We’ve all heard of the power of positive thinking and how it can make you succeed in business, careers, sport and even relationships, but how do you make it happen?

People in business are generally positive unless they’ve been forced into work by loved ones, or maybe that should be non-loving ones, or the regular taste of failure has turned them to the dark side.
And being on the dark side is not just bad for your soul it’s generally bad for your bottom line.

The number-one goal of any businessperson should be to be positive. There are many things that go wrong in business, a smart business owner/leader should have systems in place to reinvigorate the workplace.

Whenever ‘you know what’ happens you must have a bounce back strategy so you can ditch the blues pertaining to a single issue and get motivated and focused on the main game.

Plan of attack
Dr John Lang, who has managed health clinics for years, says the trick is ‘get motivated and then stay that way’. He has analysed the big downers that can take away from the central game plan — to be positive, to be focused and to be in a position to kick goals.

He recommends the following for anyone determined to succeed:
First, you must have a B-plan to beat temptations to be slack. If you are running each morning when it rains have a B-plan, which could be an indoor activity. This advice is relevant as it gives the good intentions to perform better a more solid foundation.

Second, manage stressful situations. Rank problems, so you don’t waste too much time trying to solve relatively unimportant issues. This is really a time management strategy and getting this right is at the core of most successful people’s plans.

Third, manage irrational perceptions to build up great coping skills. Lang talks of a bag of tricks to cope with stressful situations.Tricks like having someone to take over a phone call when the caller is stressing you out is a good plan.

Taking someone out to an invigorating place, such as Bridgeclimb, could be a great idea if you wanted to make a non-team player think about the importance of teamwork and systems.

Next, don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. Some people never take the step to be a full-time business and others fail to get further than a home-based business because they fear the unknown and don’t want to give up their comfort zone; i.e. often staying in the one place, you are held back by being labelled as too small or home-based.

The fifth one might shock you — get good sleep. It not only makes you grumpy which can affect the way you deal with people, it reduces your immunity and can leave you prone to illnesses.

Sleep also creates an anti-ageing hormone, so being tired not only makes you feel old, it makes you look it!

Sleep is also critical to energy levels, which are important to being positive. Combined with good health management, as well as diet, we are more likely to bound out of bed each morning in a positive frame of mind.

Sixth, invest in a healthy life program. Gym junkies can be annoyingly excessive, but they’re positive and the results are obvious!

By Peter Switzer, published on 29/07/2008

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