Having a positive mindset means you are ready and able to focus on the good in any situation. At the same time, it allows you to think positively and have a more optimistic outlook on your life and the future.
How we look at the world around us has a massive impact on how we deal with situations and go about our lives. Here are 11 ways that having a positive mindset will help you live better.
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1) It drives you to find the best possible solution
When you have a positive mindset, you are always looking for the best possible solution to any problem you find yourself in. Put another way, if we have a negative outlook, we might limit our options or focus on what is wrong rather than what can be made better.
Coming up with a good solution requires having an open mind and a willingness to try out different things until you find what works best.
Mindset plays an important role here because it influences how we look at situations. Positive outlooks lead to tons of options, while negative views are limited to only a few.
2) A positive mindset gives you power over who you become
If we believe that we are fixed and unable to change, then there isn’t much we can do to improve our lives or become better people. A fixed mindset comes down to the belief that we are fixed and can’t change, but that is the opposite of the truth; we always have the option to change.
If you don’t have a target or goal, you will go with the flow and become whatever the system decides. However, if you believe that you can change, you can choose who and what you want to become.
3) Enables you to deal with setbacks and obstacles
People who have a fixed or negative mindset will see obstacles as setbacks that can’t be resolved or moved beyond. In some cases, this might seem true because our problems appear to be big, but often they only look that way because of our perspective on them.
Every time we face a challenge, we have the choice to let it define us, or we can see it as a chance to grow and discover better opportunities. Having a positive mindset enables us to look at challenges and instead see opportunities.
If you don’t believe that you can improve or get better, you will have many problems moving forward. Whereas, if you are always looking at the best possible outcome, everything is an opportunity if you allow it to be.
4) Gives your inner voice a productive purpose
We all have a voice inside our heads that gives us feedback whether we want it or not. At times, our inner voice might push negativity or make us feel bad about ourselves, but if we are willing to work at it, we can train our minds to look at things more productively.
This isn’t to say we won’t get discouraged at times, but we will get encouragement rather than defeat if we work on a positive mindset.
Your inner voice might be tempted to say, “you suck” when you fail, but if we try to nurture a more positive outlook, you might find it saying, “while you failed this time, you can improve by working on this or that.”
5) Enables you to develop better habits
We are mainly a series of habits, and while we tend to think of habits as good or bad, most of them are neutral. We develop most of our patterns without even realizing it is happening; they sometimes just come with the situation.
However, people who believe we are fixed or unable to change will think that they can do nothing about their habits. In contrast, people who believe that change is possible will look at habits as behaviours that can be changed or improved upon.
Once you’ve taught yourself to look at the best of every situation, you open yourself up to improvement by replacing your bad habits with good ones.
6) A positive mindset enables you to live a more meaningful life
This site focuses on how to live a meaningful life, so it is essential to talk about the role that mindset plays. The reality is that the meaning of each of our lives is up to us, so to find meaning, we need to accept that it is possible then work out how to get there.
For me, meaning comes from doing the things that make me feel good and contribute to the world’s betterment. Having a positive outlook means you will see the challenge of finding meaning as a problem that can be solved. Once you’ve accepted this possibility, you open yourself up to finding a solution.
I’ve always sought meaning in my life, but once I accepted that it was possible to create meaning and live with it, it became easier to make it a reality.
7) A positive mindset gives you the power to choose
If we feel powerless and out of control, we will often go with what everyone else is doing or what we think we are supposed to do. I thought that I had to follow the rules for most of my life, even though those rules only existed inside my head.
As I got older and gained more experience, I realized that it was up to me if I wanted something. Having a fixed mindset might have us believe that we are a product of our environments and there is nothing we can do to change it, but that is not the case.
We have the power to choose the life that we want, but to do that, we must first believe that we can change and make better choices.
8) Mindset enables you to frame your thoughts in a productive way
If you have ever meditated, you might have come to realize that your mind is throwing thoughts in all directions with no regard for what you want to think about. And while we have no control over what we think about, we do have control over how we deal with what we think about.
Any time your mind throws an idea at your consciousness, you have the option to choose what that thought means. Do you take it positively or negatively? When you fail or don’t get what you want, do you get upset, or do you look at what you did wrong and try to find a better resolution next time?
We can’t control many things, but if we have a positive mindset, we are more likely to see the good in a situation rather than the bad.
9) A positive mindset allows you to change your perceptions of the past
If I am candid, in the past, I was much more negative; however, over the years, I have shifted my perception to be more positive.
A huge learning experience for me was with Jordan Peterson’s self-authoring program. The program asks us to look back on previous occasions and see them in the more objective light of today. If you have a more positive outlook today, you might come to realize that previous experiences weren’t as bad as you remembered them to be.
Our perceptions are malleable, so we have the power to change how we view events from the past. If you want to have a more positive outlook today, it is helpful to analyze your history and see if what you thought before makes any sense today.
10) A positive mindset allows you to have better relationships
In real life, relationships can be complicated as it is hard to know what other people are thinking or what they want. Having a fixed mindset, you might believe that your relationships are the way they are and nothing can be changed, but that is not the case.
Having a positive mindset and the belief that things can be changed and improved gives you the power to have better relationships. You might not be getting along with someone right now, but that isn’t permanent; you and them can always improve the situation.
If you are open to the possibility of improving your circumstances, this can also be applied to your relationships.
11) A positive mindset enables you to be a better leader
People are always more willing to follow people who make them feel good about themselves and what they do. People with a negative mindset will make bad leaders because they focus on people’s shortcomings rather than their abilities.
To be a good leader, you need to motivate your team and push them towards better outcomes. But to do that requires having a positive outlook and the belief that improvements and change are possible.
Leaders lead by encouraging their teams to head in the right direction; they can do this by having a positive mindset and believing that positive outcomes are possible.
Hopefully, this list of 11 ways that a positive mindset matters can help you realize how important it is to keep your mindset in check.
My question to you is, do you have a positive mindset? And if so, what are you doing to encourage it in yourself and others? Do you know of any benefits of a positive mindset that I forgot?