Psychologists have been interested in the impact of optimism in our lives for decades and in recent times have worked out that positivity has a domino affects that helps us all to thrive. In fact, a positive attitude is a major factor in your overall physical, mental, cognitive and spiritual health – and affects everything we do in business, in relationships, in life, in everything.
How does a positive attitude help us?
- Better Health – medical research shows that people who are more optimistic tend to live longer.
- Happier relationships – and they are happier in their relationships at work and home.
- More Wealth – studies tell us positive people are in better financial positions than those who don’t have an optimistic approach to life.
- Better interpersonal skills – after all, who wants to work or live in a miserable environment?
- Greater level of productivity and getting things done – people with positive attitudes create goals and design action plans to ensure they do what they need to so they reach their goal. They tend to be better in business and climb the ladder more quickly than those who are not positive.
- Dealing with life’s issues – knowing that ‘things will get better’ allows positive people to deal with the present difficulty more easily as they know the issue ‘will pass.’
- Resilience – learning how to bounce forward when life gets tough. Knowing that things will get better in time, positive people tend to be more resilient and keep going.
Negative emotions tend to hit us like a sledgehammer. They are much more intense than our positive emotions, which are much more subtle. We have an ingrained negativity bias
Professor Barbara Fredrickson, University of North Caroline
Much of what we achieve (or don’t) is due to the way we think and our attitude towards life.
If we think we can, there’s a good chance we will but if we think we cannot, we really aren’t in the race. If we are realistic about what we can achieve and attempt to achieve those things important to us, there’s no reason why we cannot do so.
The happy secret to better work:
We’ve been conditioned
Many of us have been conditioned, over a long period of time, to believe that we cannot or will not be able to do something which then impacts what we do, how we go about solving issues we face and the way we feel about ourselves.
Stop thinking ‘gender inequality.’ Start thinking ‘yes I can.’
Gender bias and gender inequality are part of our lives but if we want to learn how to be successful, we must see things in a positive light. Research tells us we will be better off if we do. When we learn how to build our self-confidence and work on our personal empowerment, as a woman, things start to fall into place.
Take goals one at a time, step by step. Go out there and shape your life and you as a woman, to be the person you’ve always wanted to be.
Simple steps to boost your strengths and attitude
- Look at your strengths and build on them
- Identify three things you don’t do well. What will you do to improve them? How will this plan teach you how to be successful in the future?
- Get help or a women’s coach to help you grow in the areas of your life you want to improve, with a specific focus on building self-confidence and reducing self-doubt and negative thinking.
- Slowly and surely adopt a ‘can do’ attitude. You will be so much better for it.
- Start thinking in a positive manner. See the ‘up’ side of things realistically.
- Become an Empowered Women.
- Become the change in your own life that you want to be!
Only 25% of job successes are predicted by IQ. 75% of job successes are predicted by your optimism levels, your social support and your ability to see stress as a challenge instead of a threat.
A positive attitude? It’s your choice
Some women deal with difficult situations in their lives – they are overlooked when it comes to a career promotion, some are homeless and others are overloaded looking after everybody, except themselves. Obviously, whilst having a positive attitude in these instances would help (believing things will get better) but there’s a fine line between being ‘hopelessly’ optimistic and realistic.
We all need a lot of both!
Contact us now if you would like to learn how it improve your attitude.