The gateway that opens doors you didn’t even know existed

Positivity doesn’t increase our success, but it does increase our field of vision, which allow us to better notice the opportunities that lead to success.

My experience has proven this time me countless times. And yet, it’s more than motivational rhetoric. It’s been clinically proven.

Fredrickson, the professor and social psychologist who teaches positive psychology, did research on what’s called the broaden and build theory of positive emotions. Her argument is that positive emotions signal greater wellbeing in the moment, but they also produce optimal functioning over the long term. Feelings like joy, contentment, gratitude, awe, these are not just end states in themselves, but they’re also a means to achieving psychological growth and improved wellbeing over time.

When we express positive emotions, it broadens our momentary thought action repertoire and builds our enduring personal resources. It widens the array of the thoughts and actions that come to mind.

If you have ever been in a brainstorming meeting at work, you can appreciate this experience. Think about a time when your team was laughing and feeling joyful during ideation. Did that positive energy create and sustain people’s urge to play, push creative limits and use their imaginations to solve problems?

Absolutely.

Now think about a time where people were criticizing and feeling judged during that process. That energy shut down creative paths and quelled your team’s willingness to contribute ideas, right? Tragic.

But it’s a spiral either way. The question is, do you want it to travel upwards or downwards?

My mentor preaches this all the time. His theory is, all of us will be presented with opportunities, but we have to be positive, so that when the gift arrives, we recognize it.

That’s field of vision. When positivity becomes fundamental, it’s the sedimentary layer in the evolution of your life, upon which you can build the scaffolding of your dreams. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How many opportunities did you overlook last week?