It is often forgotten that the manner in which you interpret your experiences in life can have a profound impact on your enjoyment of life. Your mindset plays a significant role in determining how you perceive your life events. When you have a negative mindset, you are likely to see the worst in every person and every situation. You will have the amazing ability to bring doom and gloom to even the most positive events. If you have a positive mindset, you are more likely to make a positive interpretation of events and see the positive in people. A positive mindset does not require you to have delusions that nothing bad ever happens or, that people never do bad things. A positive mindset encourages you to keep things in perspective and where there is doubt, you are prepared to give the benefit of the doubt. Occasionally, people may take advantage of your good nature but on the whole, you will be happier, healthier, less stressed and you will have better relationships.
7 Beliefs which support a positive mindset
The following 7 beliefs will support you in adopting a positive mindset.
1. People are not against you
When you have conflicting views, it is easy to believe that others are against you or out to get you but it is rarely, if ever, true. Everybody is trying to make the most of their own life and sometimes that requires you to cross paths with people who want different things. They are not trying to make your life worse; they are trying to improve their own circumstances.
2. Failure builds character
Failure is only a temporary thing. As long as you learn something from it and you commit yourself to improving the situation; you haven’t really failed at all. When you learn from your failures, you grow as a person. Your knowledge, skills and character can all improve and that’s not a bad end result.
3. You’ll never be lonely if you love yourself
Growing up, we were always thought that it was wrong to love yourself. Unfortunately, people were confusing selfish and self-centred. Selfish people care only about themselves and may appear as if they have a great love of themselves. In truth, selfish people are more driven by fear than love.
Self-centred people place themselves at the centre of their lives. They know that they must first love themselves and only then will they be in a position to love and help others. If you have no love for yourself, how can you have love to give to others?
4. The greatest risk is to do nothing
When you are unhappy with your life, you need to change something. You may be afraid to change something for fear of what might go wrong. In truth, if you change something, having considered your options carefully, you have a reasonable chance of improving things. If you do not get the result you desire then you can make another change until you find what you are looking for.
If you choose to maintain the status quo, there is no chance of improvement. In fact, choosing the status quo usually leads to things getting progressively worse. So, the greatest risk you can ever take is to do nothing.
5. Motivation needs regular reinforcement
I see this regularly with coaching clients. They have decided what they want from life, set clear goals and taken a small amount of action. This is good; unfortunately they tend to quickly lose motivation. They forget that motivation and personal growth are not one-time actions. They need to be reinforced daily. Remind yourself everyday of what you are trying to achieve and why you are trying to achieve it. As Zig Ziglar said, motivation, like bathing, should be a daily process.
6. When you raise your standards, others follow
This is one of the fundamentals of leadership. You must go first. If you want others to raise their game, set the standard. Demonstrate the standards that you wish to see. Somebody must go first, so why not you? When you refuse to accept low standards, those around you soon get the message.
7. It is the possibility of having a dream come true which makes life interesting
This is an old Paulo Coelho quote. As a child you were probably told to stop daydreaming. If you suggested something new, you may have been told that you lived in a dream world and you needed to snap out of it.
Nothing new, or great, in life was ever created without somebody having a dream or a vision. Dreams give you something to chase and pursue. Even if you don’t make it all the way, the very act of pursuing your dreams will bring great joy and a sense of fulfilment to your life. Once you are prepared to take action in pursuit of your dreams, dreams become not only acceptable but an essential part of life. Don’t be afraid to make time for a little dreaming.
A positive mindset does not happen by accident. If you wish to have a positive mindset, you have to work on your confidence and self belief. Check out Unbreakable Self Confidence.
Having a positive mindset for life will enable you to produce better results and enjoy greater happiness and fulfilment. Your beliefs play a large role in developing your mindset. If you choose to adopt negative beliefs, you will live a life shrouded in suspicion and even the most positive experience will prove difficult to enjoy. Alternatively, a positive mindset will make even the most painful moment bearable. A positive mindset is not about pretending that everything is wonderful; it is about believing that whatever position you find yourself in, you have the ability to cope and improve your situation. Adopting these 7 beliefs will help you to develop a more positive mindset.