In this article, we’ll look into how your attitude matters to success and what you can do to transform your attitude for success.
The Importance of Attitude
Zig Ziglar once said, Your mindset impacts everything you do and may even hold limitations on what you can do. When you have a negative attitude, you will subconsciously manifest or spread negativity into your way of thinking, your work and even the people closest to you. On the other hand, having the right attitude for success will make you more receptive to new ideas, think of better ways to overcome challenges and you will start noticing more new opportunities. From personal development tips to productivity, how are you supposed to know which techniques you should apply and which will lead you down the path of success?
16 Killer Techniques to Transform Your Attitude
Fighting negativity doesn’t have to be as boring or as complicated as many people think. There are countless tips available but these 16 methods will keep you positive no matter what challenge you face and help you create the right attitude for success.
1. Take a vacation!
There are hidden advantages to taking a vacation and a huge correlation between holiday and success.
Increased productivity: You will be more productive if you take vacations, it’s been proven time and time again. Restoration is rooted in our physiology, humans are not meant to spend energy continuously. Newer perspectives: Stay away from work for a while and do something enjoyable. When you go back to work, you will have a whole new outlook on life. Increased mental strength: Working non-stop and getting things done may make you think you are on top of the world. But your mind feels something else entirely. A study by the University of California’s Gregory Hickock University found that our brains do not have reservoirs to collect energy and power. Vacations can help reset your mind. Improving mental health: The US News and World Report have spoken with experts who have indicated that one of the main benefits of a vacation is that it can improve your mental health.[1] Confidence of calm and ease relieve stress, which allows the body and mind to heal in ways that it cannot if it was still under pressure.
Burning yourself out is not an effective use of your time and is quite detrimental to your success. Take some time to clear your mind. If it is not vacation at least plan a break.
2. Study the habits of successful people.
Daily habits are a key to success. People have zero control over the world politics, weather, and similar circumstances. But we control ourselves and our habits, rituals, and routine. And, while we all can learn successful habits, it is meaningless if we do not apply this knowledge. Find everyday habits of very successful people that fall within your wheelhouse and those habits you can adopt more easily to create the life you really want to live. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Just do what the wheel-maker does. Observe and imitate the time management experts around you.
3. Make a daily list.
All successful individuals must train themselves to work out a daily to-do list. Think of how important it is for a pilot to use a checklist before each takeoff. That is how effective and successful people should be as well. Take a few minutes to create a “to do” list to use to get through the day. The best time to make the list is the night before. By doing this, your subconscious begins to work on your list as you sleep. This way, when you wake up each morning, you can have amazing insights and ideas which will assist you in achieving some of the most important goals on your list. At the end of each day, the last thing you do should be to plan out the next day. Making a list helps you organize priorities and keeps you on track throughout the day.
4. Eliminate needless interruptions.
You have to understand that each of us has the same 24 hours a day as Mark Cuban, Bill Gates, Will Smith, Oprah, Richard Branson and Henry Ford. It’s how we manage ourselves within a time frame that makes all the difference. Start eliminating unnecessary distractions during the day. Research has shown that it can take our brains up to 20 minutes to recover from one single interruption. So, let’s say you are faced with only three unnecessary distractions every day, you lose an hour of productivity. This can add up to six 40-hour weeks, that’s 240 hours per year. Or better yet, if you bill by the hour, at even $50 per hour, that is $12,000 lost revenue. Close the office door. Post a sign that says, “conference” if you need to. Let your secretary, voicemail, or answering machine record your messages, then return calls at once. Designate times to check email. Start taking control of your time, your calendar, and your life right now with this one tip. Learn how to remove distractions from life: 10 Critical Tips to Prevent Distraction and Sharpen Your Focus
5. Organize and prioritize.
Organize living and workspaces. Don’t let clutter accumulate. Clean as you go. Unorganized space is not only ineffective and counterproductive, it is psychologically exhausting. Select one area to organize each day for 30 days. Start in the space where you spend most of your work time. If you have an area that bothers you the most, start there instead. Prioritize. Complete one task before starting to do something else or stopping at least a natural stopping point. Try to bring closure to tasks, or “trim” large tasks into smaller components so that you work on it a little bit at a time while ensuring they always progress. Find out more about how to prioritize here: How to Prioritize Right in 10 Minutes and Work 10X Faster Developing keen organizational skills eliminates unnecessary ineffectiveness and enables individuals to efficiently achieve their goals. So, attack the beast one of two ways. Either bag up everything out of place in each area. Then empty each bag/box/bin one at a time and put things away. Or, if the idea of an organization overwhelms you, hire a professional to do it for you.
6. Surround yourself with positivity.
It is important to continue feeding your brain with happy, loving memories. Recreate those moments that once smiled at you. Remember the times of happiness such as something that encourages you, a birthday party, an outing with friends, a special holiday or your favorite songs. While you are learning to change your mindset, music can help speed up the process. The effects and benefits of music on the brain are many and are not confined to a single genre, as long as they match your musical preferences. In this way, it is the connection of the brain to familiar and valued music, which is the key. Experts recommend different genres for different purposes. Optimistic music, for example, includes songs with positive words, can provide energy boosts and get your mind primed for learning. While instrumental music and relaxing genres can help you stay calm and focused. Ambient music, according to a study from the University of Chicago increases abstract brain processes, which are responsible for creative thinking. Studies from the Department of Psychology at the University of London have found that listening to happy music can make us see the faces of people in a positive light – even if they wear an empty expression. So, throw on some headphones, get in front of the mirror and have at it. Music has an active influence on your mind. Understanding how music and your brain interact, and how to tune your music consumption to maximum impact, can affect how you feel, think, learn, and you achieve success.
7. Get rid of negative people.
Keep naysayers and negative people out of your life as much as possible. You need all the happiness and love you can surround yourself with if you want to constantly focus and work towards your dreams. Remember you’re creating the opportunity to achieve a dream, not a nightmare. First, remember that “like attracts like” – this is universal law. To have positive experiences, you need to have a positive opinion of yourself, evaluate then appreciate the lessons learned from life experiences and your current situations. When you are in a positive mood, you will attract positivity. Embrace relationships that empower, excite and motivate you to be your best, and do the same for others in return. Stay surrounded with positive people who believe in your dreams and cheer you up. The longer you stay focused and positive, the more positive people you will have in your life. Part of having a positive opinion of yourself is believing in yourself. People can feel whether you believe in yourself or not. When you do not believe in yourself, then you will find that you attract others who are struggling with believing in themselves too. Recognize your strengths, gifts and talents, physical beauty and features. Be nice to yourself daily by positive self-talk. When you believe in yourself, you will respect your truth which will attract optimistic people to you. It is very rewarding to be surrounded by positive people; understand it takes time to practice how to be consciously aware of your thoughts and change them from negative to positive. When negative thoughts come to mind just let them go and exchange them with self-affirmative, positive thoughts that support your goals.
8. Listen to teaching tapes in the car.
Instead of being stressed out by traffic, and frustrated by the radio, you can engage your brain, learn another language, improve your sales, business, and management skills, and master the latest strategies for success by listening to tapes during drive time.
9. Utilize waiting time.
Waiting time can drive us crazy. Instead, think of this time as an opportunity to be used to your advantage. When you look at your daily to-do list, identify places that you are likely to wait and start productively using the time. One of the worst traps in falling victim to waiting is the trap of not thinking. We want time to go as fast as we can, so we allow ourselves to sink into an uncomfortable brain fog, convincing ourselves it’s a much-needed break. Do not let that happen it does not make waiting time any better. Keep yourself busy and stimulated, even if it means looking out a window or finally replying to those emails. Always keep a book that you want to read in your car or desk so you can make use of the time you spend waiting for those meetings. Recognize the waiting time is no different from another available time. We all have to use time productively, so that the time waiting is not wasted.
10. Eat for positivity.
Eating is not just the thing we do when we are hungry. Eating is an experience tied strongly to the emotional circuits in the brain. There is an emotional association of food that is further compounded by memories summoned by the smell, texture and look of a visually pleasing meal. This holds a strong correlation over your attitude and the food you eat:
Create good memories with good food. Your busy schedule may not allow you to sit and enjoy each meal every day. But no matter the amount of time you have, maintain your focus on your meal using all senses, it is key to your well-being and the emotional association of food. Focus on ‘how’ and ‘what’ you eat. Eat a variety of wholesome, nutritious foods and resist the temptation to overeat. One type of food you should begin incorporating more of are superfoods. Compared to regular vegetables they are much richer in vitamins and nutrients but don’t hold many calories. Superfoods replenish and enrich the body and mind on a very deep level.
Also, try to add these 5 superfoods to your next grocery list: There are many more superfoods to try, many people are using them for their health and mental benefits. They work wonders to enhance your mood and energy levels. Your attitude also plays an important role in the adoption and maintenance of a variety of health habits including your diet. You can’t just go through the motions of eating healthier, you have to embrace it.
11. Make time for exercise.
Improve your health and you improve your life, extend your life, and can accomplish more with less fatigue. Research continues to show that making time for exercise delivers serious health and mental benefits. Whether it’s a quick pick-up game of basketball, a group training class at the gym, or even just a run with a friend, exercise won’t happen in a bubble. At the same time, you don’t need to train like a bodybuilder or athlete. Dedicating just 30 minutes a day, three days out of the week is enough to start gaining the mental benefits of exercise:
Reduce stress and anxiety Increase happiness Improve self-confidence Boost brainpower, sharpen memory and prevent cognitive decline Tap into creativity
Exercise also doesn’t have to be spent running in place on a treadmill or going to the gym, it can be spent walking by the lake, gardening, riding a bike along the beach, carrying groceries, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and dancing among many other ways. Decide which activities are fun and will suit you best and plan them throughout your week.
12. Use positive words and affirmations.
Our subconscious plays a central role in the realization of our lives and the expression of our desires. What we believe about ourselves at the subconscious level, can have a significant impact on the outcome of events. People use these positive affirming statements for a variety of purposes. In general, the intent behind affirmation statements is to rewrite and reprogram the subconscious, to encourage us to believe in certain things about ourselves or the world around us. They are also used to help us create the reality we want – often in terms of attracting success, love, wealth, health and happiness. Affirmations can be used as inspiration as well as simple reminders. They can also focus attention on goals throughout the day, which, by itself has the potential to promote positive and lasting positive change. Once you have come up with a set of affirmations, to be effective, make sure you use them daily – at the very least.
13. Avoid people who drain you.
It is good to spend time with people, but there are certain people who actually suck your life straight from you. They exhaust you. Identify these people in your life and limit your exposure to them. Our energy comes in limited quantities and it grows or is reduced based on what you do and who you are surrounded by. Understanding how people influence you means you can do a better job matching your needs at any given moment to what your energy requires. How do you say “no” to energy zappers? Just say NO! Energy Zappers are people who may be stuck in a problem you’ve heard for years and years. Their situation and complaints are the same, over and over, and they bring nothing new to the table. They aren’t bad people but you are tired just at the thought of dealing with them. Whether it’s a co-worker or friend, avoid this person. If avoidance is not possible, make sure you are not in a state of resistance when around them. Remember, what we oppose sticks. If you feel uncomfortable around a particular person or group, do not go into resistance mode as a way to protect yourself. This only keeps the bad energy stuck in your space. Find your happy space and remove yourself from the uncomfortable environment as soon as possible. This way, if someone throws some negative juju to you, it will pass right through.
14. Improve your social skills.
On the other hand, building relationships with others greatly reduces stress and anxiety in your life. Research conducted by the University of California, Santa Barbara economist Catherine Weinberger, shows many successful people excel in both social skills and cognitive abilities.[2] This is something that has not always been true. She collapsed data linking adolescence skills in 1972 and 1992 with older results and found that in 1980, both skills did not mean better success, and yet today the combination does so. “People who are both smart and socially skilled are earning more in today’s workforce than similar workers in 1980,” she says.
15. Schedule more time for yourself and family.
Those who work harder on the job than they do on themselves tend to burn out. Remember what you are working for! Schedule time with your spouse and children. Pencil in some time for yourself while you’re at it.
16. Learn to say NO.
Contrary to popular opinion, positivity is not and cannot be destroyed by the word “no.” You’re not a superhuman. Your energy has limits and so does your ability to produce more of it. Taking on an endless list of tasks is not a step in the right direction. Say no to low priority items. Don’t be afraid to tell someone, “I’ve already committed myself to another project that will take up all my spare time, thank you for thinking about me.”
The 90-day Attitude Transformation Challenge
Negativity will somehow creep its way back into your life, it’s impossible to banish it entirely but what truly matters is how you handle it. Do you let it get you down and keep you down, controlling you? Or do you find a way to overcome it? Life requires a positive attitude mainly due to the constant roller coaster of highs and lows. Few people, if any, can remain at the top of the cycle throughout their lives. At some point, you will undergo a phase of trials and tribulations. This is nothing more than a test. Your thought process must be capable of maintaining a level of positivity and realism. No one can completely control what happens throughout their lives but your attitude and the approach you choose to deal with each challenge of life is entirely controlled by you. No one else said it better than Maya Angelou,
Take the proper steps
Your attitude is rooted in your beliefs and doesn’t shape overnight. It forms over a lifetime and is shaped by your approach and reaction to every situation. The right approach for transforming your attitude starts with an actionable plan and setting S.M.A.R.T. goals. Imagine your attitude is like paying down a 30-year mortgage. The first few years you pay very little toward the principal and it seems like it will take 1,000 years to pay it off. But it gets faster with time and the changes will become more noticeable. Your attitude will be the same way. At first, it will seem like you are barely making any progress. Just persevere, and you will succeed.
The Bottom Line
Attitude is everything for success. Someone whose heart is not in what they do will never be half as productive as someone who has the positive attitude for success. According to the Stanford Research Institute study, the road to success consists of 88% attitude and only 12% education. This does not mean that education is of little importance, but it shows us how critical it is to create the right attitude for success. Once we have the right approach, it becomes much more convenient for things to fall into place. Much like walking, writing, playing sports and picking up any other skill, the attitude can be learned as well. It is essential to identify a negative attitude immediately as it inhibits growth and success. Just as we are able to learn them, we are also able to unlearn them and develop new and more positive habits. It takes 21 days to develop a habit and 90 days to create a lifestyle. Start today! Each week focus on mastering just one of these methods then incorporate another the following week. 90 days is only 12 weeks which means before you have completed this list you will have completely transformed your attitude. Featured photo credit: Unsplash via unsplash.com
