For a few years now, my trademark phrase has been “Be relentlessly positive”.
Most people really love the phrase, as a matter of fact, for almost the entire year of 2010, I used it at least twice or three times a week on Facebook and Twitter in posts, and always got really powerful reactions from people.
Being relentlessly positive means that you are consciously making the choice to choose something positive rather than choosing some form of misery in our lives. We often defer our own happiness and choose instead to embrace the less than positive aspects that pop up almost daily. We have somehow convinced ourselves we don’t actually have the power to choose something more positive and uplifting on a continual, routine basis.
If we fail to recognize the choices we are making will lead to our happiness or our depression is to give up our power. That’s never a good idea!
I believe wholeheartedly, that being relentlessly positive is a key way for every person and leader to build the strength we need to face the challenges of our lives and career in our world.
So, how do we do that? Good question.
You must become addicted to being relentlessly positive. In the words of Huey Lewis, you have to want a new drug…one that won’t make you sick. You have to want to have additional strength, and have a deep desire that will carry you through the persecution you may feel when not going with the negative crowd. Yes, there will be peer pressure to be a bitcher and complainer, which is a large aspect of the relentless in being relentlessly positive.
Relentlessly positive people are:
stronger
confident
happier
creative
healthier
Big trap warning: Here’s a big trap we fall into. When we don’t seemingly have the strength to do what will make us happy, it’s hard for us to admit to ourselves that we don’t currently have what it takes, so we tend to rationalize and start to get down telling ourselves we don’t know what to do or how to do what we need to do. Many times it’s not the how or what we are lacking, it’s the strength and resiliency.
Let’s turn that around and get started in the other direction. Remember, I said get started. Starting is the hardest part, right?
To get relentlessly positive, we have to practice. Learn to love practicing! Practice just knowing that practicing makes you better.
Here are some steps for you:
1. Choose to do something non-competitive that makes you feel strong every day and devote an hour to doing it.
2. Is it possible for you to do it easily and it doesn’t take a great deal of mental effort to do it well.
3. You can do it alone or rarely with others but it does not depend on others for you to do it.
4. You believe it has some either physical, mental or spiritual value for you.
5. You believe that if you persist in it, you will improve, but you are the only one who measures that improvement.
6. The activity must have the quality that you can do it without criticizing yourself. If you can’t accept yourself during this time, your attempt to start to become relentlessly positive will not work. IMPORTANT: When you accept who you are and do what’s necessary to improve shortcomings (including negativity), you will begin to consistently perform at increased and eventually your best levels.
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