Learn 10 benefits of why positive thinking is so important. Plus I give you 4 easy positive thinking techniques I’ve used myself with great success.
What is positive thinking?
Positive thinking simply means to have a positive mental and emotional attitude and to see the world more positively and to expect good things from life and the people around you.
Whereas if you have a negative mindset you will see every situation you find yourself in as somehow something bad happening to you. And you are more likely to expect bad things to continue to happen in the future, or for people to treat you poorly.
Why is a positive attitude so important?
When you have a negative mindset you expect bad things at all times. You feel that life is something that happens TO you and you have no control over it.
When you expect bad things from life and from the people around you, you are more likely to also feel negative emotions, like worry, stress, anger, misery.
It will cloud the expectations you have for life and for your future.
The smallest obstacle will feel like it is too hard to overcome, so you give up sooner.
For negative people, life can feel pointless and depressing.
When you have a positive mindset, you are more likely to feel you can overcome any problem, achieve any goal you set.
You are also likely to set higher goals for yourself.
You will expect people to treat you with respect and so will demand to be treated with respect, which means, people are more likely to treat you with respect.
In other words, your mindset influences everything from your attitude, your emotions, the goals you set for your life, how people will treat you and how much you can achieve.
The more positive your mindset is, the happier and more relaxed you will feel and the nicer your life will be.
The benefits of positive thinking
There are many benefits of positive thinking, and not just that your life is more enjoyable and more peaceful.
When you gain a positive outlook on life and become a positive thinker, the following happens:
1. You achieve more goals
A positive mindset will help put you in a mindset where you are more willing to try things you wouldn’t try before.
And in doing so, you have more chance of achieving your goals, even small ones.
2. Your confidence and self esteem increases
The more you achieve, the more your confidence and self esteem will grow.
3. You set higher goals
The more confident you become, the more you will start to believe in your own capabilities.
And the higher the goals you set for yourself will become.
Years ago all I thought I could achieve would be to be a team lead at work, now I want to run my own company!
4. You become more resilient
Problems are simply obstacles to overcome
Problems can crush us if we believe that they are too difficult to overcome.
And we stress over them, pointlessly.
Stress and worry can make us physically ill.
But once you learn that you can overcome any problem, no matter how big, you stop stressing about things and you see it as an opportunity to grow and learn.
5. You have more success
Success in life, career, love, fun, money, etc.
Mostly because you are more willing to try things and take opportunities that are offered to you.
But also, you are more likely to achieve your goals because you learn not to give up so easily.
6. You become healthier
Negative thinking that causes negative emotions like stress and anger can physically make us ill.
The effects of stress on the human body is well documented.
Stress will make your body tense up, which in turn constricts your muscles and puts pressure on your arteries, forcing your heart to pump harder to get blood with oxygen and nutrients to your organs, etc.
Plus there is a direct correlation between stress and inflammation. And inflammation has been linked to all kinds of diseases.
So basically, through the power of positive thinking, you can genuinely make a positive impact on your physical health.
And in case it’s not clear, the happier you are, the better your mental health will be, making it even easier to think positively all the time.
7. You suddenly have more opportunities
When I became a more positive person, I started to notice opportunities that I didn’t notice before.
The opportunities were always there, but I just didn’t think that I could do them so I didn’t notice them, my eyes weren’t open enough to see them.
For example, I never thought I would be able to start my own business, but now that my mindset has shifted to be more positive, I keep seeing so many great opportunities to grow not only my mindset, but also my business. These are not new things, they just didn’t register for me before.
8. You feel less fear
Positive people feel less fear of failure.
In fact, they know that failure is just another opportunity to learn and grow.
9. You become more optimistic about the future
I honestly believe that my life next year will be so much better than it currently is. And I already think my life is great.
And in 5 years, I want to be living a luxury lifestyle full of fun and happiness.
I fully expect to be more healthy, more happy, my house will be nicer, my holidays will be more often and more expensive. And not just for me, but everyone I care about, my parents, my sisters and their families, and my boyfriend.
I know it will be because I have experienced all the above points!
10. You become wealthier
You literally become wealthier not only in your happiness and health, but in your bank balance.
Since becoming more positive, in the last 4 years alone my income has grown by an additional $50k a year.
But more importantly, I feel happier and more relaxed.
How do you develop a positive mindset?
I have written extensively on how to develop a positive mindset.
It really is as simple as using more positive words in your day to day vocabulary in all areas of your life.
By thinking positive thoughts you will feel more positive emotions and you will gain a more positive attitude to life.
Your brain is constantly thinking all kinds of thoughts, positive thoughts and negative thoughts.
You might as well use it to your advantage by deliberately steering your brain in a direction that is beneficial to you.
But here are some quick tips and tricks.
Positive thinking techniques
There are many positive thinking techniques you can use, but here are some easy ones I’ve used to become more positive, to change my mindset from always thinking negatively to thinking positively.
1. Stop negative self talk
Stop saying nasty things to yourself in your head.
Don’t say anything to yourself you wouldn’t say to someone you care about, like “I am fat and stupid”.
You’re not!
And anyway, you wouldn’t say it to someone else, so you shouldn’t say it to yourself.
All those negative worlds fuel your negative thoughts and push you into a spiral of negative thinking.
I don’t know about you, but I have literally made myself cry by being mean to myself.
Examples of negative self talk
- This is too hard
- I can’t do this
- I’m just unlucky
- I will never be successful
- I am not pretty
- I am not intelligent
- I just don’t have the confidence
- Why am I so stupid?
- What’s wrong with me?
- Why can’t I just do xyz?
- Why can I just not understand xyz?
- I must be perfect!
- No-one will ever love me
- What if people don’t like me?
- What if someone leaves me because I said no?
- My boss hates me
- I hate my body
- I hate my life
- I am such a failure
- I fail at everything
- I’m just not good at doing things
- I’m just not good at learning new things
2. Practice gratitude
Gratitude is a type of positive thinking.
Gratitude helps us see all the good things in our lives, and as a side effect, it makes us feel more positive about life.
When you make an effort to notice, observe and then write down all the things you feel grateful for, you can’t help but realise that your life is actually a lot better than you thought.
You might not like your job, but you can still feel grateful for the fact you have a job and that you get paid a salary every month.
3. Practice positive self talk
Deliberately saying positive, nice healthy things to yourself is a great way to build your positive thinking muscle!
So use positive self talk to reduce the negative thoughts that swirl around in your head!
Examples of positive self talk
- I don’t know how to do it…YET
- I don’t understand xyz…YET
- So what if it’s not perfect? Done is better than perfect!
- This is hard but I refuse to give up.
- I am lucky and things always work out for the best, even when it appears otherwise.
- I am pretty smart and intelligent
- I am witty and funny
- I am a great catch!
- Life is pretty awesome
- I am pretty awesome
- I am learning new skills
- It’s only failure if I quit now
- I am not failing, I am learning
- My body is strong and healthy and takes me places, like the park, for a 5k run!
- Just because I don’t know how to do something doesn’t mean anything other than I haven’t learned how to do it yet
- Everything is figure-out-able!
4. Use positive affirmations
Positive affirmations are quick and easy ways to replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts.
Every time you catch yourself saying “I can’t do this” immediately say to yourself “I can do this”, or “I can’t do this YET!”.
If you want to learn some more positive thinking techniques for changing your mindset then download the free worksheets I created.
Conclusion
Does positive thinking actually work?
Yes, positive thinking does work.
It’s not just an airy fairy woowoo concept for millenials.
It’s a real phenomenon with real impact to your life.
And not just because positivity makes you more happy, but because it physically impacts the quality of your life in measurable terms.
And if that’s not enough to convince you, here’s my final question to you:
Do you want to be a negative person that everyone avoids?
Or do you want to be one of those positive people we all love and want to spend time with?
