Positive Thinking for Entrepreneurs: Success and the Power of Positive Thinking

I love this quote from entrepreneur Henry Ford. “Whether you think you can or think you can’t – you’re right.” This was his answer when people came to him to say that they were not able to help him design a car that could be built using an assembly line. Finally, his positive attitude won out and he succeeded in changing the way automobiles were mass produced and made available to people everywhere.

Everywhere you look you’ll see interviews from successful business owners describing what they did to become successful. The key is to look at how they do it. Almost all of them have a positive ‘can-do’ attitude. They use this power of positive thinking to help them succeed. Are you practicing this attitude in your own life as you work to become a successful online entrepreneur?

Your mental outlook is what your perception of success (or failure) looks like. It has a big impact on your success. The good news is that if you currently have a negative mindset, you can change it and your attitude to be more positive.

Here are seven ways positive thinking is connected to success:

1. It’s proven to help with problem solving. People who think positively are better able to learn new information. This improves your perspective and enables you to tackle problems and obstacles as they happen.
2. A positive mindset promotes and enhances your energy level. When you are in a good mood, you tend to laugh more, which boosts your endorphins and your energy level.
3. Positive thinking helps to give you control by giving you confidence about yourself, your abilities, and situations. Successful people control their thought process, turning a negative pattern into a positive pattern as the need arises.
4. A positive attitude attracts other positive people to you. Successful people often have a large circle of friends and acquaintances. The more people you know, the more doors of opportunity will be opened to you.
5. Positive thinkers are more likely to set goals and follow through by taking action, which also happens to be one of the keys to success – setting goals and following through.
6. Positive, forward thinking improves your decision-making ability by opening your mind to broad thinking and creative solutions while negative thoughts close your mind and narrow your thought process. Successful people are often open-minded, forward thinkers who make good decisions and are good problem solvers.
7. A positive outlook builds resilience. Successful people often face many failures and mistakes before they succeed. Those with a positive attitude are more resilient and recover quicker when they do fail.

Success is much more than positive thinking. It requires positive action as well. While positive thinking builds the foundation of success, you have to follow up by taking positive actions.

Developing a Positive Mindset

In life, there is a time and place for both negative and positive thoughts. However, when negativity becomes a habit or begins to have adverse effects on you, it’s time to make an attitude change and cultivate a positive mindset.

Here are some tips to help you cultivate a positive attitude:

1. No more complaining! Complaining is a very negative response to any situation that drains you of energy.
2. Express gratitude every day, even for the small things in your life. Eventually you will become grateful for everything that crosses your path, even if it doesn’t seem that way at the time.
3. Keep a list of the things you have accomplished in both your personal and business life.
4. Let go of the people around you who are negative, critical, and abusive of you. They drain your energy. Instead, surround yourself with supportive, positive people. I did this when first coming online and it made a huge difference in my success.
5. Help others. Volunteer occasionally. This is why I joined Rotary initially, and soon I began volunteering with even more non-profits and charitable organizations.
6. Practice meditation daily. Even ten minutes of ‘quiet time’ meditation first thing in the morning will help you start your day on a positive thought and outlook.
7. Let go of envy. Envy is a very negative emotion. It eats at you, pointing to the faults we see in ourselves.
8. Be kind and smile at others.
9. Choose to be happy. Happiness is a choice. When a negative thought enters your mind, push it out quickly. Substitute a happy thought.
10. Have faith in yourself. Believe the Universe will help you.
11. Read inspiring stories and watch inspirational movies or television shows.
12. Repeat inspiring and motivating affirmations.
13. Practice mastering your thoughts. Access your subconscious mind.
14. Visualize what you want to happen. Release the thoughts you don’t want to happen.

Cultivating a positive outlook takes conscious thought. Be aware of your thoughts and the attitudes of those around you. Once you are aware of the negative thoughts in your environment, you’ll be able to counteract them more quickly. Whether you are making the effort to have a more positive mindset for your personal life or your business, you will find this to be the shortest path to the life of a successful online entrepreneur.