5 Things Successful People Do on Weekends

Optimism: an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome. – Merriam-Webster Dictionary

There are three frames of mind where you’ll most often find yourself: optimistic, pessimistic, and apathetic.

Optimism is the feeling or belief allowing the ability to perceive and understand challenges as impermanent and surmountable. In short, optimistic people seek the best outcome in each and every situation.

Contrast this with pessimism. These individuals often perceive challenges as insurmountable roadblocks that make it either impossible or extremely difficult to move forward. Sadly, pessimism takes the prize as the leading cause of broken dreams.

Finally, there is apathy – a lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern. Total, complete indifference is probably the only thing worse than pessimism. Why? Because there is no effort, passion, fight or struggle to be seen in apathetic people.

Now, if we are honest with ourselves, we can admit to feeling all three of these mindsets at some point in our lives. There’s a good chance that we are feeling one of these mindsets right now. The truth is we all need to feel more optimistic and a little more hopeful in our daily lives.

Here are some good reasons to be more optimistic. . .

4 Reasons Optimism is the Ultimate Success Formula

Reason #1: More people will trust and respect you. 

Co-workers, friends, family, and those you interact with will see your positivity and optimism and immediately respect and admire you for it. Trust and respect are two things that no amount of money or power can earn, and are huge factors in your quest for success and happiness.

Reason #2: People will be drawn to you.

When’s the last time you saw a Debbie Downer receiving admiration and praise? Not that you need constant approval from people, but you at least want to seem approachable and likeable. Right?

Optimists have magnetic energy, and people love that.

Reason #3: It is vital to success in anything.

Optimism is irreplaceable for success in business and in life, as optimists are incredibly resilient and strong individuals. They are seen as reliable, trustworthy, respectable, and confident individuals. Obviously, this has a tremendous impact both on what you believe you’re capable of and what others believe you are capable of. People want to know that you believe in yourself before they believe in you.

Reason #4: You are mentally and physically healthier.

When the Mayo Clinic, the top hospital in the United States, is publishing work on the health benefits of positive thinking and optimism, it’s a BIG deal.

Indeed, the organization has reported the following benefits to positive thinking and optimism: increased life span, lower rates of depression, lower rates of distress, greater resistance to illness, better coping with stress, lower risk of death from heart disease, and better overall mental and physical wellbeing.

In conclusion: be more optimistic! Granted, it can be very difficult at times – but it’s doable. It all starts with self-talk or the endless stream of thoughts running through your mind. There are many, many ways to induce more positive thinking into your thoughts– meditation, prayer, rest, exercise, and on and on.

Just find what works best in activating your optimistic brain and stick with it.

Stay optimistic, friends!

Join the Conversation: Why do you stay optimistic?

We all stumble, trip, or fall at certain points in life.  Many people bounce back right away, but some grow depressed, angry, or have difficult times finding their way out of the hole altogether.  No matter how many falls one makes, each one teaches a lesson. How well we learn those lessons determines how well we can bounce back.  Not only does it measure our resilience, it ultimately serves as an integral part of our unique character.

“What defines us is how well we rise after falling.” – Unknown

Now is the time to turn the corner on conquest.  It is your time to rise. 

Here are 5 ways to help you create a better bounce back in life:

yes

1. “Just say no” to no

Sometimes, you may find yourself in an experience where you just don’t feel right.  When you’re experiencing this, don’t be afraid to say no.  This “no” can be delivered to the physical experiences in life where you don’t feel comfortable.  And just as in the physical, it can be to the non-physical, in the form of negative thoughts trying to creep in or find fault in your positive thinking.

Your intuition is guiding you toward your own personal best, not someone else’s.  You deserve to follow that inner guide, and grow into the best “you” that you can be.

2. Reinforce your desires

If you want what you actually want, instead of what you don’t want, it’s important to call in backup for the battle of your mind. The reinforcement you want can be brought about through positive affirmations (click here to read more about them, and how to use them), mirror work, and many other positive thinking practices. You can also find like-minded communities to help you.  No matter what, your goal is to ultimately get out of the funk, or avoid it in the first place altogether.

And if you have a hard time asking for help from others, remember that it’s ok to ask for help from those around you.  Everyone has a perspective on some experience that can provide value.

3. Just say yes to yes

As you reinforce your desires, you’ll find that opportunities for those desires to be attained will come into view.  When these opportunities come, seize them!  If you ordered a salad at dinner and they bring it to you, you wouldn’t normally ask for the soup instead, would you?  Carpe opportunitatem! (Seize the opportunity!)

4. Be grateful, not hateful

When the opportunity arises for you to express angst toward someone, or have a negative attitude, it’s time to press the gratitude button.  If someone cuts you off on the highway, instead of yelling at them and serving the “one figure salute”, take advantage of the current moment to express gratitude for your awareness, or for the function of your vehicle’s brakes.  Remember, no matter what the story, it could always be written worse.

5. Give yourself room to wiggle

If you don’t reach your desired bounce-back point, that’s ok – nobody’s perfect.  Be grateful for the progress you’ve made, any amount gives us growth.  Even if it’s a little bit of regress, it may just be giving you something more to learn before your next big bounce-back.

Here’s to overcoming every challenge life has to offer.   Let’s talk about how you’ve used these tips to your advantage in the discussion below!

Nearly every expert speaks highly of a daily “to-do” list.  This list is supposed to cure stress and make you more productive and successful, right? So, we propose the idea of a different kind of daily list to create success in life.  It’s called  The “Like List Challenge”

Every day you have two choices. You can focus on what you like or what you don’t like. Essentially, you create your life based on where you keep your focus.

With every thought and word, you either add to the “Like List” or the “Do Not Like List”.

Which list are you adding more to right now?

For the next 24 hours,  consciously monitor your thoughts and words. 

Here is how you can take the “Like List Challenge.”

Observe what happens throughout the day, record the daily summary of your thoughts and conversations on paper.

If you find yourself with a large majority on the “Like List”, congratulations! You are allowing positivity to flow through you freely, which will result in more happiness, gratitude, fulfillment, love, and success. Your focus is on the positive direction and you will continue to see more abundance.

If you find yourself adding many items to the opposite list, the “Do Not Like List”, you are creating more limitations on yourself.  The limitations in your life are there because of your focus on negative thoughts.

When you begin to release your limiting belief systems and stop adding to the do not like list, you create space for the things you do want.

It’s very important that through this process you are easy and gentle with yourself. You’re not perfect. You may add to the do not like list sometimes, but that happens. In fact,  to a degree, knowing what we do not want can lead us closer to what we do want. It can give us experience and knowledge so we can grow our “Like List Challenge” circle and ask friends to join in.

Ideally, you want to keep your focus mainly on the “Like List”. Keep your “Do Not Like List” at a minimum, only using it as a tool to understand more about your like list, and adding to it.

Overall, strive to have 75% of your thoughts, words, actions, and reactions positive.

Keeping this strong focus on the things you like, will bring you more of what you like. The same is true for the other list.

So, YES it is really that simple.

You have the ability to allow your mind to be a fresh sheet of paper – a new list. You can write whatever you want on it, whatever feels good to you and is for your highest good.

Take the Like List Challenge and let me know what you find in the comments. Better yet, tag us on Facebook<3