Positivity is for strong ones. Negativity is for wimps.

My colleagues think that I am positive.

“You will never say that something cannot be done”
“You have such high energy”
“You have always new ideas”"
“You always find solutions”

My wife knows that I am not that positive.

I have been so negative that when I think it now, I disgust myself. Negativity is ugly. It is a monster that you don’t want to have in your head. When you fall in to negativity, it is vicious circle.

Not everything is fun, motivating or incredibly cool. It is part of life, but don’t waste your energy to negativity.

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough ― Oprah Winfrey

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I have started to develop my own tools to stay positive and to control my thoughts. Negativity is huge productivity and energy eater. It will exhaust me and it will eat time. That is why I try to be positive. Positivity is a tool for better productivity and better productivity is a tool for positivity

Positive thoughts are faster than negative.

That’s right. Positive thoughts are LESS time-consuming than negative thoughts.

When you complain, you will take more time to complain than you would do if you would say something nice.

Follow people around you. When they talk negative things, the discussion with negativity takes much more time than the discussion with positive tone.

Negative thoughts stay in your mind longer than positive thoughts and they are easier and faster to find and pickup from your brain.  Think about it.

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Negativity Bias is a term from science. It is not exactly same than my observation of negativity being more time-consuming than positivity, but it is a researched fact that negativity is stronger than positivity.

The researchers have found that negativity bias has strong influence how we feel how our work day went. Even the smallest positive progress during the day results a “good day”, but any small setback can cause “bad day”. Negative setbacks are twice as strong than positive gains when measuring the happiness

It is easier to be negative than positive. 74% of english words describing the personality are negative.

We tend to think that people who give negative criticism are smarter than people giving positive criticism.

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Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny. ― Mahatma Gandhi

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How to stay positive and avoid negative thoughts?

1. Focus

Focus to the things you do. Focus to the tasks and finish them. If you focus fiercely to your tasks and projects, there is no space for negative thoughts. Work your ass off.

Even crappy work becomes more fun if you put extra power to it.

2. Disconnect

When you hear negative talks around you. Leave the room. Don’t listen. Go to toilet.

3. When you feel that negativity is raising. Shut up.

Don’t continue. Just shut up. Don’t talk negative. It just takes time and it feeds itself.

4. Never say negative things about other people.

It is so easy to get fooled to talk negative things. You don’t gain anything by saying bad things about others. There is NO benefit. It is just waste of time.

5. When you are pissed. Go elsewhere. Take a walk. Run. And shut up.

Do I need to say more?

You need to cut it. Take a break, take a distance and disconnect. Even if you would need to run 100 meters. Do it.

6. Remind yourself that you are in control.

If you hate your job or otherwise feel stuck, remind yourself that you are not victim. You can quit at any time. Even reminding that you can act and you are in control eases up negative feelings.

Remind yourself that you are not victim and you are not your circumstances. You are in control of many things and you can always make improvements and changes.

“When things go wrong, don’t go with them.” ― Elvis Presley

7. Surround yourself with right people

Don’t hang out with negative people.

Stay with people who give you more energy. It is easiest way to have positivity in your life.

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If you are not overly positive by nature, positivity or at least avoiding negative feelings requires work and habits. You will develop habits over time if you want. More you avoid negative feelings, negative talks, more positive you will be. Your negative habits will turn to positive habits.

Not many people understand that you need to and you CAN work with your thoughts.

That said. Even the science backs up the fact that being negative is a lot easier than having positive thoughts. Next time you see that complaining co-worker you know that he is NOT smarter than you. He has just chosen the easiest path. He might be in comfort zone.

Positivity is for strong ones. Negativity is for wimps. There is nothing more pathetic than complaining without taking actions to improve.

 

 Photo Credit Flickr twm1340