How do I Establish a Positive Attitude?

Successful individuals from William James, a Harvard scientist, to Warren Buffet, a CEO, describe positive attitude as the primary tool for overcoming obstacles, diffusing arguments and reaching goals. Winston Churchill called it "A little thing that makes a big difference." Having a positive attitude will enable you to be confident, proactive and effective in your endeavors. Establishing this type of attitude is a deeply personal process--what Stephen R. Covey calls a "paradigm shift"--and the results will vary based on your circumstance and temperament. There are, however, a few steps that you can follow to help stimulate this kind of growth and change your outlook on life.

Things You'll Need

• Journal

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Instructions

• 1

  Evaluate your current attitude. For a week, keep a journal outlining how you feel, what you do and your motivation for doing it. For example, consider how you feel about your job performance or the quality of your relationships. Write down your goals, both the ones you feel you are achieving and the ones that you could work on. To make a positive change, you need to recognize the need for improvement.

• 2

  Decide that you want to make a change, to be proactive and view your life without negativity. Stephen R. Covey, in his book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," writes, "Our basic nature is to act, and not be acted upon. As well as enabling us to choose our response to particular circumstances, this empowers us to create circumstances. Taking initiative does not mean being pushy, obnoxious, or aggressive. It does mean recognizing our responsibility to make things happen." Write down your decision to be a proactive, positive person who makes things happen, instead of letting them happen to you.

• 3

  Pick a specific short-term goal. This could be a project at work, a paper at school or even something small like reading a book or making dinner every night. For a week, focus on steps to cultivate a positive attitude in reaching this goal.

Start Thinking Positively

• 4

  Visualize success in your short-term goal. Remez Sasson, in his article, "The Power of Positive Thinking," describes how two men with the same qualifications applying for the same job can create vastly different outcomes for themselves by visualizing them beforehand. "When the attitude is positive we entertain pleasant feelings and constructive images, and see in our mind's eye what we really want to happen." Picture success in the goal at hand. You will be more confident and effective at reaching it.

• 5

  Determine what parts of this goal you can affect. For example, if you have to write a paper for a due date that you feel is unfair, don't spend your time and energy complaining about your professor's scheduling; write down the things in your control, namely, the quality of your paper. Stephen R. Covey calls this the "Circle of influence." Proactive people, he writes, "work on the things they can do something about. The nature of their energy is positive, enlarging and magnifying, causing their Circle of Influence to increase."

• 6

  Write down a plan of action. If you want to finish a book, make a reading schedule. If you want to cook dinner every night, plan meals for the week. Reaching short-term goals will give you a sense of accomplishment and encourage you to reach the bigger goals.

• 7

  Expand your list of goals to include several short-term goals and a few long-term goals. Start with a month, then expand to a year. Continue to repeat steps one through three.

Additional Steps

• 8

  Exercise regularly. According to MayoClinic.com, exercise, aside from helping you lose weight and stay healthy, actually stimulates brain activity that is believed to make people feel more relaxed and happy. Also, losing weight or toning muscles can make you more confident and motivated, both of which contribute to a positive attitude.

• 9

  Maintain a journal. Being able to read over your past achievements or setbacks, to see positive change over time, provides powerful encouragement for sustaining an attitude change.

• 10

  Create a back-up plan. Failure often leads to a negative attitude. Anticipate this by writing down a few solutions to possible setbacks. For example, if you do not get the job promotion you wanted, having a list of ways to improve at your current position can help you to keep a positive attitude. By focusing on what you can still effect--your job performance--you will not only increase your chances of promotion, but will also not be dependent on outside factors for your attitude or your happiness. This will help you to keep thinking positively even when things don't go your way.

• 11

  Encourage others to join you. Having a partner to check your progress, to praise success and understand failures, is another powerful motivation-tool.