As a passionate entrepreneur, I am 100% driven by my positive attitude. I have developed an unstoppable positive mindset that helps me build my business and make my dreams a reality. I have almost made it a game to see how I can creatively shrug off negative comments and turn them into positive support. For instance, a real estate broker once said to me “Good luck on getting people to stick to their budget. Like that’s gonna happen.” Instead of letting him have it, I simply replied, “Thank you so much for wishing me good luck! I really appreciate the support! And good luck to you too!” Then, I just smiled and turned around. I chuckled at his comment and kept telling people about my awesome budgeting business.
I’ll be honest though, I had to work really hard to become so positive. It was a daily battle of constantly affirming my positive thoughts and letting the negative go. I learned to smile more and compliment others on their accomplishments. After a few months, my positive mindset started to stick and it came naturally. I was actively working to achieve my goals and that made me incredibly happy, so why would I want to think negatively.
Now, I instantly notice whether someone has a positive mindset or not. I notice the subtleties of their negativity and unhappiness and I just keep going with my overly enthusiastic positive attitude, hoping it will rub off.
In hopes of helping you develop an unstoppable positive mindset, I want to share with you a 7 day positive thinking challenge. If you complete these 7 steps, I promise you will be more energized by your positive thinking than you could ever imagine! I challenge you to try it. What’s the worse that could happen, you might smile more?
Day 1. Unearth your passion and create a plan to live your life in line with your passion. A lot of unhappiness stems from not following your passion, so spend an hour or so to sketch out a plan that helps you move your life to be more in line with your passion. Start by writing down your passion. Then write out 3 ways you can explore that passion within your current schedule. Finally, think BIG and write down your ideal life path that leads to you pursuing your passion every day. Take actionable steps each day to move toward that plan.
If you sell insurance, but your passion is animal rights, you could create a plan that makes time each week to volunteer with the local animal shelter or animal rights organization. Even though 100% of your time isn’t dedicated to your passion, at least you are actively spending time fulfilling your passion.
Day 2. Make a commitment to yourself and 1 person you trust that you will actively begin working toward your passion and doing so with a positive mindset. Being accountable to yourself and your friend will help you easily let go of negative thinking because you will remember your promise every time a negative thought starts to creep in your mind. During your week long challenge, check in with your friend every day. After the end of the week, be sure to check in once a week, not only will you find it refreshing to have an accountability partner, but you will also gain a stronger friendship which will help increase your positive thinking!
Day 3. Live in the moment and accept that each moment is perfect, regardless of the perceived outcome. Life is amazing and unpredictable, don’t miss out on its incredible moments by dwelling on something bad that happened in the past. Today, I challenge you to think about every moment as being a positive experience. You can either think that it is positive because you learned something from it or that it is positive simply because you had the opportunity to experience it.
Day 4. Be grateful. Be grateful for your health, wealth, friends and the help you receive whether you have an abundance or are lacking. If you start to foster a grateful attitude something amazing happens; you begin to receive more of that for which you are grateful. Stop asking for more and feeling sorry for what little you have and switch your attitude to being thankful and you will start to manifest positive thinking around your lifestyle. Slipping into neediness will become less of a habit when you repeatedly shift towards gratitude, away from poverty consciousness. Today I challenge you to take a moment to think about all of the amazing things in your life and affirm with yourself how grateful you are for each of those blessings.
Day 5. Take responsibility for your actions. Instead of blaming everyone around you for your problems, start taking responsibility for your life. If you have a mediocre job, there may be lots of circumstances that contributed to that, but only you can choose to stay stuck in that job or actively work to better your situation. You’ll be amazed at how empowering it is to know that you are the only person who can decide if you fail or succeed. Today, determine what one aspect of your life makes you the most unhappy and take responsibility for being in that unhappy situation. Let the anger and frustration go, and create a plan for how to improve your situation.
Photo: tibchris / Creative Commons
Day 6. Laugh, especially at yourself. Stop taking everything so seriously. Smile more and find silly reasons to just laugh out loud, you will instantly feel more positive. Life has so much to offer so don’t waste your time moping around in self pity.
Your challenge for today is to think of an embarrassing or negative event in your life and turn it into a funny story. For example, a few years ago during the Christmas shopping season I was at the mall, heading down the escalator in the food court. There were literally hundreds of people in the food court, and all of a sudden the heel of my shoes slipped and I went tumbling down the last 5 stairs…in front of everyone! And it wasn’t just a simple fall, no, it was an arm waving, feet over-the-head cartoon style fall. I turned about 8 shades of red, and after I was able to stand up I bolted for the nearest exit with a group of kids pointing and laughing. I am so thankful that social media was not popular back then because I would have been an instant Youtube blooper.
I tell this story all the time when someone accidentally slips or just needs to feel better about them self for doing or saying something silly. I can laugh at myself and by using this story I deflect someone else’s embarrassment; it’s a total win-win. Try it, create your own funny story that you can tell to others or just use to cheer yourself up when you’re slipping into a negative moment. Always remember that humor is very attractive, very passionate. People love funny people
Day 7. Believe that you control your destiny. If you want it and work hard, you can make it happen! Think big and create the life of your dreams; you have the power. Whether you are young or old, rich or poor, you can take control of your life and accomplish amazing things. Having this mindset will allow you to easily brush off negative thoughts because you know you have the ability to adjust your life’s course and work toward your ideal life.
Today, create your ultimate short-term goal. What do you want to have happen in your life this year or next year? Write it down in a place that you will see every day. Work everyday to make your goal a reality. And don’t forget to share your goal with your accountability partner.
If you start to think that your goal is impossible to reach, pick up a copy of ”The Slight Edge” and learn how the power of your actions compounds to create something amazing and help you reach your goal. In fact, this book is so powerful I recommend you read it right now, so you can think about its powerful message each and every day.
At the end of your 7 day journey, you will begin to enjoy your overall positive attitude and you will seek out that “high” that you get from positive thinking. You will probably also start to notice that the people around you are more positive too because positive thinking is infectious.
As an ending note – I also recommend that you start talking about other people in a positive light. Stop gossiping or bad mouthing other people, because what you say about others will eventually be what is said about you; do you want positive things spread about you or negative gossip? Congratulate people about their successes, compliment them, encourage them and you will start to receive the same treatment.
So, what are your tips on developing a positive mindset? Please join the conversation in the comments below.
