Maintaining Positivity and Perspective

Let's talk about positivity...does it matter when it comes to your daily routine? What about to your training?

I saw the photo and post below on LinkedIn recently and I completely agree that perspective is key. Have you ever had a conversation with a "negative Nancy" type? There could be a million things to be positive about, but they will immediately focus on the negative and thrive on it, and to be honest, it's draining.

Mmmkay? I know I know...wrong character.
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A positive perspective is something that comes more easily to me some days than others, and some days it requires a little extra effort, but its importance is paramount to the day. I find that when I'm a little more tired than normal during my daily training, or in competition, perspective makes the biggest difference. Sure, I still may not be "feeling it" that day, or I may be way off the mark in my predicted finish time, but maintaining or working on a positive perspective throughout the event makes you not only feel better after, it also makes you more eager to try again and not give up.

For example, my last half-marathon (race re-cap soon) was a challenging one. I felt good about it going in since I have several months worth of training in the area (hills). Right from the start I know that this race wasn't going to be a PR. I found myself becoming frustrated, and because of my own negative thoughts, I began to slow down, essentially throwing my finish time in the trash while I was at it. I used my time during those miles to think long and hard about why my mood crashed, and I decided to stop putting pressure on myself to perform the way I was performing in a completely different environment. Once I realized that, I began trying to think of all the good around me, and all the positive things that got me to this race in the first place. Instead of being upset, I felt lucky to be able to do what I was doing. I run for myself and no one else. I began enjoying the day, and the rest of the race. I'm thankful now to have gone through that, even the negative, because without the soul-searching that ensued I might not have realized how great of a day it was and ended things on a positive note, with a lesson learned thrown in for good measure.

Who agrees? The original post is in quotes below...

"Business and life are all about how you “see it”! I just challenged myself for the last 4 minutes before writing this post to think about things in a negative way, I have 9713 things going on right now and if I choose to look at them from an entirely different angle I can easily get sad and anxious, in fact it’s wild to me how easily and quickly I was able to get to a feeling I don’t enjoy!

My friends, perspective is the key to life and business! Let me promise you, if you choose to see “bad” “dark” “ugly”

It’s very easy, if you choose to see “light” “love” “good” it’s very easy! So much of this has to do with DNA, parenting and who you spend time with, this is where I come in, I’m willing to push and push until the end to help so many people see the > instead of the < ."

So true!
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