Look On The Bright Side

This week I read an interesting article on Linkedin titled 'The Positive Power of Negative Thinking'.  In it, the author argues that despite the perceived benefits of positive thinking, those who would define themselves as a pessimist are actually more successful when they focus on the reasons they're likely to fail because negative thinking transforms anxiety into action.  At the other end of the scale optimists tend to benefit from more confidence and thrive in jobs that require resilience and perseverance.

The key is to find the best of both worlds and strike a balance between the blue sky view and a more realistic assessment of any given situation. It's not a matter of thinking positively or negatively but the use of strategies that match our thinking style.

I'd like to say that I'm a glass is half full type of person, but in reality I tend to think on the negative side and about anything that can possibly go wrong. It turns out though that this can be a good thing.  In the same way that guilt acts as our moral compass, anxiety leads us to anticipate the worst and be prepared for it.  At work it means I can prevent things from going wrong and when planning events anticipate problems so that everything is under control on the day.

Personally, anxiety can tell us that we need to make changes, for example unresolved issues that need to be addressed or an unexpressed gift or desire. This can inspire us to change our approach to work, our passions or our mindset.

It's all a matter of looking at negative thinking and anxiety as an opportunity, the difference is the way we look at it.  This goes a long way when we learn what it's teaching us and that is when we can take action.

'The Power of Negative Thinking" Adam Grant, Linkedin October 15, 2013
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20131015140307-69244073-the-positive-power-of-negative-thinking

Positive Acceptance

We all deal with stress in our lives, and recently I've realised that some are able to deal with it better than others.  Stress is a physical response of the nervous system when we perceive a threat.  The body kicks into the fight or flight reaction, releasing stress hormones including adrenaline and cortisol which helps us stay focused, energetic, and alert. In small doses, it can help us stay out of physical danger, perform under pressure and motivate us to do our best, the problem is the body doesn't distinguish between physical and psychological threats and if you’re constantly running in emergency mode, the long term effects can lead to serious health problems.

The pressures we deal with on a daily basis have evolved along with us.  An important step in managing stress is identifying the sources, but the true sources of stress are not always that obvious.  When I did this myself I realised it wasn't caused by work or relationships but my own thoughts, feelings and behaviours.  It wasn't anything to do with the situations I was in, it was the way I perceived them and dealt with them that was the problem.

In my search to find an answer I came across the idea of positive acceptance, 'accepting what is.'  Stress generally involves resisting what is, which is wanting something to be different right now.  Either we want something not to have happened or we want a situation not to exist, but doing so is wishing for the impossible. This doesn't mean resigning ourselves to situations and not trying to change them, but about not wishing something was already different. Accepting what is means moving away from this thought pattern and focusing only on what we need to do to resolve the situation or improve the future. Those who are stress resilient do this naturally but for most it is a skill which can be learned and practiced by noticing whenever we are wishing something was different, recognising that it is irrational, dropping the thought and refocusing on what we can do to improve it.

Doing this on a regular basis makes it easier and can be applied to any situation both personally and professionally. I now have a note on my desk which says 'accept what is' which helps me to focus when I have a lot do or a looming deadline.  At first this idea seemed almost too simple but when I tried it, it really worked.

We can't avoid stress in our lives, but we can change the way we react to it.  Focus on solutions not problems to find your smiley face.

Press Pause

At work we have a recurring meeting agenda item to reflect and refocus, this is an opportunity to take a step back from daily activities and look objectively at any issues which need to be addressed. At our last meeting we discussed the difficulties of taking time to do this on a regular basis when we are busy, so I scheduled some time in the diaries as a weekly reminder to stop and reflect.

Following this it occurred to me that this would be useful personally too.  Recently I've been learning a lot about how the mind works and realised how much time I spend on autopilot, mindlessly doing things without really thinking about it.  This happens particularly when I'm driving when sometimes I take a completely wrong turn purely out of habit. Because of the sheer amount of sensory information the brain needs to process it filters some things out and the result is that sometimes we can miss what's right in front of us.

Recent studies carried out suggest that up to 95% of our behaviour is determined by the subconscious, the part of the mind that functions without awareness.  The subconscious mind is like a computer programme that includes information from experiences, memories, habits and beliefs.  One of the reasons the subconscious is so powerful is that it can process far more information per second than the conscious mind.  When we act on auto pilot our behaviour tends to become repetitive.  This means we don't have to learn things over and over again but it also means our thought patterns become hard-wired.

The benefits of being more childlike apply here too, they love exploring and questioning things that we have learned to accept as the norm.  Pressing pause to be more curious can really help see things from a different perspective. We are at our most creative when we are not thinking about it, the subconscious mind works in the background and we often think of ideas when we are distracted by a habitual task and in a relaxed state of mind. This is because the mind stops focusing on the details of the problems we are trying to resolve and focuses inwards on the connections that lead to insights.  Often the answers were always there, we just need to listen to them.

Taking time to reflect allows the opportunity to look at our beliefs and opinions and question if they are true according to the knowledge we have. Often simple awareness is enough, allowing us to choose our actions rather than reacting based on autopilot.

Albert Einstein summed it up well when he said "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."