Connect with us

Success Advice

Why An Optimistic Mindset Helps You Win in Life

Published

on

Image Credit: Unsplash

Many people seem to think that optimists are people who just ignore bad things in life and avoid problems altogether. That’s not the case at all. In fact, in actuality, it’s the complete opposite.

People who have an optimistic way of looking at their world actually run toward the challenges in their lives because they know there’s a solution to every problem.

With the rise of terms like “positive thinking,” on the surface, it can almost seem like unrealistic optimism. But with a deeper look into newer research stemming from positive psychology, it’s a mindset that scientists acknowledge can maximize your potential in every aspect.

For example, studies have shown that optimists take fewer sick days, get more job offers, are better at bouncing back from failure, and are healthier. Being equipped with this mindset allows you to create sustainable success for the long haul.

In Martin Seligman’s book Learned Optimism, a British study looked at sixty-nine women with breast cancer for five years. It concluded that the women who did not suffer a recurrence tended to be those who responded to cancer with a “fighting spirit.”

Specifically, this research highlights a newer science called Psychoneuroimmunology, which studies how your nervous system influences your immune system. To put this simply, how your thoughts affect the human body.

In other words, your thoughts can physically make you sick. Or your thoughts can physically make you healthy.

How you think determines just about every aspect of your life. Martin Seligman, who’s been called the father of positive psychology, says that learning to be optimistic is a vital way to help maximize your mental health and live a better life. 

It all begins with the story that you tell yourself in day-to-day life. You can look at a life situation as if the cup is half full or half empty.

This is a choice we have; however, since most of us have been conditioned into what scientists call “negativity bias,” our brains tend to focus on what’s going wrong in our lives instead of what’s going right.

As Seligman says,

“Life inflicts the same setbacks and tragedies on the optimist as on the pessimist, but the optimist weathers them better.”

Weathering the storm to advance toward your goals despite the continuous setbacks is the one essential skill that can determine your success in your professional goals, relationships, and health.

The great thing about becoming optimistic, it’s a skill that can be learned. Just like riding a bike or driving a stick shift, once you learn it, it becomes easier the next time you practice it.

When deliberately practiced long enough, you build a habit, and the behavior can become unconscious. This means it doesn’t require the same amount of mental energy as it did the first time you started. You’ve gotten so good that it requires little to no conscious thought.

Science is now telling us that by consciously altering your thinking, you can literally rewire the structure of your brain.

Changing the story you tell yourself each day and seeing the glass half full rather than half empty is just like a muscle that can be reinforced for your desired result in the future.

As Winston Churchill says, “a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

If you’re looking to gain your edge and build an indestructible optimistic mindset to improve the results in your life, here are a couple of things you can try:

Recognize the good that’s happening in your life

Began to notice good things that happen in life and relish them. Good things happen to us all the time, but we unconsciously look past them. Once you notice these seemingly small victories in your life, you will train your brain to recognize more of them.

When something goes wrong in your life, remember it’s not permanent.

Things always come up. It’s inevitable. The best thing you can do for yourself is to acknowledge the discomfort you are feeling but don’t ruminate on it. Situations in life are never permanent unless you give up. People who are optimists believe that the causes of bad events are temporary. Always remember that someone has found a solution for what you are going through. 

Don’t wallow when bad events arise. Do something.

When disappointments, stagnation, or negative emotions arise, it can be easy to curl up in a ball and do nothing. The best thing you can do for your brain and body is to exercise, meditate, or talk to someone. Exercising can transform your entire psychological state in less than a few minutes. Meditation can alleviate stress and talking to a friend can pull you out of a mental rut and provide a healthy third-party perspective of your situation.

Chazz Scott is a keynote speaker and mindset expert. He trains entrepreneurs, leaders, and professionals to achieve their potential personally and professionally. Chazz is also the Executive Director & Chief Creative Optimist of Positively Caviar, Inc., a grassroots 501(c)(3) nonprofit, focused on using optimism and positive thinking to build mental resilience and disrupt mental health stigmas in underserved communities. For more info, check out his weekly blog at: www.chazzscott.com or download his latest workbook designed to help you build good habits and break bad ones to achieve your goals faster: download here.

Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Success Advice

How Your Beliefs Can Supercharge or Sabotage Your Success

Your life is dictated by beliefs and biases that drive your thinking, behaviors, and decisions

Published

on

Your Beliefs Can Supercharge or Sabotage Your Success (1)
Image Credit: Midjourney

Pause for a moment and ponder two pandemic-era beliefs: First, closing schools will control the spread of a serious virus. Second, the consequences of such school closures—particularly social interruption and the prevention of immunity—are worse than becoming sick with the virus. (more…)

Continue Reading

Success Advice

How to Break the Cycles of Mediocrity and Manifest Your Greatness

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

Published

on

Image Credit: Midjourney

In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be. 

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time. 

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.

Continue Reading

Success Advice

Here’s a Young Man’s Antidote for the Uncertainty of the Modern World

Why do a lot of young guys lack confidence in today’s world? 

Published

on

How to boost your confidence
Image Credit: Midjourney

We all have been told that confidence is a key factor in achieving success and happiness in life. But what is it exactly? (more…)

Continue Reading

Success Advice

Toxic Leadership: 5 Ways to Identify a Bad Leader

if you have a leader who displays any of the toxic traits, it’s time to move on to greener pastures.

Published

on

Toxic leadership
Image Credit: Midjourney

Let’s be honest, we’ve all crossed paths with a toxic leader in our careers at some point. Unfortunately, while some toxic leaders don’t even bother to hide their behaviour, some know very well how to conceal their true selves behind a strong-built facade. The latter is the most dangerous of the two. (more…)

Continue Reading

Trending