We hear it all the time, right? Whatever it is you want in life, all you gotta do to attain it is "be positive." They say nothing of greatness has ever been achieved with a negative mental attitude.

What would you say? Are yoWe hu a positive person? Do you consider yourself an optimist or a pessimist?

You probably don't need me to tell you this, but most people would probably identify as a pessimist. Why?

It's not hard to look around in this world and find reasons to be pessimistic. Negativity on the news every day, people losing their jobs, their homes, and their lives.We now have issues and catastrophes that affect us all on a global level. We certainly are living in tough times.

If times are so tough how come we still have people who are optimistic? Well actually if you look around, you will see that there are also plenty of things to use as evidence for our optimism. We live better today than the kings and pharaohs of our past. Every somebody defies the odds of what we previously believed to be possible, fulfilling our potential faster than ever before. New technologies, new philosophies and new ways of life that are changing the world.

There's no doubt that somebody who is positive and optimistic will be more willing to take action to improve their situation. Anytime things go bad, the pessimist says "See I told you so, why bother?" The optimist, on the other hand, will say something along the lines of "It's not that bad, maybe there's still a way I can make this work!"

Notice the difference in mindset? Here are 3 ways you can become more positive and create a better life today.

* Recognize what you can and can not control. One guaranteed way to be unhappy is to put all your focus and energy into things that you cannot change or influence. Somethings are just out of our control, it's best to focus on what we can do, not what we can't do.
* Take time out of every day to be grateful for the life you have. We often lose perspective of how good we actually got it as the law of familiarity kicks in. The law says that no matter what our surroundings are we will eventually get used to it and the novelty wears off. Don't fall into this trap.
* Pursue your passions and fulfill your purpose. I've never met somebody who knows who they are, knows what they want out of life and know what they need to do act in a negative or pessimistic way. These people are too caught up in their mission, their vision and their goals to worry about what could go wrong. They have a why so important to them that it helps them break through any obstacles.

Learn more on episode 57 of The Implicit Show.