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Let’s face it, even for an eternal optimist like me, 2020 was a really challenging year. It came with many anxiety-provoking surprises and an endless onslaught of negative news documenting pain and suffering, unemployment, illness and death, divisiveness, injustice and vitriol. It was easy to get caught up in it. Before you know it, a steady diet of negativism can shift your primary focus to doom and gloom.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. As we enter 2021, there are some positive messages that outshine the depressing news. Vaccine distribution is underway and the contentious election is over. Moreover, we’ve learned a lot about managing our mindset. To keep yourself focused on the good news while maintaining a positive, hopeful attitude in 2021, consider these four actions.
1. Smile from the start.
In this article in Entrepreneur, Ahmed Safwan suggests that the key to keeping a positive attitude all day is to engage your subconscious mind in that goal from the moment you awake in the morning. The brain produces electrical patterns, often referred to as waves. Scientists have found a correlation between the frequency of brain waves and the body's state. “Without getting too deep into the science of brain activity,” Safwan says, “it's safe to say your subconscious mind is most active right when you wake up. You can train your brain to use this subconscious activity to think positively and accomplish more throughout your day.” Many life coaches suggest beginning your day with a positive mantra like “It’s going to be a great day.” Or “I have everything I need to make this a day filled with happiness and success.”
2. Drown it out.
Although there are lots of hints of positive news on the horizon and reasons to be hopeful, 2021 won’t be completely free from the negativity we experienced in 2020. One way to make sure 2021 feels more upbeat is to deluge the negative messages with ones that are hopeful. The reason this is essential is a cognitive glitch we all have called negativity bias.
Negativity bias is “the notion that, even when of equal intensity, things that are more negative (e.g. unpleasant thoughts, emotions, or social interactions; traumatic events) have a greater effect on one's psychological state than neutral or positive things.” To counteract that primal tendency, overemphasize things that are positive and encouraging. One study indicated that we need at least five times as much sunny stimuli to neutralize the negative. Identify the things that are heartwarming, funny and uplifting for you. Make sure to fill every day with as many of these antidotes as possible, replacing those clearly negative thoughts. Bookmark websites with your go-to funny videos, encouraging stories and uplifting quotes so you can easily introduce a ray of sunshine into a cloudy or stormy experience.
3. Focus on solutions.
According to Jason Selk, co-author of the upcoming book Relentless Solution Focus, “The most successful and the happiest people in life have learned to direct their thoughts in a manner that produces positive emotions and productive actions.” The book sets the foundation by talking about Expectancy Theory, which is based on the premise “that which you focus on expands.” So when you are focused on problems or negativity, you are actually creating more problems and more negativity. And when you’re focusing on your shortcomings or your mistakes, this does a number on your self-confidence.
Selk recommends giving yourself 60 seconds to come up with a potential solution or improvement to your problem. “This is enough time to allow you to recognize that your focus is on a problem, but not enough to allow yourself to get sucked into problem centric thought, and for that expectancy theory to start making your problem bigger in your mind, and oftentimes, in reality.”
4. Hang with the happy.
Just as negativity can spread—there’s always an open invitation to a pity party—positivity can be contagious, too. If you spend your days hanging around with Doug or Debbie Downer, you’ll get caught up in their gunk. And it’s not uplifting gunk. To protect yourself from others’ negativity, do a positivity inventory. Think about the people you spend the most time with. Which people bring you joy, lift you up, make you laugh and keep you centered? And who are the people whose focus on the negative has the opposite effect? Of course, when it comes to work, we don't always get to choose who’s on our team. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be aware of the negative colleagues, staying alert so that you can keep things focused on the business at hand and minimize your exposure to them. No matter how many curve balls you face, you have the power to make sure that every day includes interactions with people who act as mood lifters.
It’s impossible to avoid problems, challenges, negative news and depressing people, but a transformation in your focus and a steadfast commitment to embracing positivity will go a long way to making sure 2021 feels very different from the past year.
William Arruda is a founder of CareerBlast and co-creator of BrandBoost - a video-based personal branding talent development experience.
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January 05, 2021 at 08:33PM
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How To Make Positivity Your Mantra For 2021 - Forbes
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