Have you ever noticed how much easier things seem when you’re in a positive space? Or how tough your day can feel if you’re clouded with negativity? Learning how to maintain a positive mindset is crucial when you run a small business.
Why? Because it takes real courage and enormous amounts of positive mindset to go out on your own and start a business. Other people are often not as enthused by your ideas, or as encouraging as you might like them to be. In fact, it’s not uncommon to hear shared ‘words of wisdom’ advising you not to take that scary step and do something more ‘safe’.
All of the well intentioned ‘looking after’ from friends and family and other people who want to protect us, can really impact and affect our ability to harness that courage I mentioned before!
By learning to maintain a positive mindset, things come much more easily. We approach everything with a more can-do attitude. That said, we experience a lot of curve balls. It’s how we manage those and manage ourselves that really influences our ability to keep things running and moving forward.
Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right.
Henry Ford
Think positive
The messages we have playing in our internal dialogue is all important. Henry Ford’s quote above demonstrates that clearly. If we tell ourselves things are too hard, too much of a challenge, that we’re not good enough, that we’ll screw it up – that becomes what we believe and most likely what will play out. Negative thoughts completely change our energy and output.
We create our reality via our thoughts, so focusing on what we want more of, where we want things to go, and how we want the bigger picture to look is essential.
So what about you? Do you have a tendency to look on the negative side? Do you prefer to expect the worst and hope for a pleasant surprise? Not the way to go. That’s playing a dangerous game, and the fact is that if you were focused on a positive outcome – whether it happens or not – things will flow more easily and you’re more likely to see the results you want.
And what about the dreaded word failure? So many of us are so scared to fail that we end up giving up. Which is just so sad. The fact is that there is no failure. Just lots of ways to try to reach a goal. Sometimes we get the right path, sometimes we have to try quite a few to get there. Failing at things is how we learn. It’s how we see what works, what doesn’t, and it’s how we get better at what we do.
None of us know everything. None of us have boundless confidence and ability to get it right all the time. So, how can you move things forward and keep a positive mindset?
Choose your team wisely
Surround yourself with positive people. Positivity is contagious – but so is negativity. In order to keep yourself in a great mental space it’s imperative you keep the right people around you. Choose cheerleaders and those who share your desire to make things happen.
Celebrate when things go well
We don’t always get it all right. We have set backs. We have things we don’t achieve. That’s all ok. And it makes it even more important to celebrate when things do go well. These celebrations are actually all the more brilliant when you’ve had setbacks to overcome.
Take Action
Spending time focusing on your worries or overwhelm about a situation is paralysing. Your best bet is to shift yourself into a different space by taking action. If necessary move your physical space in order to shift your thought process around something. Taking action and seeing progress, however small, is powerful.
Keep tabs on your internal chatter
Choose to focus on positives. We can easily wander into negative thoughts and keep reminding ourselves of the risks or reasons why we think something won’t work. Pick up on those cues and feed yourself a different, more positive line.
Think it through
If something might go wrong, or has gone wrong, ask yourself ‘how bad is really?’ Often we overthink and worry about things that will never happen. Is it really that bad?
So to maintain a positive mindset, remember to keep an eye on your focus and where you’re going. Be positive in your approach and always know that setbacks just help us grow.
If you’re still finding this difficult though, why not get in touch? We have a number of options that might help, including personal coaching and our Confidence module.