Life is filled with ups and downs, but keeping a positive attitude can help set you up for success even when things aren’t perfect.

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Here’s a transcript of our conversation:

Brittany: Hi, Ronni.

Ronni: Hey, Brittany.

Brittany: There’s this thing on the internet called Lucky Girl syndrome that’s is about, this is this group of people, and I’m not going to lie, I’m kind of one of them, but we’ll get into that. I believe that you can be lucky, and I’m using that in quotes. You can be lucky in life if you think positively every day. So, when these lucky, it’s not just for girls, it’s just, it’s called let’s just nickname Look, girl syndrome. So when they wake up, one of the rules of this is to wake up. The first thing they say to themselves, is good things are going to happen to me. And they swear that that makes their day better.

Ronni: Do you do that? Do you say Good things are okay?

Brittany: I do every single morning. That’s the first thing. The second my eyes are open and there’s actually some science behind the brainwaves and stuff, but that’s for another time. It’s really cool now that neuroscience has advanced so much because of all these things, there’s actually some scientific proof for it, which is really fun, but I’ll get into that in a little bit. So, okay, there’s no such thing as luck. First, let’s get that off the table. I don’t believe that. There’s a great quote in an old movie now called Titanic, where Leonardo DiCaprio’s character says, A real man makes his own luck. And I actually really like that. I think that’s true, but I think that ties into this.

Ronni: That’d be the lucky-man syndrome then.

Brittany: Yeah, lucky man syndrome. Yes. So, here’s the thing, again, there’s really no such thing as luck. In this concept, people have to work hard to get what they want. So, today I want us to think about, well, okay, but does thinking positively really help make us more successful? And that’s what I want to dive into today. So, I remember having this friend who was negative all the time. She was like Ior in Winnie the Pooh. Nothing was good, everything was bad and everything was going to end up bad for her. And she was sick all the time, all the time. And the doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her. And it was like all the time she was in and out of the hospital, she was getting all these hospital bills racked up, and all of us were like, is it maybe that she’s so negative and so pessimistic all the time that she’s making herself sick? Not that she was faking it, that she was feeling this, but it wasn’t real. And there’s actually science now that being stressed and having that negative attitude really does impact your health. There’s this great book, not for Kids, it’s too Scientific, but called The Body Keeps the Score. And it’s about how our mental health and even things we’ve experienced that were hard to deal with adversity in the past, can actually influence our health and our body, that it’s all connected. People always think of our mental health and our body being different, but they’re not. They’re very much the same. And so, I’m tying this in because it’s like, okay, so being stressed and being negative was actually impacting her health. And once she started changing that attitude, she had never been in the hospital since.

Ronni: Oh wow. That’s amazing.

Brittany: So, it was one of those things where it was like she had to change her mindset. And I’m not saying that means everybody who’s sick, by the way, is negative. Yeah. I’m not saying that. There’s obviously people who are sick for a variety of reasons, but for this girl specifically, it was her negativity that was keeping her sick. And it’s not just sick, it’s not just health. I know people who were negative in their jobs or negative about life, and guess what? They don’t achieve anything because they just keep assuming that everything bad is going to happen. And there’s something called a self-fulfilling prophecy. And that is like if you keep saying that nothing’s going to happen for you and everything’s going to turn out bad, of course, it is because you’re not even imagining something where something good can happen. And that’s what I did, not to the point of my friend, but always it was like I wanted to prepare. My mom would always say, to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. And so I would always in my head, think something bad’s going to happen and then maybe something good will happen. And I’ll be surprised about that. But guess what? When I was walking around all day in my head, assuming something bad was going to happen, it was like I was recognizing the bad things. So, I am not even saying I made them happen, but it was just like when I was focused on negative things, what do you see around you? Negative things, right? Because of what your brain is going for. So, when I wake up.

Ronni: Hasn’t there been science already that says things like if you’re thinking about something, and this could be like, oh, you’re thinking about green cars, you will start to notice green cars more often.

Brittany: Yes, yeah. And I wish I could remember what that was called, but yes.

Ronni: So, it makes absolute sense if you have in your mind to think about the positive or good things about your day. It doesn’t mean that more good things necessarily happen, but it means that your focus is on those things. And when you focus on those things you’re going to start paying attention to those things more and they’re going to start influencing you back. So, I think absolutely everything that you’re saying, makes sense to me.

Brittany: It makes sense. And so it’s funny because people that are mad at Lucky Girls, and it comes actually to another episode, talked about a group think looking at judging people only by their race or that people saying, well, I was born poor and I don’t have the opportunities you have. So, I don’t get to think positively. I have to think this way. And I really don’t believe that. I think everybody can think positively. And let’s say that there is a great injustice in the world and you shouldn’t be happy, you should be focusing on that. You can still think positively and be an activist and do something. So, that’s kind of a weird argument for me. So, I’ve started because I do tend to think bad things are going to happen. I started two weeks ago, like I said, starting every day with good things is going to happen.

Ronni: Oh, so this is new. You’ve only recently started this.

Brittany: It’s new and I’ve always been working on positivity and stuff like that. But this has been a real change for me as I’m like, okay, I need to really just expect good things instead of waiting for bad things.

Ronni: So, you, it’s helped. It’s made a difference.

Brittany: Oh, my goodness, Ronni, it’s crazy to me. It is absolutely crazy. Again, my gut instinct is to think bad things are going to happen. So, when I wake up and I just say, good things are going to happen to me, and I take a deep breath and I think, you know what? Yes. And if something bad happens, I wake up with a better attitude. So, I went either way. So it’s been crazy. I’m going to have to try that, try it for just two weeks. And again, I want to say I don’t believe that this is magic and that it’s lucky, I believe. And Ryan and I said, there’s some science behind this that if you’re positive, you’re just going to see more things. You’re going to have a better outlook on life, and you’re going to notice all your blessings around you. And that gets me to my next thing. And that is the impact of gratitude on the brain. So, I don’t do this as much as I used to. I used to do a gratitude journal every morning when I woke up and write five things I’m thankful for. I do it in my head when I’m at the gym in the morning, I’ll say like, oh, I’m thankful for this person and this, but gratitude, they found when you write on paper what you’re thankful for, it actually changed something in your brain. And people were happier on average. They could actually make themselves happier by showing what they were grateful for. Because same principle, they were focusing on good things instead of bad things. And I mean, I don’t like being around negative people, even if it’s just like, oh, this is silly, this doesn’t work. I think you notice people who are positive and optimistic are just fun to be around. It just feels good to be around them, not people complaining all the time, or woe is me. Life is so hard. So, I think that all ties in together that it’s just having this good attitude, recognizing how much you have to be thankful for how blessed we are. I think everybody, no matter how sad you might be, everybody has so much to be thankful for. Maybe that’s just, that I have a roof over my head, I have three meals a day. Maybe it’s not like I wanted this toy and I didn’t get it and I’m mad about it. But you have to look around and think of all the things you have. And again, that just puts you in a more optimistic mood. And I think it also makes you willing to put in the work. We know that to do something successfully, to get better at the piano or get better at math, or maybe we have a lot of kid entrepreneurs to invent something really great, you have to put in the work. But do you think that, what’s our guy’s name? Steve Jobs. Do you think he got up every morning and was like, I’m going to fail. I don’t even know why I’m doing this. This is a dumb idea. I am set to fail. No, he had to believe in what he was doing. That doesn’t mean you don’t have moments of doubt. Connor and I have talked about something called imposter syndrome. Oh yeah, you feel like you’re not deserving or maybe that you’re not even good. But again, you can overcome even imposter syndrome by just having a better outlook on life. And so this has been something that’s really helped me. And again, that doesn’t mean that every day it’s not big things. It’s not like I was like, good things are going to happen to me and I found a hundred dollars on the street. That’s not what happened. One of them was that even good things were going to happen to me. And it was easier for me to, if something bad happened, I wasn’t just thinking it was the end of the world. I was like, something good’s going to happen. Let me find a solution. So, it was still proactive. I was still doing things, but just the power of a positive attitude, it can just do so much for you. And so that’s something I wanted to share with you and Ronni, I would be interested to see, to have you try it and see what happens. And again, it’s not like Ronni’s going to wake up and be like, oh my goodness, I just won a million dollars. Oh my goodness, this happened. But just little things, it made me more confident to, audition for things. It made me more confident to send in applications for these things I auditioned for. And just the mere fact that I was trying, I was able to get the things I was trying to get right so it wasn’t luck. I want to make sure we know that it’s not luck. I’m not just saying say it and it’s going to happen. You got to work for it, but also just have a better attitude about it. So, I really would like to challenge all of you to just start your day off by saying, good things are going to happen to me today. And then write maybe five things down that you are grateful for. Maybe that’s something if your family sits down at the breakfast table every day, or maybe even for dinner at night, maybe go around the table and talk about not just some things you’re grateful for, but maybe something good that happened in your day. Because I think even the worst days, there is always something good. We just ignore it. So, preoccupied with the bad things that happen. So yeah, I would really just challenge you guys to do this and we’d love to hear if it changed at all. If you think this is a silly idea and it didn’t work but try to really believe it. Just stay optimistic and positive and see if your life gets a little better. Because even if nothing good happens, you’re going to have a better outlook about it. Alright, I’m going to try it. Brittany? Yes. Yeah, I’m excited. Yay. We’ll see what happens. So, alright guys, we’ll wrap it up there. Thank you for listening and don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast. Until next time, talk to you later.

Ronni: Alright, see you soon.