How Adopting a Positive Attitude Can Create the Life You Want

Have a Positive Attitude

It sounds simple, doesn’t it? But for most of us, developing a positive attitude is a habit. Like all habit changes, changes in attitude takes time. But once it’s done, our daily lives become as changed as if we walked out of a dark cinema and into a sunny afternoon.
Our attitude is the mindset we bring to the things we do, which is a composite of our thoughts, feelings, and actions. All three components must be addressed to lead your attitude in a positive direction.

The Power of a Positive Attitude

A negative attitude is probably the biggest obstacle a person will face while striving to succeed. A person with a poor attitude toward learning, for example, will have trouble learning in school and beyond. You can probably think of examples in your own life.
If we maintain the attitude that we can’t do something, we generally won’t do it. A failure attitude will stop you before you change because you end up waiting for people and circumstances to change around you, before you change your own attitude toward a situation.
On the other hand, wherever you find a person doing an outstanding job at everything she touches, and getting outstanding results, you’ll find a person with a good attitude.

These people have the attitude that they can accomplish what they set out to accomplish; that achievement is the logical result of a positive attitude; that there’s no good reason why they can’t be competent and successful. They have a healthy attitude toward themselves and toward life and the things they want to accomplish.

Why is your attitude so important? Because trying new things requires trial and error, and short-term setbacks are inevitable. But, a setback is a learning opportunity that can be used to do better in the future. A negative attitude makes one focus only on the failure, not on lessons that it teaches. It is important to look past the sense of failure and build on the experience to succeed in the future.

It Starts With Self Esteem

An integral component of attitude is self-esteem. No matter how much you try to generate positive thoughts, you won’t be able to successfully develop a positive attitude without good self-esteem.
Your self-esteem stems from your social programming – your self-image, your beliefs and your habits. These are the components that must be changed to improve your self-esteem.
Self-esteem is a fundamental human need. We all want to feel valued, needed, respected and loved. It’s such a strong desire that we generally give our love, affection, respect, and support to the person who fills this need. So, supporting others will, in turn, boost your own self-esteem.

Do Unto Others…

To improve your self-esteem, act towards others the way you want the world to treat you. Treat members of your family or your friends as the most important people in your life.

Engage in the world with the intention of serving others, no matter what your personal circumstance or profession. Through daily repetition, this change in behaviour will develop into a habit. Irritants that used to frustrate and annoy you will be easier to deal with. Persist in practicing your improved attitude in spite of the attitudes of negative people and circumstances around you.

You Are What You Do

The easiest and most effective way to develop a positive attitude is to conduct yourself as if you already are the positive, successful person you aspire to be.

This will require you to make a concerted effort to improve your thoughts, feelings and actions. Remember that positive, proactive actions can trigger positive feelings, just like positive feelings can trigger positive actions.

Engage with people and circumstances with an attitude aligned to produce your desired results. For instance, if the result you want is more success in what you’re doing; think, feel and act as though you have already achieved that success.

If you want others to treat you with respect and admiration, treat others with respect and admiration first. In the beginning, set a daily intention to practice a positive attitude when engaging in the world. Over time and with daily repetition, the practice will become a habit that will occur without any conscious thought.

Addressing Creeping Doubts

Even if you’re a champ at maintaining a positive attitude, little doubts creep into your mind and can cause your attitude to waver. But there are ways you can address those creeping doubts. Let’s look at a concrete scenario.

Imagine that you’ve decided to introduce road biking into your workout routine but that the idea also scares you. Maybe the clipping of your shoes onto your pedals seems likely to make it hard to put your feet back on the ground, so you fear toppling over. That fear might temporarily dampen your positive attitude towards cycling. Here’s what you could do, in that situation, to conquer your fears:

1. Remember how much you want to attain your goal. Sticking to this example, you might remind yourself how much you really want to master cycling; how intrigued you were with all the techniques involved to tackle any kind of terrain.
2. Assess the real issues. In this case, you might ask yourself, “What are you afraid of, a skinned knee?” Is the consequence you are afraid of really all that bad? Probably not.
3. See if there are ways to minimize the risks. Try clipping in, starting to cycle, stopping to cycle and clipping out on a nice, soft lawn. Make the first experiences easier on yourself to get used to the process.
4. Break the challenge into a series of discreet, smaller steps. Focus on the things you feel you can do.
5. Decide whether your desire to meet your goals outweighs your fear. In this case, for instance, you might decide that your desire to cycle far outweighs your fear of skinning your knees.
6. Use this renewed motivation to channel a positive attitude.

Approaching the challenge methodically and rationally will help you plow through your moments of doubt in pursuit of your goals. You will face some challenges along the way. Maybe you will topple off that bike and skin a couple of knees. Don’t let this discourage you.

Remain positive and determined. After all, perseverance is another quality of creating the life you want.

The Results You Want Are Within Reach

All you need is the key. Hartuition can help.