“Kelvin, are you real? How do you stay so positive?” “I knew you would have a positive opinion of me. Thank you!” “Glad I saw you; I needed my Kelvin fix. You’re naturally positive…” I hear that all the time, and I love it.
However, to tell you the truth, I’m not naturally positive, at least I wasn’t at first. He used to be grumpy and always waited for the other shoe to drop. But I changed. I became positive by decision and by choice. And over the years I have conditioned myself to cultivate my positive outlook!
Anthony Robbins says, “nothing in life has meaning except the meaning you give it,” and I’ve learned that you can choose to give life meaning that empowers you, rather than cripples you. And Zig Ziglar says that “positive thinking won’t let you do everything, but it will let you do anything better than negative thinking.”
So how did I do it? How did I go from being moody and always waiting for the other shoe to drop, to the intensely positive person I am today? Here is the short list of what you can do to become a more positive person.
1. DECIDE!
Yes. DECIDE to be positive. How many happy and negative people do you know? Choose to be positive, uplifting, and forward thinking, and your life will change immediately. Make the decision to do what you have to do, to cultivate your winning attitude and mindset.
2. Turn off the news! All of it.
About 30 years ago I accepted the challenge, perhaps a challenge, to stop listening to the news, including radio, television, and newspapers. We are assaulted daily with all the bad news out there from all over the WORLD. You wouldn’t sit back and allow someone to constantly hit you with a stick, would you? No, that would hurt and would definitely have a negative impact on your attitude. The NEWS is that same suit: a constant barrage of denials delivered with intensity and emotion, 99% of which have no ability to affect. Turn off the news and tune in to your own power.
3. Positive People – Period
Birds of a feather flock together. It’s hard to fly with eagles when you’re surrounded by turkeys. Associate with people who love life and who focus on life’s possibilities, not life’s responsibilities. Look them up!
4. Refrain from negative talk, especially internal talk.
This may sound redundant, but it’s easy to fall into negative conversation and you’ll find yourself processing it. When you find yourself in or about to get into a negative conversation, tune out, go on a date, go to the bathroom, or whatever you have to do to get out of there. Gossiping around the water cooler at work is deadly for your attitude. More importantly, you spend hours and hours every day chatting to yourself, in your head, and research shows that 90% of that self-talk is negative, even abusive! Tune into your internal dialogue and replace that negative talk with uplifting and empowering talk.
5. Read or listen to something POSITIVE every day, on purpose! (note: this does NOT include a newspaper)
Engage your other senses. READ something positive, uplifting, empowering every day and LISTEN to the positive things. The best time is right before you go to sleep at night. Spending just 15 minutes reading something positive, uplifting, and empowering before bed is the last thing on your mind before bed and gives your brain positive fuel to burn before bed. You will start waking up in the morning with a different mindset.
6. Do something nice for someone – and they don’t know it was you. I don’t have to explain that. You felt good just thinking about it, didn’t you? Admit it.
7. Finally (this is a bonus), find the song by rare earths; “I just want to celebrate another day of life.” It’s on his Millennium album, and you can download that track from Amazon or iTunes for around 99 cents. Listen to it first thing in the morning (on the way to work would be awesome) and a few times throughout the day. I challenge you to listen to that song (quite loud) and not feel better and more energized.
Experts say that it takes 21 days to develop a new habit. Do these few steps for 21 days. Get used to being positive and your world will change. You will master your way of thinking; and once you master your thinking, you will master your life.
Have a great day.
Kelvin
