It’s Chic to Look on the Bright Side

Optimism is a key ingredient to success. Having owned my own successful consulting firm for three years, authored a bestselling book, and coached countless business owners to greater success, I have recognized trends along the way. The nature of a business owner%u219s attitudes and behaviors often dictate their success or failure. Optimism can seem too fleeting to teach, but it has a clear link to achievement. Here are five ways to increase your level of optimism:

1. Take time out each day to let your passion and purpose overwhelm you. This is not something you let happen once, it is something you visualize and let consume you daily. Create some kind of ritualistic way to passionately express and feel your optimism and enthusiasm every single day.

2. Purposefully visualize yourself participating in your own success. By using this technique routinely, you will come to understand that you are closer to achieving the success you desire than you think. You will become more positive, which will have affirmative effects on your presence.

3. Create a mantra. This is one, short sentence that you repeat to yourself throughout the day. It should be stated in the positive and have a meditative quality about it so you can zone in on. Used during meditation, mantras help your mind to focus and relax, thus allowing you to get in a more Zen place that will allow positivity to flow freely.

4. Use optimism as a tool. Being optimistic is also one of the most effective tools you can use to inspire yourself, ward off frustration and feelings of defeat and keep your spirits high. Carrying that energy with you will drive you forward daily to make your life%u219s dreams an enjoyable reality.

5. Write down positive things that happened to you during the day. These are things that you are to be thankful for and writing them down just before bedtime will allow you to ruminate on them during the night and wake up feeling more upbeat the next day.

For more chic success, do one thing every day that will increase your level of optimism. If you have time, do more. A focus on getting your mind in an affirmative place is never a waste of time. With the expectation of a good outcome comes a good outcome. It's that simple and it's that much more important to focus on each day.

Elizabeth Gordon is the author of "The Chic Entrepreneur: Put Your Business in Higher Heels".