What causes this need for a positive mindset?

Structural changes often result in a leaner workforce leading to a heavier workload for individual team members and a more demanding working environment to be in. Naturally, this results in additional pressure and undue stress for us as employees, which, more often than not, they take home, impacting them outside of the workplace.

We are all human, it’s only natural for us to be concerned and worry about our workloads. But what this does is tips the work-life balance scales in the favour of work, leading to an unhappy and less engaged employee long term due to potential burn-out or a lack of understanding of task and time management.

Additionally, what we are seeing in younger generations is lack of confidence, especially when taking on new roles or responsibilities. 70% of us suffer from Impostor Syndrome, which is impacting our performance within our roles, as well as our careers. A person who feels like a fraud often takes a negative approach to their work, their successes and their overall talent. This lack of confidence can subconsciously impact the working environment, with the energy rubbing off on others around us.

The importance of a positive mindset.

A positive mindset isn’t just necessary for the workplace, it’s necessary for our psyche full stop. If we begin to fall into the pessimistic trap and act more negatively, we’ll often find our day is rather negative. We’ll also find how our negative mindset can impact our energy levels – we become tired quicker and are more lethargic regarding day-to-day tasks.

Additionally, we take our negativity out on others and this can impact relationships/friendships, which can have a detrimental impact on our psyche generally. Overall, the negative mindset can see us spiral out of control before we know it.

This is why the emphasis on a positive nature is important. Just as negativity can push others away and stop you achieving your goals, positive works in the opposite way.

We are naturally drawn to positivity. Thus, when exuding a positive mindset, we attract those to us who want to feel this positive energy. Positivity breeds positivity isn’t a cliché for a reason – we love to be around positive people. Positive people have a generally healthy and happy outlook on life and we want to feel this ourselves, so we connect with them. For the benefit of your working life, this can impact not only your mind but your feelings too. Making you happier, calmer, and also helping you to be excited about the potentially more mundane tasks at work.

Being positive also helps spark creativity too – a positive mind is open to ideas and absorbs information much more than a negative one.

How to improve your positive mindset.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a positive mindset. It takes time and effort – and when you have a negative mindset, this can be a problem for you.

Firstly, the process of writing three good things down each day works wonders. It’s a stalwart component of adopting a positive psychology in order to evoke a positive emotion.

Additionally, write down successes you make; create criteria for what counts as a success. Is it a colleague saying “thank you” for helping me? Is it a manager saying “good job” or a client seeing improvements as a result of your work? Determine what success looks like to you and achieve it.

Secondly, you should consider celebrating successes; whether that be your own or your colleagues. If something is done well and appreciated, both parties will receive positive endorphins that celebration of success creates. This positive feeling can spread quickly and create positive working relationships for those who appreciate you celebrating success with them.

If social scenarios aren’t for you, celebrate with a reward. If you’ve finished a big piece of work or delivered a project on time, budget and to a great standard treat yourself to a coffee as a reward. Start to train your mind to recognise positivity from the work that you’re doing.

Finally, do something you appreciate at least once a day. Whether that be a morning walk, or reading a book, do something that makes you feel good about yourself. Happiness is the key to a successful life, and we should all take time to appreciate what we have around us.