Your Most Underrated Superpower for Business and Career Success in 2024” (It’s So Much More Than Just a Fluffy Feel-Good Factor!
What Superpower Am I Talking About?
It’s Something Called: Positivity!
Positivity is not merely a feel-good factor; it's a truly transformative force for your life. During my journey as a Recruiter, I discovered that this goes way beyond mere optimism but rather it a mindset that enhances problem-solving, sparks creativity, and fosters effective collaboration.
Danny’s Experience- Enough With The Positivity!
Throughout my entire career as a professional Recruiter and my life in general, there have been countless well-meaning friends, family, colleague’s and manager’s that I have worked with, whom have told me “Danny you are just way to positive and you need to be more realistic”
After continually hearing this for many years, I regretfully took the advice that they had given me and for a period of time, I silenced my innate desire look at life with a “glass half full approach” and instead I moved toward taking steps to adopt a more pragmatic personality style.
After trying to be someone I wasn’t for years I decided that it was time to go back to being “Positive Danny” again because “Pragmatic Danny” just wasn’t giving me the satisfaction and results I had once had.
The moment decided to bring Positivity back into my life, things slowly began to change for the better it major ways. As a result of getting re-introduced to the old Danny. Embracing my former self led to me re-gaining the resilience and persistence that I once had and as a result, remarkable changes happened for me in both my personal and professional life.
I remembered that by maintaining a positive outlook, I was better equipped to turn challenges into opportunities. Embracing a growth mindset, as described by Carol S. Dweck in her book "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success," has enabled me to thrive amidst adversity. I think Positivity is about seeing setbacks as stepping stones to success and continuously learning and growing from.
Aside from my own personal experience adopting a style of Positivity, through my research on the subject I discovered there is a tremendous amount of work that has been studied by many leading Psychologist’s and Business Though-Leaders for years.
The Science Behind Positivity and Success:
In "Positive Intelligence," author Shirzad Chamine explores how positive mental habits can significantly enhance one’s ability to achieve success. He argues that positivity leads to better problem-solving, higher levels of creativity, and more effective collaboration – all essential skills-sets that are needed in today’s dynamic work environments especially, if you are a candidate that is going to looking at the market for a new position in 2024.
The Role of Positivity in Leadership and Culture
In "The Happiness Advantage," Shawn Achor discusses how positivity can lead to greater success. This principle is particularly relevant in leadership, where a positive attitude can inspire and motivate teams, creating a more innovative work environment and it will also attract the best talent in the market to join your organization.
Is it possible find the balance between realism and optimism?
Here’s the part where I contradict myself a bit, as I continue to grow both personally and professionally, I have begun to learn that even though this advice may have not been presented in the best way by the people in my life that gave me it, they did have a point, as I admittedly have learnt the hard way that positivity is most effective when balanced with realism.
Looking back, I truly believe that these people in my life genuinely cared about me, they were well-meaning and wanted to help someone, that was just starting out in the workforce at that time in my life, however I think they were giving me that advice in the wrong sequence.
Choosing Between Positivity and Reality
I still believe to this day that if I have to choose between optimistic and realism, I would advise someone that is going to be taking on a big new undertaking this year to go with the Overly-Optimistic approach first because that it what will get you to start and keep going and not giving up as you face setbacks during the process and as you get better and adding that new skillset or undertaking you can start to add in some realism so you can then make more thoughtful and strategic decisions when you are ready to enter that next season of your journey.
In conclusion:
My own experiences have taught me that embracing positivity can help you conquer challenges, seize opportunities, and thrive in your professional journey like nothing else.
As this year comes to an end let’s remember that positivity is not just a feel-good concept; it's a strategic tool that can transform your professional life in 2024.
Embrace it, learn from setbacks, inspire others, and then try to find that right balance between optimism and realism that works for you!
Recruitment Insights
