HOW TO HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE…

A positive attitude–optimism, expectancy, and enthusiasm–makes everything in academics, sport, and life easier. A positive attitude will fuel you when you’re down and supercharge you when you’re already “in the zone.”

Here’s how to cultivate a positive attitude, regardless of what’s happening at school, practice, or at home:

#1 Link positivity, creativity and attention. In addition to physical benefits, a positive attitude produces a “broad, flexible cognitive organization and ability to integrate diverse material.”  These effects improve your attention, creativity, and ability to learn. Positive emotions also improve a person’s ability to cope with minimal playtime, upsets, and a difficult coach.

#2 Reframe negative moments as positive ones. Take time to reflect on your latest bouts with negative self-talk. Spend some time reframing these negative self-discussions in a way where you can get positive emotions out of these experiences.

For example, if you experienced your coach yelling at you, reframe his intentions as positive constructive criticism . If you felt embarrassed about an error or mistake in a game, think about how it is actually  silly or laughable to be thinking about it 3 days later. Even if your coach was upset about you throwing an interception, mistakes happen from time to time. With any luck, maybe your coach will see the humor in it also.

If you don’t treat smaller mistakes as life-altering experiences, you will be able to handle situations better. One way to handle the game losing interception, is to watch more film with your offensive coordinator and quarterback coach. Next, you can offer to work on the plays that beat blitzing linebackers.

#3 Recover from negative life events more quickly. Building and maintaining a positive attitude can help you be more resilient to negative life events such as a below average SAT score.
People who experience positive emotions when discouraged tend to develop healthy long-term plans. Having goals and plans will result in an overall better sense of well-being after suffering setbacks.

DeShawn Fontleroy