8 Ways to Maintain a Positive Attitude at Work
As an employee or frankly any ‘role’ you play in your life, it is very important to maintain a positive attitude. Positivity affects not only you, but the people you are surrounded by, and is a major contributor to an optimal office environment. It’s no secret that happy employees are more productive, which in turn leads to high performance culture for any business.
A positive mindset isn’t easy to maintain at all times and it can actually be quite challenging if you find yourself in a difficult job. So, here are some tips and tricks to help maintain a positive attitude at work:
Maintaining a Positive Attitude at Work
1. Seek out and surround yourself with positive people
If you interact with people on a daily basis, their perspectives and points of view can eventually permeate your thinking. For example, if you’re surrounded by people who are negative and complain all the time, you typically find yourself (consciously or not) taking on aspects if not all of their perspectives. To avoid this, try to surround yourself with positive people. Co-workers who like their job, and who have hobbies outside of work that they enjoy doing, tend to be more positive. Of course, often you can’t pick your co-workers – but you can try to be mindful of how much time you spend around them.
2. Fill your mind with positivity
While it’s important to surround yourself with positive people, it’s equally crucial to ensure your own mindset is positive. If you find it difficult to maintain a positive attitude at work, try listening to upbeat music and exciting audiobooks, read encouraging books and articles, and listen to positive podcasts. Try turning off the news feed on your phone or computer – it usually contains negative and daily tragic events. It may seem obvious but keeping your thoughts focused on enjoyable and positive content can affect your mood greatly.
3. Establish high points for your day, week, and month
It can certainly be difficult to maintain a positive outlook if days feel dreary and monotonous. Setting high points for yourself can give you something to look forward to. These injections could include small daily things, such as taking a break at a specific time with a favorite colleague, allocating incremental times to chip away at a personal project or larger weekly rewards, such as eating at a restaurant instead of bringing lunch once a week. Another popular strategy is to organize a co-worker sports team such as volleyball or even organizing a lunch-hour session of board games.
4. Set and complete your goals
One of the most common ways to retain a positive focus at work is to establish a set of (mutually agreed upon with your leader) goals. Goals will not only help you manage projects but will provide indicators that highlight progress and success. Research suggests that high levels of engagement and overall job satisfaction are directly linked to the perceived value-add of one’s contributions.
5. Create a plan for your day
A routine provides a good structure for accomplishing objectives throughout your day. A morning routine is especially helpful, as that is a time when people tend to be the most alert.
A routine should help you:
- Get important tasks done
- Take breaks at the right time – to maximize your effectiveness, they shouldn’t interrupt flow
- Leave the simpler tasks until the end of the day, when people are usually more tired
- End each day prepared to start the next
6. Present yourself to the workplace as a professional
Approaching your day in a professional manner is a great way to help maintain a positive attitude at work. If something is affecting your positivity, take a more constructive approach vs what may be to internalize things on a personal level. This is work and it requires you to keep that perspective.
This also includes being proactive in the inevitable issues that will surface, and taking responsibility. If you’re dreading something – like an interaction with a specific customer, simply accept the circumstances and decide ahead of time that your only goal is to maintain focus on the issue and to truly attempt to resolve it. If you determine your reaction ahead of time, you’ll be able to proceed in a calm and more focused manner.
7. Self-monitor any tendency to complain
Complaining is a one-way street to dissatisfaction. It rarely accomplishes anything and can diminish the morale of everyone around you. Not to mention alienate you from others as most people tend to grow tired quickly in the midst of someone who complains. Instead, try to find the source of your discontent, identify what it is you specifically can do to address it. Often it’s simply putting perspective around an issue and accepting that you cannot influence the situation.
8. Be curious and look long term
In order to successfully maintain a positive attitude at work, you should embrace a professional learning path. If you refuse to work at any new skills or ideas, your work environment will become stagnant and ultimately unrewarding. It can be helpful to look ahead to your long-term professional development goals, and visualize how learning a specific skill can support that direction.
A Positive Attitude at Work & Beyond!
Use and even circulate these tips to your colleagues – maintaining a positive focus in your day-to-day work life can look to re-energize your perspective and ultimately spill over into other aspects of your life.
