Positive Thinking 101

There are a number of professional skills and attitudes that are all affected by how positive you are. Teamwork, stress management and emotional intelligence all depend on attitude - the more positive that attitude is, the better. Your state of mind can either drastically improve or alter your working life for the good or bad. Whether you're a cheery, upbeat go-getter or the office moaner, it's time to take stock and realise how your attitude not only affects you, but the people around you too.

Positivity is almost always a good thing - the only exception is when faced with incessant cheeriness in a sombre situation - but that's down to tact as much as it's down to personal character. Negativity is draining, both to you and others. Think about a time when you had someone in the office (or at home) incessantly complaining or belittling a situation, colleagues, their own workload, or so on. Did it lift your mood or motivate you with your own tasks at hand? No, of course not - it will drag you down and wear you out.

"My job is really stressful/demanding/complex", I hear you cry. "How can I be positive?". The trick is to take small steps and make small changes: this in turn alters the overall picture. If you set out to be 100 percent positive about everything, you're not going to succeed because life carries inevitable negatives with it, as we all know! It's how you deal with them that counts. Perspective and focus are two key elements of staying on a positive track.

The flat tyre analogy

Let's say that you are about to leave for work and your car has a flat tyre. Those inevitable negatives spring into action - you're obviously going to be late for work. First is perspective - no amount of crying, screaming, stress or swearing will make the tyre pump up or be replaced any faster. It sounds trite, but it could always be worse (engine failure, or a crash springs to mind). Look ahead - these things are usually fixed within a day. Keep things in perspective!

The other element to positivity mentioned above - focus. Think about possibly turning the situation into a positive. With the advent of Blackberrys, mobiles, laptops and mobile broadband, who’s to say that you can’t check your emails while you’re waiting for the breakdown rescue? Treat yourself to a coffee if you can find one. Even with no technology and the prospect of wrestling with the jack yourself, you can still make mental notes about your to-do list that day and mentally prioritise your tasks. It is said that physical activity focuses the mind, after all - and hey, that’s another positive. You might be sweating over the tyre, but it’s several calories you wouldn’t otherwise have burned that morning.

When you get into work, it’s time for more positivity - laugh it off. You’ve arrived, your colleagues are (hopefully) pleased to see you, and you can make a joke out of it, and have fun telling your tale of woe in the morning. Think of the difference between that, and coming in haggard, swearing, and cursing about what a bad morning you’d had - is that the kind of person you’d want to see that day?

The flat tyre analogy is just one way of showing the stark difference between a positive thinker, and one who is not. Which one would you like to befriend, employ, or be around? The choice is yours.