8 Things Exceptional Thinkers Do Every Day

Everything that we are and everything that we are not is an end result from our current level of thinking. Every great achievement in history came from exceptional thinking. Every man or woman to ever rise to the top of their profession had exceptional thinking that played a major role in getting them to where they are.

I have never met a high achiever who lacked in their level of thinking. Our feelings, emotions, professional success and happiness levels are all affected by our thinking and what takes place on a daily basis from the neck up.

If you aren’t currently happy with where you are at in life or in your professional journey, there is great news. You can drastically alter where you are and everything around you by changing your thinking. Just like any other important habit, you can’t become an exceptional thinker if you practice it only once in awhile. Working on your mind and thinking must become a daily practice.

Here are eight things exceptional thinkers do daily.

1. They focus on the positive.

Every single day of our lives, we have a choice when we wake up in the morning whether we are going to direct our focus on the positive or negative. Exceptional thinkers know the importance of where they direct their focus. They fully understand that it impacts their energy levels and will determine how they perform. You can eliminate a lot of the worry, stress, and anxiety just by choosing to focus on the positive. Regardless of how big or small, force yourself to see the good in every situation no matter how miniscule it may be.

2. They spend time in solitude.

Exceptional thinkers know that we live in a noisy and distracting world and therefore prioritize the importance of spending time alone. If you go pick up an autobiography of your favorite inventor, president, or even athlete, you will realize that they valued alone time to reflect and think in solitude.

3. They have a long-term vision.

Exceptional thinkers have a clear vision of where they want to be in the future and all of the things that they need to do in order to make that become a reality. They rarely get discouraged and disappointed because of short-term obstacles because of this powerful long-term vision that they have for their life.

4. They have a mindset-development routine.

Whether it’s a special morning routine to jump start their day, reading positive books first thing in the morning, or listening to empowering podcasts and audiobooks while commuting, they go to work on their mind daily. Most people wait for something positive to happen throughout their day to have good thoughts, but exceptional thinkers are proactive towards positively developing their mind every chance they get.

5. They only associate with those who build them up.

There is nothing more detrimental to one’s thinking than hanging around others who are constantly negative and energy vampires. You adopt the habits and channel the energy of those around you, so make it a habit to surround yourself with positive people and remain in good company.

6. They eat clean and healthy.

A large majority of the population is oblivious as to what you put into your body on a daily basis and how that plays a role in your thinking. What you drink and eat every single day greatly impacts how you feel and how well your brain operates.

To further understand just how important what you eat is to how well you think, I highly recommend checking out Dr. Mark Hyman and Dr. Daniel Amen. Two of my favorites when it comes to brain optimization and thriving on all cylinders.

7. They find time to regularly workout.

I have talked about the benefits of working out and how it can tremendously impact productivity levels, but the same goes for brain health and increasing your current level of thinking. The endorphins released during routine exercise are packed with positivity.

8. They have an attitude of gratitude.

Your thinking and life in general is just that much better when you possess an attitude of gratitude and find ways to regularly acknowledge all that you are grateful for. It’s impossible to be truly grateful and miserable at the same time.

There are a lot of things that exceptional thinkers do on a daily basis to help them rise above, but the above eight things that I have listed have greatly impacted the way I think on a daily basis. When you understand just how important your mind is and work to constantly upgrade your level of thinking, your life will be upgraded in return.

Matt Mayberry

Why Positivity Matters -- and 3 Ways to Achieve It

We’ve all received the well-meaning advice to "stay positive." The greater the challenge, the more this glass-half-full wisdom can come across as Pollyannaish and unrealistic. It’s hard to find the motivation to focus on the positive when positivity seems like nothing more than wishful thinking.

The real obstacle to positivity is that our brains are hard-wired to look for and focus on threats. This survival mechanism served humankind well back when we were hunters and gatherers, living each day with the very real threat of being killed by someone or something in our immediate surroundings.

That was eons ago. Today, this mechanism breeds pessimism and negativity through the mind’s tendency to wander until it finds a threat. These “threats” magnify the perceived likelihood that things are going -- and/or are going to go -- poorly. When the threat is real and lurking in the bushes down the path, this mechanism serves you well. When the threat is imagined and you spend two months convinced the project you’re working on is going to flop, this mechanism leaves you with a soured view of reality that wreaks havoc in your life.

Maintaining positivity is a daily challenge that requires focus and attention. You must be intentional about staying positive if you’re going to overcome the brain’s tendency to focus on threats. It won’t happen by accident. That’s why positivity is the skill that I’ll be giving extra attention in 2016.

Positivity and Your Health

Pessimism is trouble because it’s bad for your health. Numerous studies have shown that optimists are physically and psychologically healthier than pessimists.

Martin Seligman at the University of Pennsylvania has conducted extensive research on the topic. Seligman worked with researchers from Dartmouth and the University of Michigan on a study that followed people from age 25 to 65 to see how their levels of pessimism or optimism influenced their overall health. The researchers found that pessimists’ health deteriorated far more rapidly as they aged.

Seligman’s findings are similar to research conducted by the Mayo Clinic that found optimists have lower levels of cardiovascular disease and longer life-spans. Although the exact mechanism through which pessimism affects health hasn’t been identified, researchers at Yale and the University of Colorado found that pessimism is associated with a weakened immune response to tumors and infection.

Researchers from the University of Kentucky went so far as to inject optimists and pessimists with a virus to measure their immune response. The researchers found optimists had a much stronger immune response than pessimists.

Positivity and Performance

Keeping a positive attitude isn’t just good for your health. Martin Seligman has also studied the connection between positivity and performance. In one study in particular, he measured the degree to which insurance salespeople were optimistic or pessimistic in their work. Optimistic salespeople sold 37 percent more policies than pessimists, who were twice as likely to leave the company during their first year of employment.

Seligman has studied positivity more than anyone, and he believes in the ability to turn pessimistic thoughts and tendencies around with simple effort and know-how. But Seligman doesn’t just believe this. His research shows that people can transform a tendency toward pessimistic thinking into positive thinking through simple techniques that create lasting changes in behavior long after they are discovered.

Here are three things that I’ll be doing this year to stay positive.

1. Separate Fact from Fiction

The first step in learning to focus on the positive requires knowing how to stop negative self-talk in its tracks. The more you ruminate on negative thoughts, the more power you give them. Most of our negative thoughts are just that -- thoughts, not facts.

When you find yourself believing the negative and pessimistic things your inner voice says, it’s time to stop and write them down. Literally stop what you’re doing and write down what you’re thinking. Once you’ve taken a moment to slow down the negative momentum of your thoughts, you will be more rational and clear-headed in evaluating their veracity. Evaluate these statements to see if they’re factual. You can bet the statements aren’t true any time you see words like never, always, worst, ever, etc.

Do you really always lose your keys? Of course not. Perhaps you forget them frequently, but most days you do remember them. Are you never going to find a solution to your problem? If you really are that stuck, maybe you’ve been resisting asking for help. Or if it really is an intractable problem, then why are you wasting your time beating your head against the wall? If your statements still look like facts once they’re on paper, take them to a friend or colleague you can trust, and see if he or she agrees with you. Then the truth will surely come out.

When it feels like something always or never happens, this is just your brain’s natural threat tendency inflating the perceived frequency or severity of an event. Identifying and labeling your thoughts asthoughts by separating them from the facts will help you escape the cycle of negativity and move toward a positive new outlook.

2. Identify a Positive

Once you snap yourself out of self-defeating, negative thoughts, it’s time to help your brain learn what you want it to focus on -- the positive.

This will come naturally after some practice, but first you have to give your wandering brain a little help by consciously selecting something positive to think about. Any positive thought will do to refocus your brain’s attention. When things are going well, and your mood is good, this is relatively easy. When things are going poorly, and your mind is flooded with negative thoughts, this can be a challenge. In these moments, think about your day and identify one positive thing that happened, no matter how small. If you can’t think of something from the current day, reflect on the previous day or even the previous week. Or perhaps there is an exciting event you are looking forward to that you can focus your attention on.

The point here is you must have something positive that you’re ready to shift your attention to when your thoughts turn negative. Step one stripped the power from negative thoughts by separating fact from fiction. Step two is to replace the negative with a positive. Once you have identified a positive thought, draw your attention to that thought each time you find yourself dwelling on the negative. If that proves difficult, you can repeat the process of writing down the negative thoughts to discredit their validity, and then allow yourself to freely enjoy positive thoughts.

3. Cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude

Taking time to contemplate what you’re grateful for isn’t merely the “right” thing to do; it reduces the stress hormone cortisol by 23 percent. Research conducted at the University of California, Davis, found that people who worked daily to cultivate an attitude of gratitude experienced improved mood, energy and substantially less anxiety due to lower cortisol levels.

You cultivate an attitude of gratitude by taking time out every day to focus on the positive. Any time you experience negative or pessimistic thoughts, use this as a cue to shift gears and think about something positive. In time, a positive attitude will become a way of life.  

Bringing It All Together

I realize these three tips sound incredibly basic, but they have tremendous power because they train your brain to have a positive focus. They break old habits, if you force yourself to use them. Given the mind’s natural tendency to wander toward negative thoughts, we can all use a little help with staying positive. Join me in putting these steps to use this year, and you’ll reap the physical, mental, and performance benefits that come with a positive frame of mind.

Travis Bradberry

10 Ways to Improve the Quality of Your Business Life

There's no greater success sucker in life than negativity. Work inevitably brings challenging experiences, whether it's having to spend time around negative people or being in a bad situation. 

Negativity can limit your potential to becoming something great in your career and keep you from living a purposeful, hopeful and fulfilling business life.

If you stay miserable in your work life, you'll have greater amounts of stress, increased health problems and less opportunity to grow your business: You won't be able to see past the negativity to the opportunity.

To become more positive, make a conscious decision to change your thinking and accept that work brings difficulty and negative moments. Your choice should be to live effectively within the challenging times. 

Related: The 6 Scary Truths About Becoming an Entrepreneur

1. Accept the challenge.

No amount of positive thinking can take a challenge away but there are positive ways to look at it. Don't let anxious emotions swallow you.

You need to not rid yourself of these emotions or become overly attached to them. Painful times in business come and go as part of the natural flow of things. Trust that each challenge in business is there to help you grow. Do your best to live effectively when challenged.

2. Be self-reliant.

When people act in a self-centered fashion, they can become negative toward themselves and others.

Perceiving your business life as being all about you makes it tempting to believe that you deserve more than what you have. An attitude of entitlement sets you up for unrealistic expectations -- that others in the work world should cater to your needs and wants.

This type of attitude makes you difficult to work with. For a more successful and fulfilling work life, be able to depend upon yourself to get your needs met.

3. See opportunity.

When you view your business life as only what you don't have, you cannot appreciate what you've achieved thus far.

Learn to see and appreciate all that you have achieved and be grateful. There's nothing more draining than being around someone who is constantly complaining about their business. Train yourself to see everything as an opportunity.

Make the mental shift from negativity to gratefulness. This attitude gets noticed. It will make you more attractive to work with. And from this, more possibilities open up. 

4. Shed the seriousity.

Laugh more, especially at yourself. Life gets busy, schedules are full. Your business life can become task oriented or routine driven. If you stop laughing and act mechanically, you're living life under a black cloud. Yet you're responsible for your personal and professional relationships.

Work isn't always about performing tasks. Take moments to change your routine, enjoy breaks and go on vacations.

Related: How Giving Could Become Your Default Weapon of Choice

5. Help others.

If you live your business life as if you're the center of the universe, you will struggle. If the whole point of your company is to only think about yourself, you won't achieve long-term success.

Helping and supporting others to become happier and more successful versions of themselves is a pathway to your own increased fulfillment and success.

6. Have a purpose. 

Setting goals and striving for something bigger in your business life can help you lead a more abundant life.

Everyone is here to work and to be in action. Happiness is a byproduct of achieving. 

Without action, there's no room for anything but depression and negativity. By staying busy, moving toward business objectives, being creative and innovative, you will wake up with a purpose that keeps you motivated in your quest to achieve bigger-picture goals.

Related: 5 Thoughts That Crush Success

7. Choose your attitude.

Change always starts from within. In business, you can be your best ally or worst enemy. Work is never going to be without challenge. Even when you feel that nothing is going the way you want, you can choose to search for the silver lining.

Learn to change the language you speak to yourself with. You're perhaps hardest on yourself when things in business don’t go well. A stream of negative, self-defeating inner talk corrodes your focus on goals and dreams. Be nice to yourself and keep pressing forward.

8. Adopt positive company.

Emotions are contagious and so you become more like the people you spend your time with. If your co-worker circles are full of emotional vampires, histrionics or self-centered people, you will unconsciously resemble them.

It's difficult to stay motivated at work when people around you are not supportive and don't demonstrate goal-oriented behaviors. When you surround yourself with positive, motivated people, you'll ride the escalator to success. 

9. Work hard. 

Turn stress into positive action and motivation. All stress can be worked through. Don't let it paralyze your movement. When you focus on moving through workplace stress, it dissipates more quickly.

10. Shed the victim mentality.

You cannot grow in your business if you see yourselves as a victim. Each person is responsible for his or her thoughts, attitude and work ethics.

Take full responsibility for your views and yourself amid the good and the bad. If you consistently believe bad things happen to you, you are handicapping yourself in the drive for success. 

To increase your feelings of success, make positive choices in favor of yourself. Love yourself. Take positive actions in your business and manage your thoughts.

Thoughts become words and words lead to actions, and actions become habits. Pay attention to gratitude, prosperity, abundance, love, hard work, goals, exercise, eating healthfully and obtaining sufficient sleep. Let these become your habits.

Sherrie Campbell

4 Reasons Why You Should Hire for Attitude Over IQ

I found that some of the best teams I have ever been a part of or managed all had one thing in common: people with great attitudes.

As I have helped Porch.com, a home-improvement network, grow, I have put a premium on attitude when managing and developing teams. In fact, I consider attitude as a lead indicator when I make hiring decisions.

Here are four reasons why you should hire for attitude.

Related: 3 Simple, Yet Critical Musts for Onboarding Success

1. These employees can fly above the noise and help keep everyone focused.

Nothing drives me crazy like gossip and rumor mills. These time sucks are often born from negative attitudes -- people who are looking for the worst in people and situations. It is nothing but noise and it leads to unproductive and inefficient cultures.

I have found that people with a great attitude fly above the noise and refuse to be distracted by the pull of negative chatter. In many cases, their desire and focus to keep moving the bar can be contagious. Their positive attitude gets people focusing on the right behaviors, which ultimately lead to better business results and overall employee satisfaction.

2. They are able to promote a positive workplace.

Simply put, people with a great attitude are more fun to be around.

At work we often spend more time with our co-workers than we do with family and friends. A great attitude can be a determining factor in whether a person is going to exceed their goals -- and many times they do, because they have the support of those around them.

Related: The 3 Secrets to Building An All-Star Startup Team

3. These staff members know that celebrating the small wins leads to big wins.

Part of having a great attitude is being able and willing to celebrate the daily wins. These wins (which may seem trivial at the time) are actually motivators for building long-term success.

If you are a company that wants to achieve big, audacious goals, you need to be pragmatic enough to know that these goals are not accomplished over night. You need to work towards them. That requires consistent and meaningful motivation, so people can see how the hard work of today pays off tomorrow.

Employees with a great attitude appreciate the journey and they make it easier for those around them to give their all, day in and day out.

4. They lead to great teams because they celebrate the 'we' over the 'me.'

I have found that above all else people with a great attitude are more successful at driving and leading winning teams. Part of the reason is their focus on the “we” over the “me”.

Whether it is through accountability, shared commitments or lack of emphasis placed on their own goals, they are able to get others to work together to accomplish something great. They don’t obsess over titles, visibility or favor and promote interoffice politics.

As the saying goes, “A bad attitude is like a flat tire. You can't go anywhere until you change it." If you focus on hiring people with a great attitude right off the bat, you won’t have to deal with cultural or business derailment down the road. 

Related: Why That VP From Google Is Probably Not the Best Fit for Your Startup

Craig Cincotta