Your potential for business excellence, excellence in your marriage, and excellence in your family life demands that you master the skill of staying U.P. (Ultra-Positive) even when - and especially when - everyone else isn’t. There is a tendency in tough times to zero in on the things that are “out of whack” and forget about all that is working in our lives, in our company and in our country. This is easy to do, especially if we are not strategically insulated from the continuous downpour of gloom and doom reports of “breaking bad news.”

When you’re Ultra-Positive, you’ll be more creative, productive, energetic, and attractive in every sense of the word. Here are some practical options to build your momentum.

Make the Decision to Stay U.P.

Nothing of consequence happens until you promise yourself that you’ll become the most positive person you know, even in light of challenging circumstances. Raise your standards! Become an inspiration to others. Everything else flows from this key decision to separate yourself from the herd mentality, from the vast majority who blame, whine, gossip, and predict the sky is falling. Life is short. Refuse to buy into this mass hypnotism... Take a stand, starting now.

Create Your Own Headlines!

Enough of the negative news stories already. Think about it. Most news isn’t really new anyway. It’s just old news happening to new people. Steer clear of the defective thinking that comes from overindulging in the media. Instead, break from the pack and chart your own course. Starting today, write your own life story and make the headlines sensational. Your written goals are your HEADLINES for the future! Make them compelling and you’ll rise up and above the crowd.

Start U.P. then end U.P. every day.

One of the simplest ways to reduce stress and anxiety is to begin and end each day with what I call Positive Mental Nutrition. Feed your mind with inspirational ideas, spiritual truth, or motivational nuggets for ten to fifteen minutes immediately upon awakening each morning and right before drifting to sleep each evening. During these two time periods, your mind is extremely susceptible to programming, so make sure your inputs are positive, healthy, and goal-directed. Read, visualize, affirm, pray, and rewrite your goals... and practice feeling thankful for what you do have!

Summarize Each Day’s Victories, Large or Small, in Writing.

This one practice alone can zap fear and generate quantum leaps in self-confidence. Start logging your accomplishments each evening in a notebook, hardbound journal, or on smart phone or laptop.

U.P. your Physical Exercise

Another pillar of Ultra-Positive living is consistent, moderate exercise. This includes aerobic work to burn fat and improve heart health; weight work to tone and strengthen your muscles and elevate metabolism; and flexibility work to stay loose and limber. Exercise more. Exercise a lot more! Face the facts. When you’re in terrific shape and feel better about yourself, you feel better about your life and more optimistic about your future. You’re positioned to live U.P. to your full potential.

Break U.P. the Big Four

Negative thinking leads to negative emotions, which in turn trigger more negative thinking. The vicious cycle becomes engaged. The top four negative emotions include fear, worry, blame, and guilt. These terrorize your potential and immobilize your efforts toward becoming Ultra-Positive. When you begin experiencing results you didn't want or expect, it’s easy to get scared and start thinking more about potential losses than potential gains. This mind-set triggers worry or what I call reverse goal setting, where you vividly imagine what you don’t want. To transfer the burden of worry, you will often blame someone or something outside of yourself. Alternatively, you may exaggerate your role in the negative events and experience guilt. Consider negative emotions to be lies from the enemy. Deal with them directly by refusing to entertain the thoughts that fuel them. This is a point very much worth reinforcing: Invest your time thinking about what you want instead of what you don’t want.