You can’t fake true positivity. Well, not for long anyway. Positivity must come from the inside in order to be seen on the outside.

The first step to developing a positive outlook is having long-term and short-term goals. Motivate yourself to achieve them with a constant stream of positivity. Refuse to allow negativity into your mind. As you complete your goals, you’ll start to see a snowball effect.

Keep your eyes on the end-goal and do something every day to get one step closer. Don’t be too hard on yourself, and always acknowledge your successes.

The thing about genuine positivity is that it’s infectious. Project your positivity onto those around you and build a positive environment at work and at home.

Understanding the causes of your own behaviour is an incredibly important skill to have. We all know someone who is completely oblivious to their own actions, why they do them and the effect they have on others.

Learn to observe yourself from an objective standpoint. Be your own manager. Ask others to judge you. At first, you may not like what you hear. However, instead of becoming defensive, make a genuine effort to remain neutral.

Self-awareness is a valuable skill that few truly master. It takes years of effort to truly achieve, so start working on it today. 

Stress has ruined lives. If you’re the type to make mountains out of molehills, you’re on a fast track to an early coronary and burnout. But, don’t stress! There’s always a solution.

Implementing effective stress techniques will allow you to be proactive in managing the things that pop up in life, rather than reacting in negative ways.

The energy that fuels impulsive behaviour, such as angry outbursts, is the same energy that can be harnessed to motivate you to reach further and higher than ever before. When something stresses you out or drives you to anger, use that event as motivation.

The key to managing stress effectively is delaying your initial reaction and thinking about an effective way to deal with a situation. Take the time to breathe, think and relax. Only then are you in a good state of mind to make the right choices about how to move forward.

Taking responsibility for your actions is step one towards true self-management. From a very young age, school teaches us to take responsibility for ourselves. However, many of us never master this skill.

Prioritise your most important responsibilities. Take care of tasks as they come up, and most importantly, accept the mistakes you make. There is nothing wrong with making a mistake. There is, however, something wrong with failing to learn from a mistake.

Expanding your responsibilities is exciting. Self-development is all about expanding your horizons, and that comes with responsibility. Take it, own it, and develop yourself. When you slip up (and you will slip up), accept it and move forward.

The best path towards higher productivity is to manage your downtime. Got a huge load of work to knock out in a single day? Ensure you schedule breaks and enjoy them. If you’ve got a big year coming up, schedule a weekend where you can relax and unwind.

It’s impossible to operate at 100% capacity all of the time. Proper planning and time management are the key to getting the most out of your day.

If you’re losing focus or failing to make progress, switch tasks and come back later. Don’t bang your head against a wall, it never works out.

credit: https://www.foundationeducation.edu.au