As I was answering an interesting question on Quora, a contributor stated that being negative and worried about the future was inherent to human nature. The question was about overcoming failure and, the ease with which I responded made me realize how relieving it had been to adopt a positive mindset. And how few people did.

This article is about positive thinking and how it changes the way you apprehend new experiences. It goes about the perks of being optimistic and how it helps in feeling better and acting smarter when you undertake new projects. In the end, you will find a step-by-step tutorial to approach the unknown with confidence and fall in love with failure.

Definition

Against all odds, being positive does not mean burying your head in the sand. It is not about ignoring what happens to get over it. On the contrary, positive thinking is embracing every single experience to get the best of it.

Adopting a positive mindset revolves around:

Retrospection: Diving deep into the past to analyze and learn from previous mistakes and achievements.

Thoughts: Focusing on all the positive aspects of what you are trying to accomplish, rather than concentrating on the negative illusory problems you might encounter.

Optimism: Approaching new experiences with openness and optimism.

Being in a positive state of mind helps in building motivation over time, which is crucial for long-term projects. It also makes you improve yourself as you actively take lessons from what you went through. By all means, it is different from fooling yourself or ignoring reality.

The Positive Thinking Process

The goal is to make you feel more comfortable with failing and making it a normal step within your journey to success.

Every time you fail:

1. Do not make it worse by thinking it is the end of the world. Failure is just a reminder that nothing was designed to be easy. We all fail and the old saying has it: To err is human. Just prepare yourself and expect failure whatever you undertake.

2. Ask the right questions.

Why did I fail?

Did I work enough?

What went right and What went wrong?

Which lessons can I take from this experiment?

3. Take notes. It is important to remember what you learned from failure. You can take notes or record yourself so as not to forget lessons that could help prevent the next failure.

4. Failing is learning. Many success stories involve protagonists who failed ten or twenty times before reaching their final goal. There is no way to seamlessly reach success on the first shot. Focus on the positive aspect of every experience, feel grateful for it, and use it as a bridge to go further.

5. Replace "failure" with "opportunity". Most people cannot get out of negative thinking because they locked themselves in a negative loop. They expect failure, they think it is bad, and they know it will be bad whatsoever. Changing your vocabulary and the way you apprehend and comprehend failure will keep you from being pessimistic all the time.