Making 2020 Your Best Year Yet
As a hopeful college business student, being given the opportunity to help out at and attend the December meeting of Women in Leadership Nexus was something I couldn’t pass up. Today I can say speaker Erin Mahoney’s lessons were not only career-changing, but life-changing. Something that spoke to me significantly was the importance of being able to “mind your mind.” That is how you can make 2020 your best year yet.
Minding your mind is about being conscious of your thoughts. Erin informed us that 85% of your thoughts a day are negative. This is astonishing. Our subconscious seems to be trained to think negatively.
To make the most of your year, you need to mind what you are thinking; be conscious of the fact that you are thinking negatively and change that. This can be a difficult task to face considering that most people don’t actively acknowledge what makes them happy every day. In my opinion, living your best 2020 means you need to think about why you are happy every day. A good exercise is to train your brain at the end of each day to think about at least one positive thing that happened that day or what made you happy. This small action could be a big step to make your life more positive overall.
As a marketing student, I have not only learned the importance of social media, but also understand there is a lack of knowledge about it. It is widely thought that social media and phone usage in excessive amounts can lead to more negative thoughts specifically about your social life because it causes you to compare yourself with others. I have taken it upon myself to change this stigma and show how social media can be used for good to help you become aware of the positive parts of your life.
A few years ago, I took part in a trend I had seen where you create an Instagram account and post a picture with one reason why you are happy each day. Each day I posted, although some days it was more difficult. You have to remember that even if you are having the worst day there has to be at least one thing you did or thought about that brought you or someone else happiness.
In the beginning, I used this account as a way to look back on my year at the end and remember each day. This is similar to people who make videos at the end of each year that include a bunch of their memories from that year.
At the time, I did not realize how much posting on this account impacted me, however, looking back now I realize how positive and happy I was while doing it. This small action I did each day changed my whole outlook on life. I ended up getting a lot of feedback on my page about how people looked forward to my posts and how it inspired them to be positive as well. Similar to how you don’t always realize when you are thinking negatively, sometimes you also don’t realize when you’re feeling really happy and thinking positively. Due to the fact that you may not notice it often, it is important that you acknowledge it.
In professional environments, it is refreshing to work with people who exude happiness and positive vibes. This is extremely attractive. Nobody likes to work with pessimistic people. Everybody has bad days, but you have to make the most of it. Embodying the positivity in your life will help you in both your social life and your professional life. It will aid you in creating a network of like-minded people around you who have similar values. Thinking about my future, I look forward to working with people like this. I want to be guided by people who want to see me succeed and recognize my positivity, and I want to lead others to have this outlook on life.
In order to make 2020 the best year yet I encourage you to mind your mind. Pinpoint things in your life that make you happy and keep doing them. Push negative thoughts out because they aren’t necessary. Focus on bettering yourself through your mind. If you didn’t have a new year’s resolution yet, here it is. Get out there and good luck!