When you fail to get that promotion or pass that interview, the last thing you want to hear from friends and family is to “stay positive.” Life just threw a spanner (or monkey wrench) in the works, and as far as you can tell, being positive about it won’t help at all. Fortunately, this isn’t true. A positive mindset can have an incredible effect on your life, especially when it comes to career prospects.

But before we get to that, let’s talk a little about our old friend negativity. It’s a familiar and all too easy emotion to cling to, but if we allow it to fester, it can consume us. Having a negative outlook on any aspect of your life is severely limiting as it tends to chip away at our self-esteem and confidence. And left unchecked, it can affect us so badly that we fail to function to the best of our abilities. I’m sure you’ve all had the “why bother?” moment at some stressful junction in your career.

However, as much as negativity can constrain us, positivity can set us free. It’s the vessel that carries success into every aspect of your life, so why should your career be any different. It worked for the most successful business people in the world, so why not you?

Let’s look at it this way: The odds of being born a billionaire are 1 out of 957,419, which seems a little low when you think about it. However, this infographic tells us that there are 2,325 billionaires in the world at last count, and most of those people started out just like you. They came from diverse backgrounds, went to regular schools all over the world and most didn’t have a trust fund as a fallback (although maybe a few did). Yet there is one thing that connects every one of them, and that is a positive outlook.

Did Steve Jobs give up when his own company fired him? Of course, he didn’t. He harnessed his positive energy and threw himself back into his work before a triumphant return that shook the corporate world. The same could be said for many CEOs and start-up founders. Every one of them (well, the successful ones at least) never gave up.

So, what does this have to do with your career? Well, you may not take over the world of telecommunications like Mr. Jobs did, but you will enjoy more success at work. And here’s how.

Being positive in the workplace makes you a better communicator and an easy-to-approach colleague. So, when push comes to shove, you’re more likely to get support from your colleagues during presentations or when you want to implement changes. It also helps you cultivate a work persona that your team members will respect and look up to.

And being treated this way inevitably leads to a boost in self-confidence. You are more likely to take a chance and act on your ideas rather than harboring them for fear of failure. Your newfound self-confidence can also have an effect on those around you as they feel inspired by your drive and positivity. And inspired employees make for productive and successful ones.

All the effects I listed above are the kind of things that supervisors and C-level professionals look out for when they need to fill a high-level role. An employee that is confident, inspires those around them and isn’t afraid to take the initiative from time to time. Sounds like the perfect candidate for promotion or to start a new role, wouldn’t you think?

You can see where I’m going with this. Positive people affect not only themselves but everyone around them. And such positivity is one of the most desirable traits in a potential employee or even a friend. So, do yourself a favor, and the next time our old friend negativity rears its ugly head, turn your back and remember that with a positive outlook, you can achieve anything.

Shift Frequency © 2018 – A positive mindset increases
your career prospects