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The Society of Half-Glassed Thinking™
Cultivate Positive Thoughts
Seeing the glass as half-full is a matter of perspective. You can train yourself to have a half-full perspective by cultivating positive thoughts.
In many cases, it is the reverse of the negative patterns of thinking. Instead of filtering out the positive, adjust your filter to capture positive things. Make a habit of noticing things that go well and that work out. Some researchers have suggested keeping a journal and writing down each evening a few things that have gone well that day. This is nothing more than the "count your blessings" outlook cultivated by so many who went through the Great Depression and it may sound old-fashioned. But it works. It is simply a form developing a habit of focusing on the positive in life. (I have personally found that to be a very useful exercise.)
Instead of magnifying the negative, get a new lens that will keep the negative in its proper size. (Thinking positively does not deny negative or bad things. It just refuses to let them take over as though they are all that ever happens.) Put some positive things alongside them. For example, you work on a project that has four goals. The project fails to meet one of these goals, the biggest one, but succeeds with the other three. Is it a success or failure? Well, it isn't an unqualified success or a failure. You succeeded in some of your goals. You failed at one, the biggest one, but maybe you can learn from the failure how to meet this goal the next time. Even if you can't, remember that hitters in baseball are considered successful even when they fail to get a hit two-thirds of the time they come to the plate, and even if they sometimes strike out with runners on base and their team down one run.
Rather than personalizing, focus on the things that are under your control. You may not be able to guarantee that you'll bring in so many dollars in sales, but you can make a certain number of sales calls and calls are the key to making sales. Focus on your responsibilities rather than results and you'll have more energy to keep at it.
Otherwise, you make yourself a victim, and being a victim saps energy and develops a sense of hopelessness. "My industry is moving offshore and there is nothing I can do." If there really is nothing you can do, you are helpless and there is no point in doing anything. I cannot change conditions in my industry, but I can change what I do. I can go back to school for training in a different area or start networking with others to see how my skills might be adaptable to another industry. Focus on what you can do.
You may need to adjust your expectations of life. My daughters' sixth grade teacher used to respond to students' allegations that something wasn't fair, "Life's not fair." It may be one of the most important lessons he taught them. Some of us expect life to be easy and are deeply saddened or angered when faced with difficulties "I don't deserve."
I have been helped a great deal by a story I read maybe twenty years ago. One Christian denomination was developing a new hymnal. One member of the committee was being particularly adamant that a certain hymn should not be included. Finally, another member leaned across the table and said, "Aw, c'mon, Cal. One of them has to be the worst hymnal in the book." True. Everything we do has some flaws and we'll be better off once we get used to it.
If you are a Christian, you have additional reasons to focus on the positive.
One important way to cultivate positive thoughts is to celebrate successes. Read more.