“Whatever you hold in your mind on a consistent basis is exactly what you will experience in your life.” – Tony Robbins

I have been focusing on positivity a lot in 2019. Positive thoughts create a positive mindset, which is momentum for positive actions and results. I will disclose that positivity does not come naturally for me. The positive people around me have encouraged me to make it a priority, and I have started to recognize that negativity gets you absolutely nowhere. There is no productivity to be had in a negative mindset, and productivity is kind of “my thing.” Two of my top strengths are restorative and responsibility. Being restorative means that my talents drive me to succeed, and I am often focused on doing better in many aspects of my life. I am motivated by the productivity that comes from day to day life. When this strength meets my responsibility, I become relentless in my attempt to achieve a goal. Right now, that goal is maintaining positivity.

Life is full of challenges. Frankly, without challenges, most of us would be unemployed. However, all of the stress, the worries, and the dread of Mondays are just distractions from actually working on one’s task at hand. There will always be hard times in life, but facing them with a positive mindset is half of the battle. Living life with a positive mindset is a practice. It requires much thought, intention and redirection.

Here are just a few things that help me with my intention to remain positive.

Start each day with appreciation

Each morning I make a list of three things that I am grateful for and three things that I am looking forward to. I personally like to write mine down because then I can go back and look at them when I am feeling stress or worry. Some may prefer to accomplish this simply while getting ready for the day or on one’s commute to work. As long as you are focusing on things that are important to you, this is sure to start your day off on a joyful note.

Thought redirection

When I find myself being negative, I recognize it as soon as possible and redirect my thoughts. It feels good to be negative sometimes when life is not going your way, but it is not healthy for your mind and nothing good will ever come of it.

Here is an example:

Negative me: “I will never have time to get all of these tasks done today.”
Positive me: “Come on… You can get this done. Let’s sort this to do list and knock out each task one by one. It will feel so good to succeed today.”

Choose joy anyway

This may sound cliché, but when life gets hard, sometimes you have to intentionally choose joy anyway. Trouble will come and oftentimes stays for a while, but it does not have to be the constant focus of your thoughts. Commit to good thoughts, good actions, and the good people in your life. They will give you joy.