How can we flip our thinking to see the positive side of life? A positive attitude towards our successes or failures in life is, according to Brian Tracy and W Clement Stone, not only about looking at ourselves in a "constructive and optimistic way", it's an opportunity to stop, reflect, regroup "and try again". These two references give us valuable clues as to how we can begin to look at our lives, particularly those aspects that aren't working for us, through a new and fresh lens.

Exploring Your Experiences

To begin changing the lens you look through to make it more positive, as well as deepening your self understanding, it’s useful to answer the following questions:

1. What are your expectations of the outcome of any situation you enter? Do you generally expect the best or do you expect to be derailed?

2. What words go through your mind whilst you’re engaging in any given project?

3. What do you say to yourself when you’ve successfully completed a project?

The answers to these questions will help shine a light on how you think and act in different situations. This understanding will then assist you to begin making positive changes to your thinking patterns, which, over time, will positively impact your behaviour.

Choosing Your Words

The above questions will begin to explore the words you use on a daily basis. Our thinking influences the words we utter, but in turn, what we say also influences our thinking patterns. In order to become more conscious of any disempowering words you use, try the following activity:

1. Divide a sheet of paper in half

2. On the left, write down the common negative words and phrases you tend to use every day.

3. On the right choose alternative, more empowering words and phrases designed to get you thinking differently.

For example, on the left you may write the word "problem", and on the right you may choose to write the word "issue" or "challenge". The word “issue” descales the gravity of the situation in your mind (potentially positively influencing how you engage with it), whereas the word “challenge” enables you to see the situation as an empowering test.

Managing Your Self Talk

Your self talk is one of the keys to flipping your thinking over into the positive. Developing empowering self talk can help change your mindset, which can have a powerful knock on effect to your behaviour and hence your results. Some examples of positive, constructive self-talk phrases that may help you begin to transform your mindset are:

• I’ve resolved challenges in the past, and I’ll resolve them again

• Until I face adversity, I’ll never know to extent of my potential

• I’ve come through worse than this, and I’m still here!

• I’ve got this! I can do this! I love a challenge!

• Each day that dawns is an opportunity to start afresh

Using the examples above, or drafting your own, craft 5-10 powerful phrases that not only resonate with you, but will pick you up during those darker times.

When you put the above concepts into action, you increase the chances of you seeing yourself, others and the world through a new, fresh and more positive perspective. This newfound viewpoint can then help to influence both your behaviour and the results that show up in your life.