Athletics & Average Advice: How to be a mindful superstar

How to create Infectious Positivity

If I were to ask you the question, "do you do things that invite positivity into your life," how would respond to it? I'm sure that most people would need a few moments to think about their daily life and the things that they would do going forward. Most of us probably forget the things that we do during the day and that's common. Being positive is a lifestyle and positivity is very infectious. I want to give you some tips and tricks that work to create an environment that's positive and how to attract positive people into your life. Positive people do great things. Let's be honest, nobody wants to be around somebody who's negative because it disrupts the mood of the environment. The first tip I'd like to give you all is this:

It all starts with your mindset

What do I mean by the statement above? Well, if you want to create a positive environment for you and those around you, you must be willing to change your mindset. We're all used to a certain way of thinking and our mindset is our biggest enemy at times. When things don't go right, we tend to beat ourselves up over it and negative thoughts cloud our minds. One thing I learned from my late coach is that you can always take something positive out of something negative. Whenever I had a bad race, she would always tell me that I did something well just to emphasize that not everything I did was bad. When you change your mindset for the better, it's easier to believe and think that things will work out in your favor. It's not always easy to be positive, however. How many successful people do you know that have a defeatist mindset? It's hard to be successful when your mindset is negative. Confidence is also key to positivity. One of my favorite quotes from the great American sprinter and long jumper, Carl Lewis states: "If you don't have confidence, you'll always find a way not to win." This quote has stuck with me to this very day and I wish I would've kept it closer to my heart during my senior year. Confidence is a prerequisite to success. If you aren't confident, you really are already digging yourself in a hole! Confident people win. Winners are confident. It isn't rocket science, but you should have confidence in everything that you do, not matter how small or big a task is.

If you don't love yourself, who will?

I'm sure a lot of us have something we wish we could change about ourselves. Most of the time, it's something superficial such as the way our nose looks or our height. These, unfortunately, are beyond our control. You can always change the way you think and how you feel about certain things, but physical qualities are much harder to change. The point I'm trying to make here is this: "Love yourself and embrace your flaws." You were made unique so why not embrace your uniqueness? When you begin to love yourself, the opinions of other people don't matter. Wouldn't you agree that most people who love themselves for whom they are generally appear happier and have a positive outlook on things? It's easier for people to love and gravitate towards you when you're in love with yourself. Self-love is positive and who wouldn't want to be around someone who didn't love his or herself? Investing in yourself is by far the smartest thing you can do. When people see you working on yourself, they'll feel more compelled to come up to you and converse. You may even find a new ally or a significant other out of the interaction. I've noticed as of late that working on myself and my goals has led to the right people coming into my life. It's also keeping me focused on what matters to me. It's led to many business opportunities for me and even helped me begin the brainstorming process of opening my own non-profit organization. Just remember: "Love yourself first, then everything else will fall into place."

Don't live in the past. Reminiscing is okay though

We all have those friends and family members who're always talking about things that previously happened or constantly live off their "glory days" of high school and college accomplishments. There isn't anything wrong with this; however, it can get annoying when the person constantly brings it up in every conversation. I can be guilty of this at times, but I'm not going sit and dwell on everything that's happened. There's a reason for things happening, but sometimes, you can't question that reason no matter how much you want to know the answer to it. Living in the past isn't necessarily negative, but it isn't positive either. It's all about living in the present and looking forward to the future. When you live in the moment, life is enjoyable, and people enjoy your presence more. It's a positive thing. It's okay to plan and think about the future, but you must live in the moment and make the moment matter. If you get too caught up in the future, you lose sight of what's already in front of you. If you get too caught up in the past, you don't grow as a person. Reflecting on the past is important to a degree. It's important to learn from everything that has happened to you. As a former athlete, my friends and I reminisce about the times we spent dying doing workouts on the track and hanging out. We share so many memories that sometimes we forget that we're all still in our early twenties. Reminiscing and living in the past are two different things. They are not mutually exclusive to one another. This is a message to all current student athletes: "Don't live off your past accolades. Be excited about what you're going to do next and own the moment. Your time is coming. Be patient." This statement is true for collegiate athletes as well. Remember earlier in the book where I talked about a collegiate team being a "team of all-stars?" It's true. Everyone on the team has their own list of accomplishments but once you reach the collegiate stage, it doesn't matter what you did then. It's about what you do now. Just remember, it's okay to reminisce about old memories, just don't get caught up in the past. It can be negative and counterproductive to what you're going to accomplish in the present and future.

The environment you're in plays a role in your positivity. Remember that.

I would say that most of us growing up were in an environment that we had no control over. It could have been a good situation or a bad situation, but we made it work somehow. As an adult, you can change your surrounding if necessary. If you're in a negative environment, you can rise above it and get yourself out. If you're around negative people, you can change the people you surround yourself with. It's not convoluted. If you want better for yourself and for others, check the environment around you. It may be something to take into consideration when you want to create positivity for you and others. I don't have much to say about this topic, but I'm sure you all can come up with your own solutions to this.

I hope some of my tips can help you become more positive and think positively. There's too much negativity in the world today and I believe we all could use some positive reinforcement to our mindsets. Positivity will always win people over. Remember that.