Stop Focusing on Problems: How a Positive Focus Fuels Business Growth

As a business owner, your mind is a constant hub of activity. Every day brings a fresh wave of decisions, challenges, and opportunities demanding your attention. In this whirlwind, it's crucial to consider daily what we are focused on. This choice, seemingly simple, can profoundly impact your well-being, your team's performance, and the overall trajectory of your business. Key take-aways:

• Positive Focus Drives Business Growth: Intentionally shifting your attention from problems to learning, growth, and small wins creates a positive mindset, which in turn boosts resilience, encourages necessary risk-taking, and increases your likelihood of success.

• Use Positive Self-Talk to Increase Resiliency: Reflecting on how you help others and how others have helped you strengthens your positive self-identity, enabling you to face business challenges with a broader, more creative, and less overwhelmed perspective.

• Rewire Your Brain for Success: Simple actions like tracking wins, adopting a "yes, and..." mindset, and building on strengths can physically rewire your brain for positive thinking, leading to greater agency and achievement in your business.

The Power of Intention: Choosing Your Business Focus

We can focus on the areas where we feel ourselves falling behind, fixate on the moves of our competitors, and become consumed by what feels like a constant struggle. This path can feel heavy, draining your energy, and making every step feel like an uphill battle.

The other option, however, is to direct our attention toward the positive. This means looking at:

• What we are learning: Every experience, good or bad, offers a lesson. Focusing on these lessons helps you grow.

• How we are growing: Acknowledge the progress you're making, even if it's small. Growth isn't always about big leaps.

• Celebrating our small wins: These are the daily victories that often go unnoticed but build momentum.

Choosing this positive path isn't about ignoring problems. It's about choosing where you put your mental energy. It's about understanding that your focus shapes your reality.

Why Positivity Isn't Just "Fluffy" – It's Business Strategy

It's easy to dismiss a focus on the positive as wishful thinking or ignoring reality. Some might think it means you're not "tough enough" for business. But choosing to focus on positive aspects is a deliberate and powerful strategy. It's because it causes a shift in mindset to what is possible and what we can achieve. This isn't about burying your head in the sand; it's about strategically positioning your mind for success.

Think of your mindset as the engine of your business. If it's constantly bogged down by problems, it will struggle to move forward. But if it's fueled by possibility and optimism, it can power through anything.

With that positive mindset, the benefits ripple outwards, touching every part of your business:

Enhanced Resilience: Bounce Back Stronger

You will be more resilient to face the problems that WILL come. Challenges are an inevitable part of business. No business journey is perfectly smooth. There will be unexpected hurdles, tough decisions, and moments of doubt. A positive mindset equips you with the mental strength to:

• Bounce back from setbacks quickly: Instead of getting stuck in disappointment, you'll see failures as learning opportunities.

• Learn from mistakes effectively: You'll analyze what went wrong without self-blame, extracting valuable lessons for future actions.

• Keep moving forward: You'll maintain your drive and determination, even when things get tough.

Increased Risk-Taking: Embrace Necessary Growth

You will also be more willing to take risks that are necessary for growth. Business growth often requires stepping out of your comfort zone. Fear of failure can paralyze progress, making you stick to safe, but stagnant, choices. A positive outlook fosters a belief in your ability to:

• Navigate uncertainty: You'll feel more confident in exploring new markets, launching new products, or trying new strategies.

• See potential rewards in calculated risks: You'll be able to weigh the possibilities more clearly, focusing on the upside rather than just the downside.

• Innovate and adapt: A willingness to try new things is key to staying competitive and finding new opportunities.

Greater Likelihood of Success: Attract Opportunity

You will be more inclined to put yourself in situations which are more likely to contribute to our success. A positive mindset acts like a magnet for opportunity. It opens you up to:

• New opportunities: You'll be more observant and receptive to possibilities you might otherwise miss.

• Proactive behavior: Instead of waiting for things to happen, you'll actively seek out ways to improve and grow.

• Fuel the belief that your efforts will yield positive results: This self-fulfilling prophecy empowers you to work harder and smarter, increasing your chances of achieving your goals.

The Research Supporting a Positive Focus

The power of a positive focus isn't just anecdotal; it's supported by research in psychology. It's about building a strong inner foundation.

The Positive Deviance Approach: Learning from Success

Jerry and Monique Sternin developed this approach while dealing with undernourished children in Vietnam and ending female genital surgery in Egypt. They discovered that by focusing on entrenched, long-term problems, they were able to make very little progress.

However, their breakthrough came by focusing on the ‘positive deviants’. These were the individuals or groups who were succeeding despite facing the same challenges as everyone else in their situation. By studying what was already working within the system, the Sterns were able to design a world of what was possible, building on the strengths already present.

The Sternins' work demonstrates that solutions often lie within the system itself. By focusing on existing successes and building on those strengths, rather than solely on deficits, it creates a sense of possibility and empowerment. This resonates with the idea of an "abundance mindset" – focusing on what you have and what is working, rather than just what you lack This approach helps you see the hidden successes and resources you already possess, rather than being overwhelmed by perceived lack.

Building a Resilient Identity Through Positive Reflection

Adam Grant's research shows that a positive self-identity is essential to managing challenges effectively. This means having a strong, stable sense of who you are as a capable and worthy person, even when your business faces tough times.

You build this strong identity by:

• Reflecting on how you help others: Think about the value you provide to your customers, your employees, and your community. This reinforces your identity as a capable and caring contributor.

• Reflecting on how others have helped you: Acknowledge the support, advice, or assistance you've received from mentors, colleagues, friends, or family. This reminds you that you are connected and worthy of support.

By seeing yourself as connected to others in a positive light, you adopt a broader perspective when faced with threats to your self-concept. This means that business setbacks or criticisms seem less overwhelming and all-encompassing. When you feel secure in your core values and identity, business problems are less likely to shatter your confidence. Instead of becoming reactive and negative, you can approach challenges with a more open and solution-oriented mindset, fostering creativity in finding solutions.

Small Wins, Big Identity: Building Positive Business Habits

James Clear offers practical guidance on how to build habits by creating a desired identity. It's a simple, two-step process:

1. Decide on the type of person you want to be.

   • Envision the flourishing business owner you aspire to be.

   • What are their key characteristics and behaviors? Do they wake up early? Are they great at delegating? Do they connect easily with customers? Get specific.

2. Prove it to yourself through small, consistent wins.

   • Start taking small, manageable actions that align with that desired identity.

   • The trick here is to make these actions so tiny, they feel almost effortless. This helps you build momentum and overcome that initial resistance to starting something new.

Let's look at some examples for a business owner:

• Example: Aspiring Writer (for content marketing): If you aspire to be a business owner who communicates effectively through written content, the initial "small win" could be as simple as writing one sentence or one paragraph each day. It's not about writing a whole blog post at first, just proving to yourself that you are a writer, one sentence at a time.

• Example: Becoming a Better Networker: If you want to be a business owner who builds strong connections, your small win might be sending one personalized LinkedIn message per day, or simply saying hello to one new person at an event.

The focus at this stage is not on achieving significant results immediately, but rather on establishing the identity of someone who consistently engages in the desired behavior. These small, repeated actions serve as evidence that reinforces the new identity, making it more likely that the individual will stick with the habits over time. Each tiny success whispers, "You are this person."

This approach employs the principle of self-efficacy, where early successes, no matter how small, build confidence and strengthen the belief in one's ability to embody the desired identity. By focusing on becoming the type of person who can achieve the desired outcomes, rather than fixating on the outcomes themselves, individuals are more likely to experience sustained progress and lasting change in their businesses. This shifts your focus from the overwhelming "how" to the empowering "who."

The Power of Gratitude and Positive Brain Rewiring

Beyond identity, practicing gratitude can physically change your brain! When you consistently focus on positive aspects of your business, you are rewiring your brain to think more positively.

The more you exercise positive thinking, the stronger those neural pathways become. This means it becomes easier and more natural to spot opportunities, feel hopeful, and maintain a constructive outlook.

Once you are thinking more positively, you tend to take actions and feel more agency over your future and be able to achieve more positive things. This creates a powerful upward spiral where a positive mindset fuels positive actions, which in turn lead to more positive outcomes, further reinforcing a positive outlook. It's a virtuous cycle that builds momentum and confidence.

Simple Actions to Cultivate Positivity in Your Business

Turning the theory of positive focus into practical action is essential. Here are some simple tools and techniques you can implement today to shift your business mindset:

The "Yes, And..." Mindset: Open Up Possibilities

Take a tip from improv artists and instead of thinking immediately of everything that could go wrong, start to think of what could go right. This is a powerful mental exercise. When a new idea or challenge comes up, instead of immediately listing all the reasons it won't work, try to build on it.

The "yes, and..." principle encourages you to:

• Build upon ideas and possibilities: Accept the initial idea ("yes") and then add something to it ("and...").

• Avoid immediately shutting down with negativity: Don't let your first reaction be to find flaws.

• Become more creative: By opening up your mind to the possibilities, you become more creative and can develop solutions and ideas which can grow your business in unimaginable ways.

This mindset fosters innovation and helps you see opportunities where you might have only seen problems before.

Build on Your Strengths: The Gallup and VIA Approaches

One of the most impactful shifts you can make is to focus on what you and your team do best. Gallup’s findings strongly advocate for a shift from a deficit-based approach (focusing on weaknesses) to a strengths-based approach. This means instead of constantly trying to fix what's "wrong," you invest in what's "right."

By recognizing and nurturing what individuals do best, organizations can unlock greater potential, leading to a more engaged, productive, and successful workforce. For businesses focused on strengths rather than weaknesses, this means tangible benefits:

• Higher Sales and Profits: Workgroups with strengths-based development have reported up to 19% increased sales and 29% increased profits. This happens because people are more effective and enthusiastic when they're using their natural talents.

• Lower Turnover: Organizations with strengths-based development see significantly lower employee attrition, with up to 72% lower turnover in high-turnover organizations. Happy, engaged employees are less likely to leave.

• Fewer Safety Incidents: Strengths-based development is linked to a significant reduction in safety incidents (up to 59% fewer). When people are playing to their strengths, they are often more focused and perform better, reducing errors.

To help you and your team discover these powerful strengths:

• Gallup CliftonStrengths: Gallup now offers a strengths assessment which you can take for $25 to learn your top 5 strengths. For $60, you can also buy the detailed report to find out how to capitalize and build on your strengths. This provides a common language for discussing talents within your team.

• VIA Character Strengths: The VIA Institute on Character is an organization that was founded by the research of Martin Seligman on these character strengths, very similar to the Gallup Strengths. It offers the widely used VIA Survey, a free self-report questionnaire that helps individuals identify their unique profile of character strengths. The detailed report cost $50.

Use a signature strength. Each time we use a skill we’re good at, we experience a burst of positivity. Even more fulfilling is using a character strength, a trait that is deeply embedded in who we are. A team of psychologists led by University of Pennsylvania Professor Martin Seligman catalogued the 24 cross-cultural character strengths that most contribute to human flourishing and developed a survey to identify an individual’s signature strengths.

Here’s how to put this into action with your team:

• Encourage a Strengths Survey: Ask each person on your team to take the Gallup CliftonStrenths or the VIA Character Strengths.

• Share and Discuss: Encourage people to share their strengths profiles and to list ways they can practice their top strengths at work. This creates a shared understanding and appreciation for individual talents.

• Leverage Strengths in Projects: Find opportunities for them to work on company projects that leverage their strengths. When people are doing what they naturally do best, they are more engaged, productive, and satisfied.

According to Seligman, when we have positive emotions like hope, they serve as a cognitive guide to our actions. These feelings form the motivation to spur us into action and make our dreams a reality. This is important for business owners to tap into the positive, and by recognizing strengths, business owners will experience more positive emotions. By connecting with their strengths, owners can strategically focus on tasks and roles that align with their top strengths, leading to increased effectiveness, engagement, and a greater sense of fulfillment.

Tracking Your Wins: Building Momentum and Inspiration

In the business world, you can actively cultivate this positive rewiring by tracking your wins. It’s easy to see all the ways in which we fail and all the mistakes we’ve made, as that is often what demands our immediate attention. Our brains are wired to spot threats and problems, which means we often overlook the good stuff.

Instead of solely focusing on these challenges, make a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly routine of looking back and finding the wins and the successes.

• Daily: At the end of each day, jot down 1-3 things that went well, no matter how small. Did you get a positive email? Did you make a good decision? Did you learn something new?

• Weekly: Review your daily wins and identify key achievements for the week.

• Monthly/Yearly: Take a broader look at your progress, celebrating major milestones and recognizing how far you've come.

That way, you actively see your progress, which helps you to move in the right direction and also inspires you to take more action. Recognizing your achievements, no matter how small, provides concrete evidence of your capabilities and fuels motivation to keep going. It shifts your perspective from "I'm always dealing with problems" to "Look at all the amazing things I've accomplished!"

Focus on the Positive with Others: Build Stronger Relationships

Your business isn't just about you; it's about the people you interact with every day – your team, your customers, your partners. Actively cultivating a positive communication environment can transform these relationships.

• Praise in Public: Tell other people good things about 3rd parties – this keeps the conversation positive, and it improves relations with the person you are talking about in a positive sense. When you speak positively about someone to others, that positivity often circles back, building goodwill and trust.

• Highlight Contributions: Make a conscious effort to highlight the positive contributions of your team members and celebrate their successes publicly. This boosts morale, encourages continued effort, and creates a culture of appreciation.

• Customer Interactions: Focus on the positive aspects of customer interactions. Even when addressing a complaint, frame your response around solutions and positive outcomes.

When you improve relations and think about the positive about people, your work will be made much easier! Positive relationships are the backbone of any thriving business.

By building a more positive focus, you can enhance your resilience, increase your likelihood of success, and create a healthier, more vibrant business. But the impact of positive routines extends far beyond the workplace.

If you're ready to start building a life with more positive routines, download our free Work-Life Balance Guide. It’s packed with simple, effective strategies to help you find more joy, energy, and fulfillment in your daily life.

Ready to start? Download the free guide now and begin your journey to a more balanced and successful life.