Having worked with many wonderful teenagers, young adults, and parents over the years, some who start out with me with no idea what they want to do next in life, some who know the what and why but not the how, I always have one consistent message in my coaching sessions. Being more positive in your behaviours and language makes room for far greater satisfaction, success, and reward in your life.
Here are my top 7 tips for creating a positive approach. The good news is that having a successful career is something that is largely in your own control.
"Whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy."
- Brian Tracy
#1 Recognise Your Current Mind-set
Negativity limits, constrains, and tears down. Being positive has the opposite effect – it builds, repairs, and protects. Listening to ourselves, and thinking about how we react to challenges or new opportunities is a great way to benchmark how positive we are right now, and helps us figure out what we need or want to change.
#2 Get Sassy with Your Inner Voice
Learn to talk back to your inner voice, and stop negative self-talk in its tracks. ‘I don’t know how to do that yet’ is very different from ‘I can’t do that’, and changing the way we speak to ourselves is the first step in changing our approach from negativity to positivity and possibility. Once we have our inner voice under control, monitoring what language we use with others gets a whole lot easier too.
#3 Focus on What Makes You Happy
The bedrock of career success is making confident choices built on your individual strengths and motivations. Self-confidence and positivity go hand in hand, and self-confidence means recognition and awareness of your abilities, interests, and feelings. Focus on your strengths, your motivations, and your aspirations. It’s hard to be positive doing something you hate!
#4 Believe in Yourself
You need to believe in yourself – your abilities, skills, and interests – to take the leap into an aspiration. In order to believe in yourself, you first have to believe that what you want is possible. The more self-awareness you have, the more possible your goals will be, rooted in a realistic career path, and opening up a future you can trust is right for you. At The Bedrock Program, everything we do is focused on preparing for a lifetime, not just for that next job.
#5 Be Willing to Learn
A positive mind believes that it must take risks and go beyond boundaries
When a person has a fixed mind-set, they believe that their basic abilities, intelligence, and talents are fixed traits. In a growth mind-set, however, individuals believe their abilities and intelligence can be developed with effort, learning, and persistence.
Celebrate your successes, and learn from your failures. In the words of Albert Einstein, a person who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. We are all human, which makes it tough for us to hear less than great feedback, but always ask yourself, “What can I learn from this experience?” and move on.
Being open to feedback and willingness to learn is one of the most important qualities employers look for when hiring new employees. According to a study conducted by global staffing firm Robert Hall, 84% of HR managers reported their company is open to hiring an employee whose skills can be developed through training.
#6 Choose Your Attitude
Between stimulus and response, there is a space where we choose our response.
You choose your attitude the moment you wake up. You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward it, and decide what happens next.
The best-selling FISH! Philosophy book (Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, John Christensen) is based on a visit to the famous Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle, Washington, where John witnessed how fish sellers had turned a monotonous job in cold conditions into a world-famous attraction.
FISH! = Choose your attitude; play; make someone's day; and be there
There is always part of every project or role that doesn’t float our boat as much as other elements. Choosing to do a great job nonetheless is an active decision, and that discipline and determination is what is needed for real career success.
#7 Take Ownership for Everything You Do
Simply showing up isn’t good enough, whether it’s for a course, a team project, or a family celebration. Be present, be active and give it your full attention at that moment. Ownership is taking the initiative to bring about positive results, and be willing to commit. As more and more companies move to Values-Based Recruitment, prioritizing specific values, beliefs, and aspirations when attracting, hiring, and promoting individuals, the skills of taking ownership and being reliable are up there at the top of the screening list.
At The Bedrock Program, we work with our clients to identify and manage self-damaging ways of thinking, feeling and behaving, and replace them with confidence in what they love to do, and what they know they can achieve with the right effort and attitude.
Everyone dreams of having a highly successful career that they enjoy, whether still at school, looking for their first graduate job, or looking to change direction. Choosing to be positive is the first step.
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