Here’s Why Most Successful People Are Upbeat and Positive

According to Psychologist Rick Hanson, Sr., fellow of US Berkeley, human brains are hardwired for negativity. This is known as Negativity Bias.

Negativity Bias is the habit of seeing things from a negative perspective.

There’s a good reason why this evolutionary hardwiring exists – negativity keeps the brain alert for dangers within your environment.

A hundred thousand years ago, this was critical to survival. Being negatively biased kept our internal radar systems in search mode for lions, tigers and bears.

However, we live in a very different world today. External environmental threats in the form of lions, tigers and bears are, for the most part, nonexistent.

Unfortunately, the evolution of our brains has not keep pace with the safety upgrades our civilized society affords us. As a result, our brains have held on to this vestigial trait known as negativity bias.

The bad news is that negativity is an insurmountable barrier to success. It is virtually impossible to become successful, as an entrepreneur, if you maintain a negative mindset. There are a number of reasons for this:

1. Negativity suppresses your prefrontal cortex, which is critical for creativity, decision-making and seeing solutions rather than just problems.
2. Negativity creates chronic stress which causes inflammation throughout the body and can lead to diseases such as cancer. When you are battling health problems, it’s hard to focus on anything else, much less the pursuit of success.
3. Negativity makes you a toxic person. Other success-minded people, who embrace positivity, will see your negativity as toxic and will avoid doing business with you or associating with you. They will also warn their friends and peers to avoid you like the plague.

The good news is that it is 100% possible to reprogram your mind to eliminate negativity. Here are some ways to do that:

• Avoid Reading Negative News –  Journalists and publishers have hundreds of years of real world experience supporting the fact that negative headlines sell papers. Consequently, most of the media is focused on building headlines and articles that are negatively biased so they can get more readers and, thus, more advertising revenue.
• Read Only Upbeat News – This will dampen negativity and strengthen positivity inside your amygdala (limbic part of the brain which oversees many emotions).
• Listen to Upbeat Music – Music calms the savage beast. Music reduces stress and calms the mind. It also boosts the release of dopamine, one of the happiness neurotransmitters our brains love.
• Read Inspirational Books – Does very much the same as upbeat music.
• Associate With Upbeat People – This is easier said then done, especially if close family members and friends are inherently negative. But, just adding one upbeat friend can mitigate the effects your negative family/friends have on you.
• Meditate – I’m not good at this. It doesn’t work for me, however, the science is clear – meditation reduces stress and calms the mind.
• Exercise – Aerobic exercise boosts dopamine and certain hormones such as Brain Derived Neurotrophic and Endorphins. BDNF increases the myelin sheath around your neurons (brain cells), improving brain cell health and brain performance. Endorphins are only triggered during extended aerobic activity, meaning one hour or more.
• Express Gratitude Every Day – Start looking at the things you have and ignore what you lack. Gratitude is the gateway to positivity. Envy is the gateway to negativity.

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