How to Improve Your Attitude Toward Life and Self
Challenge your existing beliefs., Examine your ideas about the world., Take responsibility for your attitude., Re-frame your focus., Fake it until you make it.
Step-by-Step Guide
-
Step 1: Challenge your existing beliefs.
If you believe the world is a bad place, you will probably tend to have a negative attitude.
As such, if you can work on changing your beliefs about the world, your attitude will likely follow suit.Also remember that beliefs tend to be quite subjective and there are multiple ways of looking at the same thing.
So, try to look for evidence that runs contrary to the belief that you hold.
For example, if you believe the world is a bad place, you might spend a couple hours researching all the ways in which people help each other in times of need. -
Step 2: Examine your ideas about the world.
Your negative ideas about the world may cause you to act a certain way and this can determine the outcome of some situations.
Your negative ideas may even start to take the form of predictions and, each time one of your predictions comes true, your negative views are reinforced.
This is known as a self-fulfilling prophecy.
An example of a self-fulfilling prophecy is if you think that the world is a cold, mean place and so you are cold and mean to people.
As a result, people may be cold and mean to you in return.
You might then interpret their actions as being in line with your view of the world, which reinforces your attitude., You have a lot of control over the way you think about the world.
Try to keep that in mind and use it to your advantage.
Ultimately, you are responsible for your attitude and cannot blame how you think on others or on your situation.Remember that although you may not be able to change your circumstances sometimes, you can still change how you react to them by adopting one kind of attitude over another. , In some sense, much of reality is subjective, such as whether you enjoy what you are doing or not.
This depends in large part on the thoughts that you emphasize and focus on.
For example, if you do not much enjoy your job, you might think with a bad attitude "This really sucks and is pointless." However, you could also take a more positive attitude toward the exact same situation and think "It is pretty amazing that I can do a task and get money to feed myself and my family.
Imagine living in a time when people had to forage for food and no meal was guaranteed."
In part, your attitude is formed when you watch yourself act in certain ways.
This is called self-perception theory, and it is the idea that people infer their own attitudes by perceiving their own behavior.For example, one study found that if you focus people's attention on the number of religious activities they have participated in before, they tend to report more favorable attitudes towards religion.
So, if you want to improve your attitude about life and yourself, you can partly get there by behaving like you want your attitude to be.
This "faking it until you make it" can be an effective way to improve your attitude. -
Step 3: Take responsibility for your attitude.
-
Step 4: Re-frame your focus.
-
Step 5: Fake it until you make it.
Detailed Guide
If you believe the world is a bad place, you will probably tend to have a negative attitude.
As such, if you can work on changing your beliefs about the world, your attitude will likely follow suit.Also remember that beliefs tend to be quite subjective and there are multiple ways of looking at the same thing.
So, try to look for evidence that runs contrary to the belief that you hold.
For example, if you believe the world is a bad place, you might spend a couple hours researching all the ways in which people help each other in times of need.
Your negative ideas about the world may cause you to act a certain way and this can determine the outcome of some situations.
Your negative ideas may even start to take the form of predictions and, each time one of your predictions comes true, your negative views are reinforced.
This is known as a self-fulfilling prophecy.
An example of a self-fulfilling prophecy is if you think that the world is a cold, mean place and so you are cold and mean to people.
As a result, people may be cold and mean to you in return.
You might then interpret their actions as being in line with your view of the world, which reinforces your attitude., You have a lot of control over the way you think about the world.
Try to keep that in mind and use it to your advantage.
Ultimately, you are responsible for your attitude and cannot blame how you think on others or on your situation.Remember that although you may not be able to change your circumstances sometimes, you can still change how you react to them by adopting one kind of attitude over another. , In some sense, much of reality is subjective, such as whether you enjoy what you are doing or not.
This depends in large part on the thoughts that you emphasize and focus on.
For example, if you do not much enjoy your job, you might think with a bad attitude "This really sucks and is pointless." However, you could also take a more positive attitude toward the exact same situation and think "It is pretty amazing that I can do a task and get money to feed myself and my family.
Imagine living in a time when people had to forage for food and no meal was guaranteed."
In part, your attitude is formed when you watch yourself act in certain ways.
This is called self-perception theory, and it is the idea that people infer their own attitudes by perceiving their own behavior.For example, one study found that if you focus people's attention on the number of religious activities they have participated in before, they tend to report more favorable attitudes towards religion.
So, if you want to improve your attitude about life and yourself, you can partly get there by behaving like you want your attitude to be.
This "faking it until you make it" can be an effective way to improve your attitude.
About the Author
Isabella Chavez
Writer and educator with a focus on practical lifestyle knowledge.
Rate This Guide
How helpful was this guide? Click to rate: