Some people seem wired for optimism, but most of us have to work at it. Here are seven ways to be realistically positive no matter what comes your way:
1. Appreciate and activate your strengths. You have real skills, rich life experiences, and a reservoir of good intention. Put it to work every day.
2. Opt for a partial solution when perfect isn’t possible. It’s always better to make some progress than to endure life as a chronically frustrated perfectionist.
3. Imagine success before it unfolds. Follow the lead of successful athletes. Before you take on a challenging situation, picture yourself dealing with it in a winning way.
4. Act yourself into a new way of thinking. It sounds a bit backward, but it works. Pretend to be positive, carry yourself with confidence, communicate an upbeat message — and those behaviors will start shaping your attitude.
5. Talk about what’s going right. Even in the most dysfunctional environments, good things happen. Start spotting those success stories, and make them the focus of your conversations.
6. Put problems in perspective. Too much thinking can drag us down, especially when we generalize (“I’m no good with numbers”), catastrophize (“If I don’t make this next sale, I’m going to lose my job”), or personalize (“It was all my fault”). Learn to recognize these distorted interpretations, and replace them with a view of the situation that’s scaled down to fit reality.
7. Do what you can instead of dwelling on what you can’t. There’s so much to be concerned about these days. Accept what you can’t change, but work like heck in those many situations where you can make a difference.
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