Possessing a positive mindset is what we should all strive for in our lives. Essentially, it’s what can keep us going in tougher times and can drive us on to greater achievements.
I’ve always been a strong supporter of Emotional Intelligence (EI) too, so a while ago I started blending these elements together in coaching, mentoring and training sessions with my clients, with great success.
What Affects Our Mindset?
So, what can affect our mindset? Many problems can be made worse by low self-esteem and lack of confidence. If we allow this to carry on, it can have a negative effect on the way we feel.
Our EI starts to be affected as well, both inwardly and outwardly. More of this later.
For example, having low self-esteem generally means that you have negative thoughts about the outcome of a particular situation, an event or about yourself. Thinking, “I can’t do this” is not the same as thinking, “How can I do this or solve this?”
6 Key Elements For A More Positive Mindset
Here are 6 elements you can do for a more positive mindset.
Positive Affirmations
Start your day with some positive affirmations. Talk to yourself internally (in your mind) or out loud in front of a mirror. Use positive statements such as, “Today is going to be a good day because………” or “I’m going to achieve my goals today and this is how I will do it.”
As a result, you will be really surprised how much your day improves. What positive affirmations do you use?
Focus On Only The Good Stuff
It’s quite usual to meet obstacles or hurdles and it’s rare to have a perfect day. When you meet a challenge, look at the benefits, no matter how slight or unimportant they seem.
If you find yourself slipping back into negative territory, just pause for a moment and focus on the positives. You will feel the negative aspects slip away.
Learn From Failures
Nobody is perfect. We are going to make mistakes and experience failure throughout our lives, but the key is in how we deal with these situations. Instead of focusing on how you failed, think about what you’re going to do differently next time.
Use each mistake as a learning curve. Try not to look at the mistake, rather on what you will do next time in a different way, to make things right. It’s a positive learning curve.
Transform Negative Speak Into Positive Speak
Negative speak can creep in easily and is often hard to notice. You might think, “I’m really bad at this” or “I shouldn’t have tried that”. When you catch yourself doing this, stop and replace those negative messages with positive ones. What do you need to do in order to move into positive speak?
Focus On The Here And Now
We are talking about the present, the here and now. Only this exact moment in time. This is known as Mindfulness and is a very powerful tool. Most thoughts of negativity stem from a trigger of a recent event or our imagination running wild towards a future event.
Try to stay in the present moment, don’t go back to the past or look into the future for problems.
When you are aware of this state of mind, give yourself an example of your focus.
Find Positive Friends, Inspiring Coaches And Mentors
What happens when you surround yourself with positive people? You will experience positive messages and outlooks, positive stories and positive affirmations. Everyone’s positivity will impact on you and affect your own thought process.
Try not to surround yourself with negative people as this will work against you. Who are the positive people that you turn to? They are the people who bring you to life, those who you can learn from and be comfortable around.
The Link To Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence is a way of recognising, understanding and choosing how we think, feel, and act. Research suggests it is responsible for as much as 80% of the “success” in our lives.
There are two main elements that we are in control of on a daily basis. These are our thoughts and our actions. This is the foundation of emotional intelligence.
If we think good thoughts, our actions will almost certainly be positive. If we think bad thoughts, our actions will probably be negative.
There are four recognised domains of emotional intelligence and these are:
Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is how we understand our emotions. It enables us to recognise our strengths and limitations. It also helps us to maintain a healthy level of confidence about how we feel about ourselves.
Self-Management
Self-management is how we control our emotions and act in a reliable and honest way. Without being aware of what we are feeling, it is impossible to fully understand our own behaviour.
Social Awareness
Socially aware people don’t just detect other people’s emotions, they interact and communicate with them to demonstrate that they care. They understand how their words and actions make others feel.
Relationship Management
Relationship Management is the skill of handling other people’s emotions. Successful relationship managers can communicate clearly, resolve conflicts and build strong personal bonds with others.
Here are some great examples of emotional intelligence.
- Active listening with someone who needs your help.
- People really listening to each other properly and using appropriate body language (both verbal and non-verbal).
- Allowing people to talk openly and freely, without the fear of unnecessary interruption.
- Being flexible and accommodating others thoughts and wishes. Finding a win-win outcome.
- Allowing people to be creative, letting the ideas flow freely.
And there is the link between having a positive mindset and emotional intelligence. Both are very powerful tools and properly combined, can really benefit us all in our daily lives.
Try setting yourself some goals and use these tools to help you achieve them. Once you get used to the new way of thinking, you will notice the difference in everything you do!
Bio
Ian Barratt is a qualified Coach, Mentor, NLP Business Practitioner and a published author. He has written numerous articles for newspapers, journals and websites and is also a public speaker. For more information, click here.
