What is a positive mindset?

Positivity doesn’t simply means smiling and looking cheerful. A positive mompreneur mindset is more about our overall perspective and ability to focus on all that is good in life.

“Positive thinking is a mental and emotional attitude that focuses on the bright side of life and expects positive results.”

Positive thinking actually means approaching life’s challenges with a positive outlook. It does not necessarily mean avoiding or ignoring the bad things; instead, it involves making the most of the potentially bad situations, trying to see the best in other people, and viewing yourself and your abilities in a positive light.

Having a positive mindset means making positive thinking a habit. Continually searching for the silver lining and making the best out of any situation you find yourself in.

Characteristics and traits of a positive mindset:

So, now we know what a positive mindset is, we can dive into the next important question: What does it look like? There are many traits and characteristics associated with a positive mindset, including:

1. Optimism: a willingness to make an effort and take a chance instead of assuming your efforts won’t pay of
2. Acceptance: acknowledging that things don’t always turn out how you want them to, but learning from your mistakes.
3. Resilience: bouncing back from adversity, disappointment, and failure instead of giving up.
4. Gratitude: actively, continuously appreciating the good things in your life (Blank, 2017).
5. Consciousness / Mindfulness: dedicating the mind to conscious awareness and enhancing the ability to focus.
6. Integrity: the trait of being honorable, righteous, and straightforward, instead of self-serving 

Not only are these characteristics of a positive mindset, but they may also work in the other direction—actively adopting optimism, acceptance, resilience, gratitude, mindfulness, and integrity in your life will help you develop and maintain a positive mindset.

Why is a positive attitude the key to success?

Now we know a little bit more about what a positive mindset looks like, we can turn to one of the biggest questions of all: What’s the deal with having a positive attitude? What is it about having a positive mindset that is so important, so impactful, so life-changing?

The Importance of Developing the Right Thoughts

Developing a truly positive mindset and gaining these benefits is a function of the thoughts you cultivate. We don’t claim that just “thinking happy thoughts” will bring you all the success you desire in life, and we certainly don’t believe that optimism is warranted in every situation, every minute of the day.

Developing the right thoughts is not about being constantly happy or cheerful, and it’s not about ignoring anything negative or unpleasant in your life. It’s about incorporating both the positive and negative into your perspective and choosing to still be generally optimistic. It’s about acknowledging that you will not always be happy and learning to accept bad moods and difficult emotions when they come.

Above all, it’s about increasing your control over your own attitude in the face of whatever comes your way. You cannot control your mood, and you cannot always control the thoughts that pop into your head, but you can choose how you handle them. When you choose to give in to the negativity, pessimism, and doom-and-gloom view of the world, you are not only submitting to a loss of control and potentially wallowing in unhappiness—you are missing out on an important opportunity for personal growth and development.

According to positive psychology, negative thinking, and negative emotions have their place: they allow you to sharpen your focus on dangers, threats, and vulnerabilities.  On the other hand, positive thinking and positive emotions broaden our skills, and open us up to possibilities.

Building a positive framework for your thoughts is not about being bubbly and annoyingly cheerful, but making an investment in yourself and your future. It’s okay to feel down or think pessimistically sometimes, but choosing to respond with optimism, resilience, and gratitude will benefit you far more in the long run.

7 practical tips to build a positive mindset

1. :Start the day with positive affirmations.
2. Focus on the good things, however small they are.
3. Find humor in bad situations.
4. Turn failures into lessons—and learn from them!
5. Transform negative self-talk into positive self-talk.
6. Focus on the present instead of getting mired in the past or losing your way in the future.
7. Find positive friends, mentors, and peers to support and encourage you.

Want to think more positively?

Do you want to learn how to think more positively? Well, here’s some good news.
Science suggests that positive thinking is indeed a learnable skill. But how do you learn it? What techniques and exercises are most likely to help you boost your positive thinking skills?

Want to cultivate this important skill?
Read more about techniques and simple exercises for positive thinking.