Top 5 Tips for Living a More Positive Life

I’ve mentioned all of these suggestions once or twice before but really like them since they are very useful if you want to improve your life.

And, besides, I’d bet that few besides me have read the whole archive anyway. :)

1. Appreciate, appreciate, appreciate!

People often want appreciation from others. It can become a craving need. Instead, start to appreciate everything around you, such as:

  • The sunshine and the weather.
  • Your food.
  • Your health.
  • The people around you. Your friends, family, co-workers and just about anyone walking down the street.
  • A good TV-show, a movie or a song.
  • A good conversation.
  • Your roof and your house.
  • All the great things you can find online.
  • Yourself. If you just look there is a lot to appreciate about yourself.

It’s a quick way to turn a sour mood into a more positive and useful one. Just try if for a minute and see how it changes how you feel. And it’s a win/win solution. You feel great because you are appreciating your world and the people you appreciate feel great too because they feel appreciated.

And since the Law of Reciprocity is strong they’ll often start to appreciate you too thereby starting a growing upward spiral of positive thoughts and emotions.

But don’t focus too much on that though. Just focus on appreciating your world and let rest take care of itself.

One way to use appreciation to get a good start in the morning is by asking yourself a set of questions. Read more about that in How to Start Your Day in a Better Way.

2. Focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want.

The more I do this, the more I discover that it is so key in improving your life. It’s simply filling your life and time with more of what you want.

The thing is that it is very easy to fall into a habit of focusing your thoughts on what you don’t want rather than what you want. If you do that then it will be hard to get what you want in life.

If you want to improve your finances then focus on having a great financial situation rather than your lack of money and your debts. If you want a new relationship then focus on meeting a lot of new people and forming great relationships rather than focusing on your loneliness and your lack. If you don’t then you’ll miss many opportunities that you mind just blocks out since it’s focused on your lack.

But if you do then opportunities will suddenly start to pop out of all that stimuli that is your world. Your mind can mostly just see what you focus it on. So focus on what you want in life.

3. Educate and explore yourself

Self-education can be a great help to live a better life. Read great books on the areas of your life you want to improve. Maybe it’s it your financial situation or your health. Or maybe it’s your relationships.

Ask people with more success in that area than you what they did to improve. If you have a problem in your life, most likely a lot of people have had that problem the last few thousand years. And, at least one of them – or more likely a few – has written down how they solved that problem.

This is also a great way to get to know yourself better and understand why you think, feel and do – or don’t do – the things you do. And knowing yourself better – and other people too, since we share so much that make us alike – is pretty useful if you want to improve your life and lives of other’s too.

Feed your mind daily – or weekly – with great solutions and inspirational and useful information.

4. Take a lot of action in your life

Yeah, this one’s maybe easier said than done. But there is also good information on how to go about it and it’s a great way to improve your life.

“Just do it!” is a nice slogan. But if you feel like you really can’t do what you want then it will probably not be too helpful. If you feel that fear is holding you back from doing something then there are good and practical solutions that has been used throughout hundreds or thousands of years.

One of my favourites is taking small steps and confront your fear little by little and thereby creating a momentum that let’s you move on to the next step. Another is learning to surrender and accept the now. For more on that suggestion and other strategies to reduce fear (such as redefining failure), check out 5 Life-Changing Keys to Overcoming Your Fear.

Other suggestions to remove or reduce blocks that stop you from taking action is to explore some techniques – such as guided meditations – that can help create a forward momentum within you.

Procrastination is of course also a big problem when trying to take action and getting things done. My favorite technique to beat it so far is using the “Get around to it” Paraliminal. Paraliminals are a sort of guided meditations produced by Learning Strategies. 7 other free, and useful methods to beat this problem can found in this article (and you can find one more here).

5. Improve your social skills

So much of the happiness, value and fun in life come from interactions and relationships with other people. Improving those interactions and your communication skills can greatly improve your life. And – as a bonus – as you focus your attention more outward, toward other people instead of focusing inward much of the negative feelings that can come through overanalysing and feeling self-conscious mostly just disappear. You just are. And that’s a pretty good feeling state to be and communicate in.

Some suggestions for improving these skills can be found in Do You Make These 10 Mistakes in a Conversation, Focus Outward to Win Friends and Improve Your People Skills and 17 Inspirational Quotes on People Skills. Also, check out 18 Ways to Improve Your Body Language for the ever important non-verbal communication.

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About the Author

Henrik Edberg is the creator of the Positivity Blog and has written weekly articles here since 2006. He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Gothenburg and has been featured on Lifehacker, HuffPost and Paulo Coelho’s blog. Click here to learn more…

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Yep, I think this is great!
    This may sound simple – like people are attracted to like
    Like minds are attracted to like
    Like thoughts are attracted to like
    If you are interested, there is more at: NigelPendrigh. Com/Interview
    You have to be what you want to attract – so Step 5 really ads leverage to the previous 4 skills especially if you network with ‘connectors’

  • Well said about “Focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want”. Example, think about the vacation that you are going to have, instead of where I am going to find money to have a holidy. You can learn more about this from the Universal Law of Attraction. One good place to start is to watch “The Secret” movie if you haven’t done so. You can also visit my website to find out more.

  • I enjoyed your top 5 post, and am happy to have found your blog, which I will now be reading regularly. I believe we could all do with a little more positive energy in our lives and this is something I often write about as well. So amidst all the top 5 ways to get rich, lose weight, blog better, etc. I appreciate your authenticity.

  • I could definitely learn a thing or two about point number 5. I think that is one area where I sometimes thrive and an area where I sometimes fall flat on my face and I want to get to a higher percetage of thrive rather than dive!

    :)

  • This is a great list of positive starters! If only everyone had a more positive outlook on things the world would be a better place.

  • I recently ended a 27-year relationship. This list is very helpful. Thanks.

  • Hey, thanks for the post, really great, practical stuff!

    Cheers! :)

  • Enjoyed reading this tips. Keep up the good work.

  • This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title Tips for Living a More Positive Life at Personal Development with The Positivity Blog. Thanks for informative article

  • nice thread. thanks

  • Neal

    Thank you for the insight. I happen to be going through a very negative time in my life right now and am looking for answers on how to accomidate and solve this personal issue. Your blog has given me a starting point to work from. THANKS!!!!!!

  • Andre De Luca

    This is an amazing read!
    Thanks so much
    Would anyone be able to send me some audio files of something that would help me depressed brother. He is really needing help .
    Some topics that might help him are , Life skills, positive living, exercise and health
    my email is
    [email protected]

  • Andre De Luca

    Thanks in advance
    take care

  • Greg

    Hey thanks for all these golden words of advice. Certainly very helpful! :)