Positive Mindset Research Paper

Maintaining a positive attitude is the key to success in life. However, a positive mindset alone is useless unless it is coupled with dedication, perseverance, and desire. Positivity, if coupled with these other traits, can allow you to surpass adversity, impediments, and personal goals. Negative attitudes, oppositely, can detract from achieving success because a negative mindset can often lead you to losing sight of the goal or giving up easily. Last year, I was diagnosed with a virus called mononucleosis ("mono") -- symptoms of which include chronic fatigue, sore throat, and fever. I had mono for five months, during which I played my favorite sports: cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track. Mono made running seem almost impossible; I was always tired and could no longer run like I used

to.

The doctor advised me to take a break from running for a little while and try to rest as much as possible. Being told that you can't do what you love is one of the hardest things in life, therefore, I soon realized I had no choice but to stay positive. It was difficult to go slow and steady while my team was running hard around me but I took my training one day at a time, one mile at a time, one step at a time, so I could reach tiny personal goals and slowly recover back to full health. Keeping a positive attitude was key to improving both my health and training because it allowed me to persevere through the fatigue and trump all of the negative thoughts in my head that said, "I can't do it". While I didn't have the best seasons last year, my positive attitude kept me working hard over the summer and through the fall and brought me all the way to the indoor track state championship. A couple summers ago, my mom went to a leadership conference for her work. The conference took place over the course of a few days and working adults from a wide variety of occupations attended to improve their leadership skills in

the workplace. My mom was chosen to teach a class on public speaking. It has been surveyed that one of the avergage person's top five greatest fears is talking in front of a group. My mom taught her peers different methods in which they could encourage self-confidence and a generally more relaxed attitude through positivity. For example, she taught them the classic "imagine the audience in their underwear" or "focus on one person and pretend there is no one else in the room". People soon began to realize it wasn't about their powerpoints, or notecards, it was a positive attitude that was key to a great presentation and overcoming their fear of public speaking. One man who had a particularly intense fear of public speaking, David, ironically ended up giving a speech to the large group at the promotion ceremony of the conference. When he finished, the entire crowd was up on their feet cheering for his amazing speech. I would never have guessed he previously had this fear because he seemed so at ease and comfortable up there smiling on the stage. Maintaining a positive attitude is the key to success in life by promoting both mental and physical health. Without optimism, I may have stopped running completely when I was sick for five months. Without optimism, David would not have given that graduation speech. It dosen't matter the situation you are in -- be it mono or a fear of public speaking -- you always have the choice to be posititve. A positive attitdue facilitates and promotes other necessary keys to success in life such as determination, perserverance and dedication. A negative attiude automatically places limitations on yourself that prevent you from attaining goals. Choose to be positive and you will do things you never thought were possible.