3 Habits of Positive People

Robert Collier, one of America’s original self-help authors who believed happiness and abundance were achievable by everyone, once famously said “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”

What if positivity was the same, and all you had to do was repeat the same few habits and you could be a happy person?

Well, the research shows that’s exactly how it works. You can train your brain to be more positive and happier! Here’s the science backed way to do it.

1. Practice Being Grateful, Every Day

Write down 3 things you’re grateful for each day.

“In just a two-minute span of time, done for 21 days in a row, we can actually rewire your brain, allowing your brain to work more optimistically and more successfully,” says psychologist and CEO of Good Think Inc., Shawn Achor, in his Ted Talk The Happy Secret to Better Work.

Shawn and his team have worked with a whole lot of companies, and by the time they’ve finished this simple exercise people’s brains are starting to retain a pattern of scanning the world for the positive first, not the negative. If that doesn’t work for you, try making it a habit to talk to your family each night about one positive experience you’ve had that day – this allows your brain to relive it. 2.

2. Exercise Regularly

This one is tried and true. We’ve heard it all our lives, do exercise, it’s good for you in so, so, so many ways.

There are a whole lot of YouTube videos for 10- and 20-minutes exercise sessions you can do before work or bed each day. Make sure you start small and work your way up. Remember it’s better to do a bit somewhat regularly, rather than a lot all at once then quit.

If you’ve never really been into exercise in the past, I recommend starting in your lounge room, with a 10-minute exercise like this one for beginners or for a more intense cardio workout try this session from Brookes. Try doing this three times per week for a month, then try making this a regular pre- or post-work habit and doing it five times a week. After a few months, or when it becomes too easy, move to a 15-minute session.

3. Make it a Habit to be Nice

And finally, be nice. If you make being nice or kind a habit, you become more positive and see more niceness in others’ actions and around you.

On top of that, according to Dr. Ritchie Davidson at the University of Wisconsin, being nice makes you nicer too! “It’s kind of like weight training, we found that people can actually build up their compassion ‘muscle’ and respond to others’ suffering with care and a desire to help,” says Ritchie.

Check out these other studies that show the benefits of being nice. There are so many easy and free things you can do to be nice, such as writing an email to thank a colleague for a job well done, or leaving positive comments on a blog or online article. For more inspiration and resources, visit https://www.randomactsofkindness.org.

The research is conclusive and shows you can train your brain just like you train your body. Life’s too short to not be happy with it, why not put these 3 things into practice today?

Related content: Read Moving On article TED’s top 11 positive psychology talks

Tell me what you do to stay positive in the comments below!

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