doing good means you’re making the choice to be around optimistic people. Eventually, their optimistic view of things will contribute to your success as your optimism also grows.