Most people take a balanced approach to life's ups and downs. They feel happy when good things happen and sad in the face of adversity. However, the ability to shift one's viewpoint after hardships ranks among the best indicators of future success.
Think of your perspective as your attitude or mindset towards life. Even if past experiences support it, it will still be negative if you have a pessimistic outlook on life.
It doesn’t matter if you've always thought you have a magical touch and everything will work out. Your goal should be cultivating a mindset supporting your success in all circumstances. Therefore, here are some tips to help you achieve that very goal.
7 Tips for Shifting Your Perspective in Adverse Circumstances
1. Maintain a Positive Outlook
People with a fixed mindset often believe that only a fortunate few are born with success genes. However, research shows that those with a fixed mindset struggle to handle life's challenges because they see hardships and setbacks as signs they’re not on the right track.
Someone might have told you that it didn't work out because it wasn't meant to be. This mindset prevents many people from reaching their full potential. On the other hand, people with a growth mindset have a different outlook on life. They believe everyone can acquire the knowledge and skills required to accomplish their goals. Failure does not reflect their worth; rather, they believe it indicates adjusting their strategy. This belief drives them to try new things until they succeed.
Inventors are a great example of a growth mindset. They see setbacks as just another problem to solve and believe each brings them closer to success.
2. Shift Your Perspective 180°
To change your perspective on hardships, you need to change your self-talk. The incessant chatter greatly influences your actions in your head.
Let’s say someone suddenly gets fired. They will believe they are useless and incompetent if they engage in negative self-talk. People who feel unworthy of success will not perceive events in the same manner as those who feel accomplished.
Negative self-talk leads to negative outcomes. For example, if the person who lost their job convinced themselves repeatedly that their boss didn't like them, would that belief help them better interact with their boss or somehow damage their career? How would this perspective affect them when the boss is kind or offers constructive criticism?
3. Don't Let Negative Feelings Overwhelm You
You've probably started to realise that you'll attract more negativity into your life if you don't adjust the way you view the unfortunate events happening to you. For example, if you believe your boss has a negative opinion of you, you’ll interpret their good intentions as phoney and their constructive feedback as a way to vent their frustrations.
You will have undesirable outcomes if you keep reading situations negatively because of your negative self-talk. But what if you convinced yourself that your boss actually values your growth and is working to bring out the best in you?
This simple shift in perspective will prepare you to handle negative situations more effectively. You'll believe your boss actually cares about your development if they offer constructive feedback. You'll appreciate their kindness and see them as an ally and friend.
4. Focus on What Matters
Our brains naturally filter out unimportant information since they can only focus on a few things at a time.
One common example of this is buying a new car and realising that many other people have also purchased the same model. Your brain was sifting through the information until it made sense to you, not because everyone bought a car on the same day.
You need to shift your daily focus if you want to change your perspective on the negative experiences in your life, Appreciate the blessings in your life rather than dwelling on the bad challenges you confront.
5. Look on the Bright Side
You can train your mind to focus on the positive aspects of your life, even if it's not always easy. Writing down the things that make you happy in a journal is a wonderful approach to doing this. Whenever something positive happens, add it to this journal.
Such things can be as simple as waking up on time, having a healthy lunch, putting in extra effort to finish a project at work, or even keeping a cheerful attitude throughout the day. Celebrate whatever is worth celebrating.
When something negative happens, use your journal to change your perspective and remind yourself how lucky you are.
6. Be a Guardian Angel to Others
Supporting others is another way of changing your viewpoint on negative events in your life. Wonderful things happen when you focus on meeting the needs of others. People's positive opinions of you will make you feel good about yourself, and you'll realise that life isn't perfect and can be far worse than you imagine.
Have you ever heard the term "first world problems"? It's a humorous way to put your negative experiences in perspective. There are different levels of distress associated with any unfavourable event. Your work environment might be filled with negative energy due to an inconsiderate boss, but you should be grateful to have a job at all. Always be thankful for what you have because many would love to have half of it.
7. Challenge Yourself
Everybody has problems, but most people get so caught up in their struggles that they fail to notice what others are going through.
When you shift your focus to others instead of yourself, you'll see that many people are facing challenges yet are still upbeat and appreciative of their blessings. They know that if their struggles worsen, it's a disguised blessing and a chance for personal development.
Final Thoughts
Changing your perspective isn’t about pretending negative events don’t happen or always smiling and claiming everything is fine. It’s about acknowledging that difficulties are a part of life but are not the end of the world.
You can learn from any situation and find something to be grateful for. You can reach your dreams by teaching your mind to focus on what you can control and what's going well.
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