How Optimistic Are You?
Our happiness effects our leadership
Happiness is infectious and can "ripple" through social groups, according to US researchers. A study of 5,000 adults suggests a person's happiness is dependent on the happiness of those around them. So if we are taking a long hard look at ourselves – are we leading with happiness?
When we are happy and optimistic we tend to be more resilient and able to bounce back more easily from set backs and deal with life's ups and downs much more creatively.
Is your glass half-full or half-empty?
How you answer this question may;
Reflect your outlook on life and how you lead
Indicate whether you are more inclined to look at things in a more optimistic or pessimistic way.
Everyone has their ups and downs – it’s how we bounce back from the lower moments that makes things easier. Having an optimistic outlook on life has been found to have a significant, positive effect on peoples quality of life, such as our mental and physical well-being. It is also considered a key component in managing stress.
Optimism doesn’t mean ignoring the hard or challenging things in life, but it does mean changing how we might approach them. Do you have moments of looking at things negatively or naturally tend to have a more pessimistic outlook? It can feel difficult to re-adjust your perspective – with time and a little patience it is possible to start shifting our perspectives, simply by noticing the positives in our lives with gratitude and consideration.
Being a leader is a responsibility – if we relate our mindset to our leadership - what are we projecting onto others? What are we seeing play back to us? Do we like what we see? What do we need to adjust? The smallest of changes can really gain momentum and have an impressive impact on ourselves, individuals, teams, organisations and customers.
As leaders we are charged to get the best out of people – If we knew that by showing up with a grounded optimistic outlook we would get better results would we make the effort to change? Even if we already have a more positive mindset - can it be enhanced?
What might happen if we try? What might happen if we don’t?
When we are optimistic, we often find ways to continually improve and move forward. Even if optimism doesn’t come naturally - we can certainly learn, practice and evolve our thoughts. feelings and behaviours.
What strategies can you consider to create a culture of optimism in yourself and those around you?
Engage in daily positive mantras.
If you have a tendency to talk to yourself in a negative way, change it up and give yourself a positive mantra. Try telling yourself, “This will go right because I worked hard and this time I will succeed”. Simple positive affirmations can have a positive effect on your mindset.
Focus on what you do well
Celebrate your strengths and talents instead of concentrating on your weaknesses.
Focus on what you do well and what you are good at.
Don’t be down on yourself for everything you aren’t good at; instead, be kind to yourself and love who you already are.
Great things can happen when you feel a little uncomfortable.
Get out of your comfort zone
Cultivate unplanned and unrehearsed actions.
Encourage yourself to do things that are impulsive and impromptu. If you are a creature of habit, push yourself to the edge of your comfort zone.
Uncalculated action builds your optimistic muscle, so when you stop doing what you have always done, you start to get new results.
Find something that inspires you, so that you can inspire others.
Focus beyond yourself. If you know you have a tendency to be negative, do what you can to focus on something beyond yourself. Try to step outside of yourself, beyond the circumstances and situation, and past your pessimism.
Redirect your reaction into positivity.
Look for the silver lining
Learn to rethink every challenge and every adversity and always look for the opportunity.
Perhaps try to look at situations that triggers your negativity as opportunities to learn.
It is possible to teach yourself to redirect your reaction into positivity.
Avoid negative environments and people.
Avoid negativity altogether
This means doing what you can to avoid negative environments, people, and circumstances. It won’t be easy but make a true effort. If you know someone to be a complainer, consider distancing yourself until you feel able to avoid the potential draining effect this could have on you.
Nurture your well-being and do what you can to surround yourself with positive messaging daily. Consider watching inspirational videos or read motivational blogs or biographies. Find something that inspires you and nurtures you.
Be in control of what you can control.
When faced with challenges, failures or adversity, recognise what you CAN change and proactively try to find ways to do something about it.
Control the things you can control. Incredible things can happen when you decide to take control of what you DO have power over, instead of craving control over what you don’t.
Remember that happier equals healthier.
There is evidence that the immune systems of optimistic people are stronger than those of pessimists. Stay positive and you may be able to enjoy better health and encourage others to be healthier too!
Visualise winning
Every success starts within! If you don’t see yourself as a winner, then you are unlikely to perform as one.
The biggest challenge in any situation is to stay positive in a world that is filled with negativity.
How do you make optimism realistic?
To be successful, you need to understand the vital difference between believing you will succeed and believing you will succeed easily. This is the difference between being a realistic optimist and an unrealistic optimist.
A Realistic Optimists Believe:
That they will succeed, but they also believe they have to make success happen, through things like effort, careful planning, persistence and choosing the right strategies.
They recognise the need for giving serious thought to how they will deal with obstacles. This preparation increases their confidence in their own ability to get things done.
Unrealistic Optimists May Believe:
That success will happen to them.
That the universe will reward them for all their positive thinking.
That somehow, they will be transformed overnight into a person for whom obstacles cease to exist.
“To ensure you are working with realistic optimism, the key is to combine a positive attitude with an honest assessment of the challenges that await you. Don’t visualise success: visualise the steps you will take in order to make success happen.
So whether optimism comes easily to you or not – remember there are steps you can take to either increase or learn optimism.”
Here’s our takeaway - what’s yours?
Catch yourself with negative chatter e.g. “This always happens to me. I can never get a break.” This kind of thinking leads to inaction, helplessness, avoidance and conflict in the workplace.
With practice and time, focus your energy on areas of the situation that can be controlled. Figure out ways to solve problems creatively. When there is a setback or mistake, look for insights that will help you improve. When you do this as part of a team, you bring more so much more energy, creativity and potential solutions to the situation that some of us don’t realise we have with us. That’s true leadership magic. People feel connected because they have contributed in a positive way to the challenge/obstacle.
What ACTION will you now take?
What could you do differently to reap more rewards, and success, by being a consistent optimistic leader?
Which strategies can you adopt that support you in handling any situation that might arise.
When that next challenge arises, how will you check your mindset?
How can you engage your team in developing a culture of realistic optimism?
Remember, optimism can be learned, be conscious of your thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and step into a spiral that gathers positive momentum and injecting optimism within your team.
Need to shrug off negativity?
If you would like to break the pattern of negative thinking or simply supercharge your optimism, I would love to help.
“Our mindset is made up of our thoughts, feelings and actions - if we break the cycle we can change our reality and those that we inspire everyday with our optimistic leadership”