6 Habits I Use For Keeping A Positive Mindset

Keeping a positive mindset can be difficult. At least it can be for me at times. Personally, I have to constantly work at flipping the script to find a positive angle because it has never come naturally to me. I’ve always been this way, wondering why I can’t just be happy all the time like some of the people I’ve met in my life seem to be. Instead, I have to actively work to keep a brighter perspective at the forefront of my mind.

For whatever reason, it just doesn’t come naturally to me…

A long time ago as a wide-eyed nineteen-year-old, I volunteered to be part of a manager development group at work where the store managers would set an hour aside a week to train us to become future managers or supervisors. In every meeting we had, the manager who started the initiative would always tell us that not just the future job we were aiming for, but life itself was all about mindset and more specifically, keeping a positive mindset.

Easier said than done I thought.

Back then, I found it hard to understand what exactly he meant. As in, how do I suddenly tell myself to have a positive mindset? Was it simply a case of trying to see everything in a positive light? When I was feeling down it seemed impossible to create a positive mindset when everything inside of me was saying something else. In my experience, when you try and tell someone to be positive it usually doesn’t work. It’s not as simple as saying; “just be positive,”

It wasn’t until many years later that I began to understand what having a positive mindset really meant. I still haven’t been able to turn a switch on demand, instead, I’ve had to develop positive mindset habits that I try and practise every day, even when I feel fed up or like I really just want to sit in a grumpy mood and be left alone.

In my own experience, these habits for keeping a positive mindset need to be practised on a regular basis. I’d say it’s important to remember that everyone is different but hopefully, you can find some inspiration from these techniques I use.

1. Associate with people who are likely to improve you

“Associate with people who are likely to improve you,”

Seneca

For a long time, I mixed with others who were doing things I didn’t want to be involved in. Whilst they were my friends, I knew I wanted better for myself and to grow in a different direction so I knew I would have to separate myself. Of course, it was hard to find space away from my friends but looking back I know it was the right thing to do. It’s hard to be the person you want to be if you are surrounded by those who don’t want to support you.

In my experience, constant negative thinking or negative behaviour from others vibrates around you and that input from your environment can have a real effect on you.

Find those who align with your interests and lift you up and you’ll find it easier to cultivate a positive mindset simply from being in their company.

2. See your obstacles as challenges

“Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body,”

Seneca

Start to view your obstacles as challenges that once you overcome will make you stronger than you were before. If there’s one thing that I think is unquestionably true it is that there will be obstacles that arise that make you feel like curling up in your bed and hiding away. Life can be cruel and unpredictable at times so having a positive mindset is sometimes more about building resilience than trying to simply see things positively.

Just like repeated resistance on your muscles makes them grow, tackling your obstacles head-on can strengthen your mindset and make you more resilient. When you prove to yourself you are capable of overcoming your obstacles, you begin to realise you don’t need to fear the world as much.

A challenge makes you grow.

In my own life, this has boosted my confidence and that has added towards improving my overall mindset. For example, when I was being picked on at school, it wasn’t until I stood up to the bully who was making my life unbearable that I realised how resilient and strong I could be.

3. Remember this is all temporary

Something else that has really helped me to broaden my perspective and help me keep a more positive mindset is looking at the world through a more philosophical lens. Specifically, remembering on a consistent basis how temporary life is. I think most of us think we are going to be around forever when we are children. But of course, as you grow up you begin to get a sense of what life is really like.

The years can start to feel like they roll on faster and faster. You begin to realise how fragile and short life really is.

This never struck me more than during my visits to the city of Rome. The ancient’s lives were shorter than ours in general whether because of war, famine or disease. But the thing I took away the most was how the ancient people of Rome were just like you and I. They were smart, ambitious and great innovators. The only thing that separates us from them is time. And the only thing that separates the way they lived from how we do is knowledge.

There are many people that have come and gone before you and me, many life stories that are forgotten in time. Because you can only perceive the world and your life through your own eyes, it can be difficult to see the bigger picture and get out of your own head.

Perhaps we are so comfortable in the modern age that we forget how temporary and fragile our lives actually are.

Remembering this helps me to keep a positive mindset because this is when I feel a great sense of gratitude for what I have, in this moment. Whatever your struggle right now, one day it will also be lost to time so take what you have today and make the best of it.

4. Appreciate The Small Things

“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them,”

Paulo Coelho

One thing I really try and work on is appreciating the small things and being mindful of them. If you had everything you ever desired would you finally be happy? I’m not so sure. In fact, as I get older I notice more and more how the small things bring me greater joy and I have also noticed how those are the only things that have consistently brought me joy over the years.

For example, the joy of a morning coffee has always been there. The joy of finding and cooking a new recipe has always been there. Feeling love from someone has always been there. Making someone laugh has always been there. Watching a football match has always been there.

These are easy things to take for granted but maybe these are the things I need to appreciate even more.

Things like new cars and vacations feel good at the time but they are short-lived.

Each day I try to be mindful of the smaller things that bring me a sense of joy because these are the things that consistently make me feel good and make my life enjoyable on a regular basis.

I think that if you can find a sense of gratitude for the small things that make you happy, the bigger things will simply feel like a bonus.

5. Focus on what actually matters

“The more we value things outside of our control, the less control we have,”

Epictetus

There is so much around you that doesn’t matter at all. One habit that helps me to keep a positive mindset is being mindful of what matters and what doesn’t. This is not always easy but ignoring all the noise out there has helped me to keep a better perspective.

All day, every day, you are bombarded by noise. People try to sell you things, The news throws hundreds of world issues at you, and social media wants a fight with you. Is it any wonder we find it hard to keep a positive mindset in the Western world?

We are constantly distracted by noise, noise, noise. All the while, we lose sight of what matters to us as individuals because we are so preoccupied instead with things we think matter to us.

What I try to do is spend my time doing the things that I love with the people I love and that’s it. I don’t try to actively ignore everything else anymore because I’ve now made it a habit so I do it naturally.

What are the benefits?

I’m less stressed. I can think more clearly. I have a more positive mindset because my sense of general well-being is tied into the things I do and care about instead of everything else happening in the world that wants my attention.

It’s not always easy of course, but it does get easier the more you focus on what really matters to you.

6. Let go

Everyone’s bound to make mistakes. One habit I’m trying to keep up is letting things go. And I’ve noticed how this helps me to keep a more positive mindset in general.

There are so many things I could regret doing or saying but I know I cannot change them now. In an ideal world, I could go back and apologise to someone or do something differently. One thing I’ve become mindful of is how ruminating over these things makes me feel. It makes me feel as if I can’t move on, enjoy the present moment and look forward to the future.

Hanging onto things feels like a weight holding me down. Living in the past robs you of the present moment and you never actually live your life.

Here is a great article by Healthline that details how you can go about letting go of the past. For me personally, remembering that I cannot enjoy right now seems to be enough for me to let go. I look at things as learning experiences and once again remember that this is all temporary.

In conclusion

Use this post as inspiration in your own life. These are habits that seem to work for me. It’s not always easy for me to keep a positive mindset, for example, when there are lots of things bothering me at once but I try to come back to these habits on a consistent basis.

How do you try to cultivate a positive mindset? I’d love to hear in the comments.