It Might Be You

 I am a positive person.  Some people might say overly positive.  But it’s very much on purpose.  I believe it (often) has to do with the way we choose to see things.  It’s a choice (and I talk about that here).   But recently it occurred to me that most people are not great at self-auditing.  They don’t know they are negative.  They believe they are a “positive” person, when many people around them find them a drain.  It’s why nearly everyone thinks they are “an above average” driver.  Statistics tell us, you are not.  🙂 So when I am speaking to groups I give them a self-auditing tool for social media.  I tell them to look at the last 10 posts on social media and I say “if 4 of the last 10 post can be perceived as negative, then your audience sees you as negative.”  It’s a useful exercise and I love to see people’s eyes light up in recognition.   But it occurs to be that this is not enough. It’s not just about what you post on social media (though that’s a start).  It’s a mindset.  You either start from a place of positivity…or not.  And that mindset is going to affect your thoughts, words and actions.  You might not know you have a pessimistic point of view.  So I just came up with this exercise that might shed some light on your mindset. Think of your job…what is your first thought? Think of your partner…what is your first thought? Think of the last person you had a meeting with…what is your first thought? Think of your community…what is your first thought? If your FIRST thought in most of these is negative then it might shine a light into your mental bias.  It’s hardly scientific (hell I just made it up).  On the other hand, it gives you some food for thought on your mindset.   If your first reaction on most things and people in your life are negative…then it might be you. Or…it might be time to make some different choices.   One choice you can make is to sign up for our VIP newsletter.  We send a weekly email recap of all of the content we create each week.  You can sign up here.  And if you want to increase the happy in your life, you can check out my book “Fan of Happy” here.