Maintaining a positive mindset has become one of the most sought-after soft skills by employers due to the impact it has on delivery at work. Research has it that when students have a positive mindset, they are more likely to score 20% higher in grades than they would without it. Just take a second and Imagine a similar result at the workplace. The good news is that this mindset can be developed over time. In this article, we will see in detail what a positive mindset is and how to develop it in your daily life.
What is a positive mindset? A positive mindset is a belief that our core abilities and skills can be developed and improved through dedication and hard work. This mindset will allow you to take professional or personal development and achieve long-term goals in many aspects of life. Indeed, you’ll be aware that making small efforts each day allows you to acquire new skills and abilities.
Why is it important today? This mindset can help you learn better and faster because you’re more likely to devote yourself to small learning actions on a regular basis, knowing that it will add new skills that you’ll be proud of. It can help you overcome obstacles you may face when learning new skills because practicing a positive mindset awakens persistence and determination in you. When our way of thinking changes in a positive way, it increases our ability to learn.
Developing this winning (positive) mindset can be quite challenging but of course, attainable, below are ways to incorporate it into our lives:
- Identify your areas of negativity. Take a good look at the different areas of your life and identify the ones in which you tend to be negative or you can ask a trusted friend if not sure. Tackle one area at a time. If say, you’re having a negative attitude with figures, great it’s something to give a try at this point.
- Meeting new challenges. In order to develop a positive state of mind, you must face new challenges. Start consciously putting effort into tasks and activities that you’re not good at, or that might even scare you a little. You need to change your perspective from “I’m not good at this or it scares me” to “this is an opportunity and I’m going to get better”.
- Learn from your failures. You need to train yourself to learn from your failures or shortcomings. You should be the sole actor in your learning. Most of us can’t achieve a perfect result when we first try, it’s essential to keep in mind your failures or what you didn’t get right at first, and push yourself to do better next time. Indeed, failures make us perfect over time.
- Try different ways of learning. In order to continually improve yourself and learn new skills, you need to try new ways of learning. Even if you’re doing something you’ve never tried before, it’s important to stay open to the possibility of learning in a way that’s different from what you’re already doing. You could be surprised how helpful a different learning method, say learning by listening to audio recordings can be a nice try for you.
- Do not forget. A positive mentality is an equivalent of “practice is the best teacher”. You need to practice this mindset and incorporate small learning actions into your daily life and put extra effort into making it happen. A mindset is rewarding in many ways in the long run and can ensure you master new skills. You can always re-echo in your mind silently that “I’m positive about this or that” while doing things, this can always remind you and leave no room for negativity.
- Open yourself up to humor. Be open to humor in all situations and give yourself permission to laugh (actually you have humorous friends, have them by you). It makes things seem a little less difficult. Even when you’re not feeling it, pretending or forcing yourself to laugh can improve your mood and lower stress.
- Spend time with positive people. Negativity and positivity are contagious. Consider the people with whom you’re spending time (strive to have positive people). Surround yourself with people who will lift you up and help you see the bright side.
- Practice positive self-talk. We tend to be hard on ourselves and be our own worst critics. Over time, this can cause you to form a negative opinion of yourself that can be hard to shake. To stop this, you’ll need to be mindful of the voice in your head and respond with positive messages. Here’s an example of positive self-talk: “I can do it no matter what, I’m the best”.
As fear ruins destiny, mindset equally does. There’s no cost or punishment for thinking positive or otherwise, but the decision is yours to make. Let’s give positivity a shot, the results are worth the try. Big blessings.
By: Eugene Mulinzi, D&A
