It’s not my job to point you toward scientific studies about productivity and success. You can fairly easily find them yourself on the internet.
But I do like to point out precursors to and supportive elements of productivity and success, particularly ones you may not already know. And in this case, I’m pointing out positivity.
Studies show that positive feelings and positive attitudes tend to make people more creative, as well as more highly motivated to take charge of situations and produce the results they want.
This stands to reason, because if you think you can’t succeed, you most likely won’t even try. But if you believe a task, project, or goal is within your capabilities, there’s a decent chance you’ll be willing to go for it. And the more convinced of this you are, the harder you’ll probably work to succeed.
Henry Ford famously summed up these ideas quite simply in one of my favorite sayings: “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.”
Since positive feelings and attitudes are valuable contributors to your productivity and success, it’s worthwhile to learn how to develop and maintain them. You can usually obtain good results with techniques such as these:
Start with Positivity
An effective way to reduce the incidence of negative feelings and attitudes is to start your day with positivity.
You can use any combination of meditation, journaling, gratitude, and/or affirmations to switch your mind onto a positive track. Just ten or 15 minutes of such positivity soon after you first wake up will lead to major improvements in your approach to the situations, obstacles, and opportunities you encounter during the rest of the day.
The more often you start your day this way, the more familiar positive feelings and attitudes will become, and the less often negativity will sneak up on you.
Be Mindful and Self-Aware
Some of us naturally tend toward positive feelings and attitudes, and some of us don’t. But whatever your current pattern, you can increase the positivity of your feelings and attitudes by paying closer attention.
Next time you’re facing a task, project, or goal, try looking inward and scrutinizing your feelings and attitudes about it. If they’re positive, great. You’re on the right track toward productivity and success.
If they’re not, you can make some favorable adjustments, as follows:
- Notice the details of any negative feelings and attitudes as you experience them.
- Identify where these feelings and attitudes come from: past experiences, current analysis of the situation, reflections of what people around you are thinking and feeling, or perhaps something else.
- Consciously replace the negatives with more positive feelings and attitudes, even if you don’t fully buy into them at the moment. If you can’t come up with your own positivity, try borrowing Henry Ford’s aphorism, above.
Update Your Habits
A major reason you may experience negative feelings and attitudes is often nothing more than habits you’ve developed over the years. Studies show you can fairly easily update these habits to more positive ones, first by not indulging the negativity, and second by consciously switching to positive alternatives.
As time goes by, the positive feelings and attitudes you consciously conjure up will become quite comfortable and appear on their own more frequently, a result that steadily builds on itself as they translate into enhanced real-world productivity and success.
Follow a Positive Guide
Another technique to bring more positive feelings and attitudes into your work and your life is to identify a positive guide – a mentor, a personal hero, even a fictional character you admire – and try to pattern your feelings, attitudes, and actions after them.
This positive guide can become a touchstone that models specific habits, values, and choices you can emulate to sidestep negativity and to keep yourself optimistic and motivated as you navigate daily difficulties and opportunities.
After a while, the positive feelings and attitudes you consciously cultivate in these and other ways will take hold and form a solid foundation for your efforts to boost your productivity and increase your overall level of success.
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