Tired of negative thoughts? Do you want to love your life more, to invite more joie de vivre and optimism into it? All this doesn’t just fall out of the sky; it has to be worked on and nurtured. The good news is that it’s quite simple – all you need are the right habits. Here are 5 simple habits you can put in place to boost your optimism.

1 – Waking up with positive thoughts to boost your optimism

Building up your optimism doesn’t mean you have to leave everything behind and move to the other side of the world.

In fact, there are some simple habits we can put in place to make us more and more optimistic.

Because optimism can be learned, worked on and nurtured.

So, to begin with, I invite you to set up a habit as soon as you wake up.

Because, all too often, as soon as we open our eyes, we list everything we have to do for the day, and already we doubt we’ll have the time and energy to do it all. The result is stress and a bad mood when we’re not even out of bed yet.

So, to change this and build up our optimism, we need to replace this bad habit with a good one.

The latter consists in waking up with a positive thought: “Today is the perfect day to be happy.”

In this way, we refocus on what’s important: being lucky enough to be alive and living a new day.

Because our life is a gift that will be taken back, and we too often forget this.

That’s why, instead of getting up with gratitude and optimism for this new day we’ve been given, we drag our feet and grumble.

I wholeheartedly invite you to try it, you’ll see, you’ll feel much more optimistic and even happy, happy with just this tiny habit when you wake up.

2 – Going to work with a smile

We tend to arrive at work already stressed or in a bad mood.

We’ve woken up stressed, we’ve prepared stressed, and chances are we’ve left late for work, so we’re even more stressed.

So how can we build up our optimism so that we can work more serenely, and even more happily?

In fact, the key is to arrive at work with a smile on your face.

We don’t always realize it, but the way we approach things has a huge impact on how we experience things afterwards.

In other words, if we arrive at work vibrating with stress, that stress is likely to follow us throughout the day, and even to get worse.

But the reverse is also true.

In other words, if we arrive at work with a smile on our face, vibrating with optimism and joy, then there’s a good chance that the optimism and joy we feel will follow us throughout the day, and even expand.

So, how do you get to work with a smile on your face?

I wholeheartedly invite you to do something that puts a smile on your face first thing in the morning before you leave for work.

Too often in the morning, we get ready on autopilot and don’t even take the time to enjoy our coffee or hot shower.

Take the time to savour these things.

Better still, give yourself 5 minutes to do something else: read, write, have a big cuddle with your kids, play with your pet.

Take the time to experience these simple, everyday moments of joy. That’s what building optimism is all about: drawing joy and strength from everyday life too.

What’s more, always leave 5 or even 10 minutes early, so you’ll have more peace of mind and a better chance of arriving at work with a smile on your face.

3 – Always have a mantra to boost your optimism

During the day, we always have doubts and stress to contend with.

And, unfortunately, we don’t always know what to do with all those negative thoughts that make us think everything’s going to go wrong.

That’s why I wholeheartedly invite you to carry around a mantra that works magic.

It’s a few simple but powerful words: “What if everything turned out all right?”

Because, all too often, we give power to our doubts, and that’s why we become more and more pessimistic.

In other words, to build optimism, it’s time to choose to believe and expect the best.

That’s why I wholeheartedly invite you to jot down this mantra all around you, in your phone, in your bag, on your desk, on your hall mirror…

Everywhere.

In this way, these few words will leave a lasting impression on you, and you’ll be able to respond instantly to your doubts and build up your optimism!

4 – Choosing to see the positive

Unfortunately, we forget an essential rule in life: it’s the way we do things that determines our level of happiness and well-being.

In other words, if we do things in a bad mood and under stress, then all that negativity settles more and more permanently in our lives.

In fact, to build optimism, it’s essential to bring optimism and joy to everything we do.

But we’ve learned to fear disappointment, so we do everything we can to prepare ourselves for the worst.

Yet we always have a choice in life: whether to see the glass as half empty or half full.

To dwell on the things that are going wrong, or to focus on the things that are going right.

To let the shame of our failures consume us, or to learn valuable lessons from them so we can bounce back!

Or dwell on bad memories, or do everything to create better ones.

It’s high time we stopped feeling helpless and powerless. We have the choice to be optimistic and positive!

That doesn’t make us naive, it makes us happy. And that’s something else entirely.

Indeed, it’s not by always expecting the worst that we can be happy in our lives.

That’s why, to build up your optimism, it’s time to make the decision to be positive!

5 – Practice gratitude before going to sleep to boost your optimism

Gratitude is magic.

Because we don’t always realize it, but it’s being grateful that makes us happy, not the other way around.

Yet all too often, we wait until we’re happy to feel grateful, and so we condemn ourselves to waiting for happiness. And the longer we wait, the more sullen and pessimistic we become.

In fact, we end up believing that happiness isn’t for us, that we’re unlucky.

Stop! That’s just not true.

It’s simply that we haven’t learned how to be happy, and we’re not taking the right steps to do so.

So, yes, practicing gratitude is magic!

That’s why it’s ideal for building optimism.

So, in concrete terms, every night, just before going to sleep, list the things you feel particularly grateful for today.

Simple things, like the song of a bird, the laughter of a child, the warmth of your coffee, the sweetness of a cake…

At first, you may think for a few moments, but very quickly, it will be very easy for you to make a list of all the things that made you smile today. It’ll be a game, the most beautiful game you’ve ever played.

Personally, I have a gratitude notebook that I fill in every night. I wholeheartedly invite you to do the same.

In fact, just seeing that notebook on your bedside table is a great boost to your optimism, as we remind ourselves that life may not be perfect, but it does offer us some magical moments!

Find out more:

I invite you to read these 2 complementary articles:

Discover How to be an optimist: 7 tips for becoming an optimist
Discover Lack of energy: tips that will do you a world of good

I recommend this inspiring book:

The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain by Tali Sharot

The author explores the fascinating realm of the human brain and its tendency towards optimism. Sharot looks at the cognitive biases that shape our positive outlook, and explains how our brains are wired to anticipate positive outcomes. This book is a journey through the science of optimism, offering a nuanced understanding of the factors that contribute to a positive state of mind. Sharot’s work encourages us to develop our optimism by uncovering the inherent biases that influence our perception of the world.

A truly thought-provoking and well-researched book. Sharot’s prose is fluid and thoughtful, making the statistical information more enjoyable than monotonous. While much of the research may seem obvious, the many studies really show how obnoxious it can be to be so optimistic. Is it hope that has kept us going all this time? The research into the part of the brain that remembers the past and imagines the future has been the most intriguing.

Thank you very much for reading this article.

If you liked it, let me know in the comments.

Take care of yourself