Having a positive mindset has a lot more to do with how we perceive things than what is really happening around us.
There have been times where I look back at a negative situation and as I reflected on how I felt during that time whether it was through journal entries or just thinking back on how I felt during that point in time in my life, I realized that a lot of it had to do with how I perceive things and not necessarily what was happening at that time.
Knowing about this personal character flaw that I have, I did a lot of research and I compiled the list of five strategies that I use to keep a positive mindset.
5 Tips to have a positive mindset
1. See to your physiological needs
There’s this great snickers commercial and you may have seen it, betty white was in one of them and basically, the catchphrase is “you’re not you when you’re hungry”.
And while they say this in jest, it is a fact that when your basic physiological needs such as eating healthy balanced meals, getting a good night’s sleep, and all those things are not met you’re going to be more irritable, you’re going to have difficulty concentrating and you’re gonna have a more negative disposition.
As a matter of fact, one study performed by Williamson and Feyer says that “moderate sleep deprivation produces impairments in cognitive and motor performance equivalent to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication”.
In other words when you’ve missed a little bit of sleep or if you didn’t get a good night’s quality sleep your ability to perform cognitive tasks and motor skills are equivalent to a person who is a little inebriated and often being inebriated and thinking your way through a situation logically might not go too well hand in hand.
In addition to sleeping well and eating healthy balanced meals exercise also plays a big role in our mood management.
Physical exercise has been proven to release neurotransmitters including endorphins, dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. According to Healthline, these brain chemicals play an important role in regulating your mood.
2. Meditate on god’s word to have a positive mindset
I first wanted to begin this one by citing Philippians 4 verses 8 to 9.
It says “finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things. The things which she learned and received and heard and saw in me these do and the god of peace will be with you”.
This message reminds me that I have a choice about what type of things I’m going to think about and what type of thoughts I’m going to allow to circulate in my mind.
If I continually look at the negative aspects of life and I don’t try to see the good side I’m gonna have a more negative disposition because that is what I am allowing to control me.
In addition to that when I meditate on god’s word it reminds me that life is so much more than one given situation or just several given situations. It reminds me that he is with me that he is guiding me and directing me to where I need to be.
And even when things go a little awry and things are not good, I know that in the end, it’s going to work out well because there’s a lesson for me in there to catch.
Time spent in prayer also helps me to gain perspective and helps me to think my way through difficult situations. It gives me a sense of peace and so that’s why this point is essential to have a positive mindset.
When you meditate on god’s word and when you spend time with the lord you can’t help but have a positive disposition.
3. Remember the 80/20 rule and adhere to the 80.
I have often heard of the 80/20 rule being used in various contexts, and I believe it applies to mindset.
So let me give you an example: pretend that you’re a basketball player and you’re really trying to get a handle on your three-point shot. So you shoot the ball 10 times and you get eight of them in but you miss two of them.
Now in most cases, people will say that hey that’s pretty good, eight out of ten is awesome.
But in your mind that too those two missed shots are taking up all of your attention, and strangely enough, even though you’ve gotten eight in you can’t get your mind off the two that you missed. It’s like the two missed shots become eighty percent.
And if this example doesn’t resound with you try to put in the place of basketball something really important to you.
And so what this point is saying is let 20 be twenty percent. Do not put your emphasis on the twenty percent as if it’s eighty. Because truly nobody’s perfect.
Even if you were able to get ten balls in the basket there’s gonna come a point where you’re gonna miss at least once.
We are not perfect, not yet anyway and so we need to keep 20 where it is and remember to keep our eye on the 80. And if you’ve got 80 you’re doing a good job.
4. Do not allow other people’s opinions to control your actions
I don’t think I need to quote any scientific studies here, because it’s a well-known fact that when you allow people to control your life in any form you’re not going to be happy.
When I was in my early 20s I remember once shared with an older woman that I wanted to become an interior designer.
This was something that I thought I would always want to do as a child because I loved moving my rooms around and I loved changing the curtains and colors. So I thought that would be the perfect career for me.
So I shared this with her and in response, she said you know that’s not really a good career, there’s not a lot of money in that and then she suggested that I should become a software engineer.
However, she didn’t realize that I didn’t want to be a software engineer. It wasn’t a calling for me.
And imagine if I allowed her opinion to control my actions and I went to school obediently and became a software engineer, I believed that I would have burnt out almost immediately.
Because being a software engineer is not a profession that you just jump into on a whim. It takes a special type of skill set and personality type to be able to manage that career successfully.
And I admire the software developers that I know in my life and I love what they do, but it just wasn’t for me it wasn’t something that I felt I was called to do and I believe that God has given me a specific set of skills and abilities that I can use to serve people in different ways and that doesn’t make them any less important, they’re just different.
Now I’m sharing this story with you because I know of so many people who have trouble finding direction and who are feeling really down on life. After all, they have allowed other people and their opinions to control their actions and make choices for them that only they could make for themselves.
If you want to have a truly joyful heart, if you want to have a positive mindset part of that has to do with you taking charge of your life and taking charge of your decisions even if you have to kindly say “no thanks, that’s not what I want to do” to somebody.
Also, read How to be a minimalist (15 simple living steps to follow).
5. To have a positive mindset spend time with positive people
If you struggle with a negative mindset it might be a good idea to take inventory of the type of people that you’re spending your time with.
For example, do the people that you spend the most time with tend to dwell on negative issues, or do they look at problems in a positive way and try to work out solutions.
We may think that being influenced by other people is something that just happens to teenagers but the truth is it doesn’t matter what age you are you can be influenced even when you’re in your 60s or 70s and it can be both positive and negative.
When I was in elementary school I used to run cross-country and at first, I never placed really well, I would always land may be in the top 20 to 30 runners in a race of maybe about 80 boys, and then one day I decided that I was going to run behind the fastest boy in my school.
He actually turned out to be one of the fastest runners in all of the state, I think he landed top eight but anyway when we were in elementary school at that point I decided that I would run behind him, and even though I could not with my greatest strength keep up with this boy because he was so fast I said if I just keep my eyes on him and if I just keep him in my line of sight I’m doing good.
So even if I was 20-30 feet behind him I was still running behind him and I wouldn’t let him out of my sight.
So when the day of the cross country race came he was not in my division so I couldn’t run the race with him and I couldn’t use him as a focal point, but because I had kept him in my line of sight for all of the months during practice I ran the best race I had ever run and I landed third place.
And the reason I’m sharing this story with you is that it’s the same with our mindset. Whenever we spend time or focus on people who are more negative in their disposition we cannot help but adopt those characteristics for ourselves. By beholding we become changed.
let me share another bible passage with you this is taken from Proverbs 22 verses 24 to 25. “Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared”.
You see the thing is whenever you hang out with a person long enough even if you purposefully do not try to behave like them you’re going to adopt the characteristics.
So if you want to change your mindset and you’re hanging around people who are consistently complaining and looking at problems you need to change your company.
Well, that concludes this article. I hope that the tips to have a positive mindset that I provided has been helpful and if they have please let me know in the comment section below and do not forget to share. Thank you so much for your time.
