Organizational Behavior

Differences between Positive and Negative People

It is a drastically different experience being around positive people versus negative ones. If you are striving to be more positive yourself, here are 6 ways you can do so:

  1. “Failure is part of learning.”

Positive people view failure as an opportunity to learn and get better. They understand that failure is an event, and doesn’t define who they are. Negative people are emotionally disabled by failure because they allow it to define who they are. They fail to understand that it’s part of the learning and growing process.

  1. “I can do hard things.”

Positive people love to be challenged. They understand that there is no growth without struggle. Positive people embrace difficulty and look for ways to overcome them. Negative people love the easy road. Because obstacles increase the likelihood of failure, they try to avoid them like the plague. To negative people, hard times don’t make you, they break you.

  1. “I always give my best.”

Positive people focus on giving their best effort, regardless of the situation. They understand that there are many things they cannot control, but the effort is not one of them. No matter what, the positive person strives to give their best — even if it isn’t much. Negative people want things to come easily to them. If they have to try hard, they believe they just aren’t good at it and give up. They are more likely to give their absolute best if they know people are watching them.

  1. “She is inspiring!”

Positive people are inspired by the success of others, they look at those who are excelling and ask themselves the question, “What can I learn from them? Negative people become jealous and threatened by the success of others. To negative people, when others succeed it means they are failing.

  1. “What can I do better?”

Positive people embrace feedback. Because they are always striving to get better, they are open to learning anything that will enhance their skill set. Negative people get offended when they receive correction or feedback. Instead of seeing it as means to improve, they interpret feedback as a sign of their incompetence.

  1. “I give power to what I focus on.”

Positive people focus on things they can control. They understand that their happiness is dependent on how they choose to respond to what happens to them. Positive people believe that they give power to what they focus on, so they use it wisely. Negative people center their focus on things they can’t control. For example, they ruminate over Past conversations, beat themselves upon past mistakes, and allow their fear of the future to stop them in their tracks today.