Guest post by licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitator Laura Burns
What a broken record, right?
I feel like I’m inundated with ‘stay positive’ messages almost every day. While I’m an optimistic person, it can be difficult to stay positive when you’re deep in development of a new business or tackling a major period of growth at work.
That being said, having a positive attitude can make all the difference. I’m not saying you should be positive all the time, but practicing positivity can really improve the quality of your work, relationships, and spirit.
Let’s dig into this whole positivity thing a little deeper. Here are the major benefits of practicing positivity.
• Approaching the world from a positive perspective helps you take charge of situations, and can takes the power away from people who would try to take advantage of you or bring you down. I can think of many experiences in my life when my positive attitude was the key influencer over whether or not I let someone else’s word and actions change my behavior and thoughts. Being positive has kept me from doubting my value and talents so many times.
• Being positive means being able to see possibilities. A negative attitude closes you off and keeps you from seeing all the amazing opportunities out there in the world. If you let negativity cloud your vision you’ll never see the inspiring stuff out there. Positivity breeds creativity and innovation!
• Positivity allows you to see valuable lessons in negative situations, and helps you learn from the mistakes and failures of yourself and others. A positive attitude allows you to focus on the future. A negative attitude makes you dwell on the past.
One of the greatest gifts my parents have given me is the Positivity Practice of looking for a lesson in my mistakes. Not so much searching for a silver lining, but creating something positive from a negative situation by acknowledging what you’ve learned. It may sound cheesy to you, but this practice has been more useful to me than most other things in life.
Through this Positivity Practice I’ve learned how to be mature, responsible, and strong even after totally screwing up and doing something dumb. And believe me, I’ve done plenty of dumb things!
My most important life lessons have come from complete failure.
What about you? Try this quick exercise to see how the power of positivity is working in your life. Ask yourself,
“What missteps or bad choices have I made lately?
How have I grown from this situation? Are my relationships stronger now for having collaboratively dealt with a difficult situation?
If not, how can I strengthen them using what I’ve learned?
What new skills have I developed because of this situation?
What of my behaviors, regarding the way I handled this situation, can I be proud of and seek to duplicate in the future?
In what ways have I grown and matured by working through this situation?”
I help heart-forward businesses create thoughtfully crafted plans for growth and sustainability. I love to inspire people to think critically, dream big, and clear out the cobwebs to let in the light and the joy! Wanna leave your soul-crushing job to start your own business? Check out my new book, Work Life Revolution! Laura Burns is one of our licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitators.
