Positive attitude pays dividends at work and in life. A sense of optimism and positivity can make the world a happy place. The recommendation to be positive is not just grandma’s wise words (even though that itself may be worth its weight in gold) but proven with scientifically in a study by Madhu Sudhan Mohanty.
How does a positive attitude pay dividends? The benefits are multifold and span both monetary and non-monetary benefits.
- Positive people are welcome at work as their presence makes the often dreary work life more cheerful.
- Sunny disposition and ability to see the glass as half full is a trait that managers cherish in their teams.
- Evidence from scientific studies proves that positivity helps in more promotions and better wages than the population at large.
- Positivity is a contributory factor to help mental health.
- The optimistic frame of mind carries over to social and family life.
While some of us are born optimists and see the world as sunny and bright, the rest of us need to make an effort to inculcate the positive attitude. For positive feelings to permeate and become an ongoing habit takes practice, time, and a conscious effort.
“Using samples from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a longitudinal data set from the United States, this study demonstrates that the worker’s positive attitude affects his/her wage not only directly, but also indirectly through its effects on happiness. Assuming endogeneity of the positive attitude variable and estimating happiness and attitude equations simultaneously by a two-step procedure, the study further finds the evidence that happiness also affects the worker’s earnings both directly and indirectly. These findings suggest that any attempt to raise workers’ earnings potentials should focus not only on the development of their human capital endowments but also on the improvement of their attitudes.” – Abstract of the Study “Effects of a positive attitude on happiness and wage: Evidence from the US data.”
10 Ways to Develop a Positive Attitude:
The following are some of the habits which can help in nurturing and sustaining a positive attitude. As is the case with any other fields, not all of the following tips will work for everyone. It is about finding the right set of practices and perspectives to help us achieve the desired state of positivity.
Wake Up to Pleasant Music:
While music may not be everyone’s cup of tea, instead of news about turmoil in the world, traffic jams, and weather extremes, it may be better to wake up to some soft music, or even some sounds of ocean waves or chirping on birds (on a tape for most of us urban dwellers). In most cases, the genre of music does not have an impact of music on the brain. However, it would seem like positive vibes tend to emanate from softer musical tones.
Researchers have studied the effects of music on the brain and how music impacts each of us in different ways. “Music is primal. It affects all of us, but in very personal, unique ways,” said Jonathan Burdette, a neuroradiologist at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. “Your interaction with music is different than mine, but it’s still powerful.
If music is not your thing, perhaps a nugget of wisdom or an inspirational quote may motivate you and make you feel good.
A good start permeates to the entire rest of the day, and good tidings and positive feelings tend to follow.
Meditation to clear the mind:
Any reflection is a good habit to clear your mind and soothe your soul. Meditation seems to have a clear and direct impact on a person’s state of happiness and a positive attitude.
In a Psychology Today article, Dr. Robert Puff summarized various research efforts to showcase the positive impact of meditation on a person’s happiness.
For those of you who are religious, meditations that accentuate your religious philosophy may work well. But for all other, please remember that meditation is spiritual and not religious. One can practice meditation and attain heights of spirituality without being religious.
As defined by experts, meditation is a learned technique to heighten our brains’ focus and attention to achieve clarity and presence, devoid of any distractions.
While the types of meditation practices and principles are outside the scope of this article, it is essential to consider meditation as a compelling habit to foster positivity.
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Physical exercise to be happy and healthy:
Activity has many benefits and while most of us think of tangible benefits like weight loss and six pack abs, research by scientists at the University of British Columbia points out there are additional positives such as improvement in memory and better-thinking skills. It is not pumping iron though. It is regular aerobic exercise, the kind that gets your heart and your sweat glands pumping, appears to boost the size of the hippocampus, the brain area involved in verbal memory and learning.
Exercise is often a big commitment, and it seems many of us repeat including exercise as a new year resolution every year.
While the recommended 45-minutes of exercise may or may not be attainable, even 10-minutes of rigorous exercise will release endorphins. Endorphins are the so-called “feel good” hormones. They have several desirable effects – one of them being a positive attitude. Research has indicated that it is not the length of the exercise regimen but the intensity of it. So, even in a pinch, a high-intensity training regimen of 10-minutes will build positivity.
The researchers found that HIIT (high-intensity interval training) led to a significant rise in the release of endorphins in the men. This occurred in areas of the brain associated with pain, reward, and emotion, including the thalamus, insula, orbitofrontal cortex, hippocampus, and anterior cingulate cortex.
Be generous in doling out worthy praise:
If there is any virtuous cycle to building positive attitude it is praising when it is due. Praising someone else way helps the recipient be happy and in turn, engenders positive feelings in the person doling out such praise. The brain releases Dopamine, which is associated with increasing motivational salience, and consequently fostering positive attitudes.
Empty and awkward praise is not what we are discussing here. It is about praising others when they deserve it. And doing it publicly, without reservations, and authentically.
Consider sending a Kudos card if face-to-face praise is not your thing.
Mental Reframing to look at the glass as half full:
Mental reframing is a powerful cognitive concept to help us see the world in a better light. Reframing is a way of perceiving events, news, thoughts, and emotions in a different angle to afford to experience more positive alternatives. It is what we colloquially call, “Seeing the glass as half full.”
Reframing helps us build resilience, protect us from the general ugliness around us, and provides us with a powerful tool to combat negativity and helplessness. Reframing lets us see the other side of the story and builds a positive attitude.
There are several techniques to reframe, and one of them is the art of positive thinking. For example, instead of lamenting a rainy day, one can reframe it in a positive manner such as: “It helps with the drought conditions.” “I don’t need to water the lawn.” “It’s Mother Earth’s way to clean the toxins in the air.” And “I can test my new rain boots.” Simple, but very useful.
Learn to accept failure as a part of success:
Unless we live in a fairy tale, disappointments and failure are standard facts of real life. It is not about the frustration or the failure, but how we react to it that has implications for our state of mind. Responding negatively to such ordinary life events can get into a vicious cycle of negative reinforcement and lead to more and severe setbacks.
Learning to accept disappointments is not about giving up on self-improvement and achieving success. Instead, think of it as dissecting the failures into two parts – one you can control and the other which you cannot. Instead of lamenting the event, how about you let go of the things that you cannot control and focus on the things which you can take charge and improve? That should help you deal with setbacks positively and helps increase your overall positivity quotient.
Compliment often, Complain seldom:
At work (or in life), practice the art of often complimenting genuinely. (See more in the “Be generous doling out Worthy Praise” section.) And complain seldom. Not complaining frequently is not the same as not complaining ever. There are circumstances and events where you may have to complain. However, remember to think from the other side and see all angles. And if possible try to think of potential solutions to your complaint and offer the remedies along with your grievance.
For example, instead of complaining that the thermostat in the conference room is always hot, think why it is so and either carry a sweater or offer a potential solution, which may be as simple as, “I will call the building maintenance.”
Another complaint may be that the elevators are too crowded. Before you go to your facilities manager with the charge think twice. It is not easy to add another elevator to the elevator bank, and it would be prohibitively expensive and structurally unsound for the building. Instead of complaining, think whether you can avoid the elevator during peak times by changing your schedule by about 10-minutes and see if the situation is more palatable. Or assuming it is not the top floor of a 100-story skyscraper, whether it is possible to climb the stairs to avoid the crowded elevators and get some exercise.
Don’t let work alone define your worth:
Remember, you work for a living, not live to work. Work is a small, however integral and essential, part of your life. Do not let work be the sole determinant of your self-worth and self-esteem.
You are a child, a sibling, a parent, a spouse (or significant other), a citizen – in addition to your title of “In-charge of Whatever in Global Co.”
With the ubiquity of mobile devices and always-on internet connections, we are ever more tethered to work. However, work alone should not define who we are and what we are. Please keep it an aspect of life and occasionally untether for building a better you. A better you is indeed a happy soul spreading positive tidings wherever you go.
End the day on a positive note:
Ending the day on a positive note is a beneficial technique in feeding your soul happy thoughts.
Expressing gratitude (or commonly “Counting one’s blessings) is a sure shot way to engender positivity. Researchers have found evidence that showing gratitude and visualizing positive outcomes is an effective way to pursue happiness.
Growing evidence suggests that, beyond making people feel good, the experience of positive emotions such as joy, happiness, and contentment holds numerous social, intellectual, and physical benefits for the individual.” – (Fredrickson, 2001; Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005)
Reflecting on the day and reminiscing about all the feel-good things that happened could be one way to end the day. Or asking your family about “Tell me one good thing that happened to you today” at the dinner table is another technique.
Or perhaps documenting the day’s good into a gratitude journal is another powerful method. A gratitude journal can be as simple or as sophisticated as you want it to be. Some people begin their day with a positive affirmation and then conclude the day by expressing gratitude. Or just an end of the day gratitude journal works fine too. The gratitude journal can be an online tool or a simple notebook or a smartphone app. Irrespective of the device or the tool, what is essential is a mechanism to express your thanks to people and events in your life.
Penning a gratitude journal leads to a better state of mind and cultivates positive feelings.
Use your words wisely:
Your words carry a lot of power. Choose and use your words carefully.
Learn how to disagree without being disagreeable. See how you can offer constructive criticism without dismantling the other person. Focus on the critiquing the work product, not the person.
In addition to choosing what words to use in your personal endeavors and thought processes have a significant impact on your happiness quotient.
See the impact of words like, “Young man, you are grounded,” to “Please take a minute to reflect on how you can do better.”
There is a difference between “I have to exercise today,” to the positive statement, “I get to exercise today.” This is where mental reframing and positive word use make a measurable difference in raising positive quotient.
What do you think of these good ideas to instill a positive attitude? Do you know of other great habits one can follow to increase their positivity and general happiness? Please share your thoughts.