The Unbeatable Power of Positivity

Scrolling through LinkedIn this morning, I read a post sharing the story of Bill Ackman and how he was able to regain ownership of his sinking company after a bad investment by securing a $300M loan from JP Morgan.

Bill Ackman’s story is inspiring.

It highlights his critical decision making skills and the ability to comeback after disaster.

But then I went to the comments…

“Must be nice to be able to get a $300M JP Morgan loan to save your company.”

“Seriously? He got divorced at the same time… not someone I want to look up to.”

“He endorsed Trump… why are we looking up to this guy?”

While there were some positive comments, there were a lot more negative comments.

I share this because it was a reminder that we have a choice.

We can choose to see people or hear stories through the lens of an open mind, willing to be inspired or educated, or we can see and hear them through a lens of comparison, judgment and envy.

The former usually leads to healthy relationships and personal growth.

While the latter inevitably leads down a bitter path to resentment.

It can leave you feeling like life just isn’t fair or that everyone else has some advantage that you don’t have.

And it can cause you to constantly look for the opportunity to poke holes of negativity in any situation, just because you’re unable to accept the good for others or because you might have some differences.

Social media has become a breeding ground for commentary without consequence.

Faceless, nameless people, fueled by resentment, sit behind their phones and computers finding endless ways to spread negativity in any and all situations.

Since most people are on some form of social media on a regular basis, we are all exposed to and likely desensitized to a lot of this negativity.

And being desensitized to that kind of thinking makes us much more likely to engage in it.

I’m also not saying that everything has to be looked at positively.

Sometimes things are just bad and that’s it.

But I believe that we can choose to go into all situations with an open mind; open to see things for what they are, whether it’s positive or negative.

An open mind is able to hear, learn and grow.

But a closed mind hears nothing, learns nothing, and will never grow.

So I want to encourage you to consciously allow yourself to be open-minded the next time you meet someone new, hear someone’s story, are exposed to a new idea, listen to a new genre of music, or even try a new restaurant.

You might be surprised by some things…

Thanks for reading.