Power of Positivity

“Whether you think you can or you can’t, you are right.” - Henry Ford

I have heard this quote many times and it is so simple which is why I really like it. It's very black and white. You decide how you want to look at something. Either way, you are right. We get caught up in the day-to-day and go through most of our days on “auto-pilot”. We don’t think about what we are telling ourselves or how much our thoughts impact our outcomes. We don’t realize that the words coming out of our mouths most of the time subconsciously impact our results

I just got back from spending 3 days at a theme park and water park with my wife and kids. As I have gotten older and haven’t been to theme parks as much as I did when I was a kid (had a season pass to six flags for years) you start to question most of the rides you are about to go on. What if something bad happens? What if I get sick? This might hurt my back. I don’t want to do this because I don’t like heights. I can keep going but I am sure you get the idea. Regardless of the ride I could come up with a reason not to do it. When you take your kids (at least at their current ages of 7 and 11) they don’t hold back. They are ready to ride them all. (assuming they are tall enough) They don’t have these same thoughts around the rides. They have little, to no fear at all around the rides. As a family of four, this requires that all of us ride the rides or someone gets to ride alone and that's not going to work out. Having the right mindset going into a theme park is a key component to having fun. Our family loves these experiences and the memories we have created with our kids doing them. My take away from trips like this is how my kids think. Adopting their mindset not only on roller coasters or some massive water slide but in everyday life. Going into things with a positive attitude. Thinking, “I can do this vs. I can’t do this. The more you focus on the positive things the more positive things will happen for you. The trip could have been completely different if I refused to ride the roller coasters or any of the other rides. This is a very basic example of the power of positivity however it works.

The saying, “what you focus on expands” keeps ringing in my head while I write this as well. We get to choose the result. We get to decide the outcome. If we want something we have the power to achieve it. The Olympics just wrapped up. How many records were set this year? How many people thought those records could never have been broken? The power of positivity is alive and well.

Embrace the change and enjoy the journey.

Reprinted from August 9, 2021