“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.” – William James
Did you ever stop to think about how your attitude affects your life? If not, you might be surprised to find that your attitude is the most vital factor in determining your success, your relationships, your enjoyment of virtually everything about your life…including, (Yup! You guessed it) even your finances. That might be hard for you to believe, but it’s true!
The great news is that you get to select your very own attitude. Regardless of your current conditions, situations or your previous failures, you can choose to have a favorable outlook or a not so favorable outlook about them. And whichever choice you make will have a direct affect on the outcome of your present and future results. Every choice you make starts a chain of events that moves you through life.
How to Have a Positive Attitude
Of course, the choice to develop and have a positive mental attitude is usually easier said than done. Especially, given the fact that each of our own individual experiences, conditions and/or circumstances can be understandably more challenging for some more than others. But the challenges you face, as difficult as they may seem, are not necessarily impossible to overcome.
The truth is, whatever challenges you face can be overcome by re-programming or re-wiring your thoughts and how you think. It’s how you think about the challenge and what you think of yourself against that challenge that can make all the difference. When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. Start with your attitude and watch how things will change!
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” – Maya Angelou
To stop negative thinking can be difficult because of how your mind has become hardwired to think and respond in this way. Without realizing it, you end up filtering whatever you see and hear through this grid of negativity. To think and respond negatively is like a warm blanket, safe and familiar. It actually gives you comfort.
It’s somehow reassuring to think that your life is not changing because it can’t or that’s just the way it is. Sub-consciously those pessimistic ideas can be the excuse you use to stay passive and not leave the comfort of what you know. As crazy as that might sound, you actually sabotage yourself for fear of uncertainty or the un-known. There becomes more comfort in staying where you’re at than dealing with the pain of change.
But making the decision to change is a necessary initial step toward improving your outlook about your finances. And every other part of your life as well. You have to resolve to do whatever it takes to make that change! At any time, you end up defaulting to negative thinking, immediately replace that the negative thought with a positive one. Shifting pessimistic ideas with favorable ones, even in tiny ways, is a strong initial step to changing your outlook on your life and your finances.
Find someone you trust and who’ll let you know the truth to evaluate your attitude. You may need to provide that person permission to be entirely candid with you, without fear of offending or upsetting you. So that means you need to be open to hearing the feedback without getting upset or offended by it. Sometimes the truth hurts. You have to be prepared to hear it if you truly want to make the change.
“A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.” – Wade Boggs
A sure way to get out of a negative rut in life is to find a way to have positive thoughts. The road to developing a positive mental attitude frequently requires a network of supporters, by having a person or people that you allow to hold you accountable for catching you when you sound negative. Surround yourself with other people who speak and think positively.
Other ways to increase positive thinking is to read books and articles that are positive in nature. Watch and listen to things that have a positive influence. Eventually, as you surround and fill yourself with positive sights, sounds and attitudes, you’ll find that the way you see things and respond to things will start to change in a positive way, which will lead you to more positive results.
A positive mental attitude is just that…positive thoughts that lead to positive actions. It’s hard to act in a positive way or with motivation without positive thinking. It may be possible temporarily to “act” positive, but only a foundation of true, positive thoughts will have lasting effects. This is why it’s so important to feed your mind and surround yourself with positivity whenever possible.
No matter how difficult it may seem at the moment, once you start taking the small steps to making the change, in due time your finances and your life will see BIG results! Be the change you want to see. Start with change from the inside and see how things around you on the outside change. Start with your attitude!
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