Your mindset can either be a friend or foe when it comes to achieving success in business. A positive mindset can shower you with optimism to overcome any hardship. On the other hand, a negative mindset can turn any bad situation to worse.
Struggling to overcome your negative way of thinking? Don’t panic, there is no need to plunge yourself into more gloom. With time and a lot of mindfulness training, you can improve your character from being a cynic into the solopreneur that radiates with cheerfulness.
1. Pay attention to your thoughts
A negative mindset forms if you cannot take notice that you’re constantly thinking poor thoughts. You must train yourself to be aware of your thought process and recognize which ones are harmful and not. This will help you quickly shut out cynicism when it comes.
For example, if you’re at the office and suddenly lose all motivation to do work, find what thinking caused this and put a stop to that negative thought.
2. Start the day with a positive intent
If your goal is to be joyful the entire day, then you have a high chance of getting what you want. That is why when you wake up and drink your morning beverage, you should attune yourself for a few minutes to act and think positively for the entire day. Do a positive mantra if you have one. Doing this daily is a great way to shift your character from gloomy to radiant.
3. Reduce negative inputs
Sometimes it’s not your fault for being pessimistic. You can be influenced by the things you see and hear around you. Alarming news and flame wars on social media are prime examples of the negativity-inducing stimuli. Stay away from them, turn your devices off, or turn a blind eye.
4. Realize that you have the power to do better
Everyone is guilty of drawing negative conclusions or overgeneralizing based on limited information. A good example of this would be not doing a solopreneur task because you have failed before and a reattempt would be useless.
This is a defeatist mindset. Avoid assuming too much. If it’s unavoidable, use your assumptions positively. Forgive yourself and move on. You can strive to do better by identifying what went wrong and fixing it. Once you do, the success rate of your second reattempt increases.
5. Understand it’s not all black and white
One of the recipes for failure is thinking on two extremes with no gray areas. Success and failure. Right or wrong. This creates a perfectionist mindset that invites discouragement.
You don’t always need to be successful at everything. Small wins matter. If you were able to achieve most of your goals today, be contented with that. Don’t beat yourself up for leaving a few boxes unchecked on the list.
6. Face the fact that the world doesn’t revolve around you
The problem with the world today is that most people have lost their ability to be happy by taking everything too personally. People think that everything they see, hear, experience, or what’s around them is related to their personal lives.
It’s not all the time that the things that happen around you are your fault and this certainly doesn’t mean you should stress over them. Keep on doing what you do best. If a business establishment closed across your office, that’s not your problem. Keep on working.
7. Change perspectives
Sticking to your principles is good but getting into a fight just to defend them is bad. For example, you could be arguing with an employee or your business partner about how to do something. You want to do it your way because it works. There’s nothing wrong with that.
However, the other party wants it their way because it’s much more efficient. There’s nothing wrong with that as well. The mistake here is that both of you don’t trust each other’s judgment and you don’t even lend an ear for explanations.
Negative thinking isn’t just about sadness, anger, or pessimism, it’s also about being close-minded. A good leader or solopreneur knows how to listen and be able to exercise the right judgment from knowing each side’s point of view.
8. Be in the company of inspiring individuals
As the saying goes, “Tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are.” Hang around people who think negatively and you’re surely going to adopt the same mindset as well. Be friends with business owners who live joyful lives.
The best telltale sign of an optimistic entrepreneur is that when they complain about struggles in their venture, they always end with a positive tone.
Fostering a positive mindset doesn’t happen overnight. It’s not a switch where you can change the default settings that easily. However, you can start small by always finding the light in the darkness by looking for reasons to say, “At least there’s this” or “On the bright side there’s that”. Then work harder until your mind automatically repels negative thoughts.
LIFESTYLE SOLOPRENEUR has more tips to make you productive and achieve a lot of business goals. Discover them below!
