How can positive thinking help you begin and advance your career?

"17.5 Get Your Career Off on the Right Track Mark this section of the text with a permanent bookmark because you are going to want to refer back to it many times during the remainder of your college career. Yes, we are going to give you a road map to find, keep, and advance in that job that is perfect for you. Think Positively To be successful in life and in a career, you need to be positive. Positive thinking is making a conscious effort to think with an optimistic attitude and to anticipate positive outcomes. Positive behavior means purposely acting with energy and enthusiasm. When you think and behave positively, you guide your mind toward your goals and generate matching mental and physical energy. Positive thinking and behavior are often deciding factors in landing top jobs: your first job, a promotion, a change of jobs—whatever career step you are targeting. That’s because the subconscious is literal; it accepts what you regard as fact. Follow these steps to form the habit of positive thinking and to boost your success: 1. Deliberately motivate yourself every day. Think of yourself as successful, and expect positive outcomes for everything you attempt. 2. Project energy and enthusiasm. Employers hire people who project positive energy and enthusiasm. Develop the habit of speaking, moving, and acting with these qualities. 3. Practice this positive-expectation mindset until it becomes a habit. Applicants who project enthusiasm and positive behavior generate a positive chemistry that rubs off. Hiring decisions are influenced largely by this positive energy. The habit will help you reach your peak potential. 4. Dwell on past successes. Focusing on past successes to remind yourself of your abilities helps in attaining goals. For example, no one is ever born knowing how to ride a bicycle or how to use a computer software program. Through training, practice, and trial and error, you master new abilities. During the trial-and-error phases of development, remind yourself of past successes; look at mistakes as part of the natural learning curve. Continue until you achieve the result you want, and remind yourself that you have succeeded in the past and can do so again. You fail only when you quit trying!"