One thing I experience and know to be true in my world is this: By consistently being and thinking positive we attract the people and opportunities into our lives that will help us reach our goals, experience success and live a happy life.

What it means to be positive on purpose #PonP

Our days are made up of a whole bunch of conscious decisions. From what to wear, to what to eat for breakfast all the way to how you choose to treat people you encounter.

We have free will and the power of choice, which means we have the ability to choose how we treat ourselves and the people in our lives. Therefore being positive on purpose simply means to deliberately choose to be positive, regardless of the situation or how you feel in that moment.

Not all attention is good attention

Sure, there are famous comedians and actors that can get away with acting negatively and inappropriately in public, but those rules only apply to a select few. Online attention, likes, comments and retweets from your friends validating your negativity is not the kind of attention that will help people to know, like and trust you. It may appear that you have a high Klout score or lots of followers but that does not mean the professional world or your customers will take you seriously. Focus your social efforts on meaningful engagement and when interacting, just be positive on purpose.

Lurkers are real people

Recruiters and possible future clients love to lurk. They may not be engaging with you, but that doesn’t mean they are not watching everything you do and say. They use this to determine, over time, whether or not to contact you. The sales cycle of social media is long in nature. This means that people may take longer to hire or purchase from you, but when they do they are usually very qualified and ready to buy. This can dramatically increase the chances that the relationship will work out well for both parties.

Perception is reality

Today, more than ever we live in a public world. Our actions are being recorded and uploaded to the cloud. This includes all your Twitter updates, Facebook posts, photos and videos. You will get to/have to live with your social/digital footprint for the rest of your life.

We are all in the people business

A brand needs much more than a great product or service to be successful. We live in a world where we do business with people we know, like and trust, right? Looking through your past social network updates, are you likable, would you trust you? Are you demonstrating the type of attitude where people could be drawn to your energy? You and I have the opportunity to set the example and treat people like they matter. Because they do – We all do.