Become more productive and innovative by improving your reality

See stress as a beneficial thing
Instead of fighting or fleeing from stress, find something meaningful about whatever is stressing you. For example, if you’re stressed about work, tell yourself that your work allows you to take care of your family. You can also read articles or watch videos that discuss the positive truths about stress. For example, stress boosts cognitive performance, increases your brain’s processing speed, builds mental toughness, and deepens social bonds within a team.

Cross-train your brain to gain extra perspective
Visit a local art museum with a team of colleagues or family. Examine each painting from different vantage points to see whether you can identify new details. You can also choose an everyday object e.g. a coffee mug and try to draw as many versions of it as possible. Look at it from different angles and vantage points. Ask yourself, “What would the ability to see 10 percent more details in my work do for my performance?”

Do something altruistic
Volunteer at a soup kitchen, help someone move or send a colleague a nice handwritten thank-you note. Doing something prosocial can break your negative perception of reality and help you see alternate, positive realities, and opportunities.

Eat well and get adequate sleep
If you’re leading a team, hold all of your important meetings right after breakfast or lunch. When you’re satiated, your brain focuses more on positive rather than negative details, thus allowing you to make better decisions. If you’re not leading the meeting and are forced to brainstorm before lunch, bring snacks for yourself. Fatigue also impairs your ability to see positive details, so get enough rest every night.

Improve your positivity ratio
Focus on an object or person and write down as many attributes or phrases about it as you can in 30 seconds. Ignore grammar rules and just focus on speed. Give yourself +3 points for every positive descriptor and +1 for every negative one. Then calculate the ratio of positive (P) to negative (N) attributes you’ve written down. Ideally, you should have at least 3 times as many positive phrases as you do negative ones.

Embrace diverse voices
If you’re searching for solutions to a problem or want to make a big decision at work, consult at least 3 people who have diverse points of view. Talk to individuals of different genders, cultures, positions, and personalities.

Remind yourself of the power of change
Write down 3 moments in your life that brought you the greatest changes and contributed to you being the person you are today. Post this up on your bathroom mirror or desk to remind yourself that you can achieve long-term positive growth.