There are four side effects to being happy with your life

1. A positive attitude.
2. Getting along with and accepting others easily.
3. Being more determined and focused in life.
4. Feeling that your life has a purpose.

The study of successful leaders and other great people is never ending. Over and over these studies reveal these four traits that most positive people exhibit.

1. It may seem trite, but count your blessings. We all have good and bad in our lives, focusing on the good more than the bad, no matter what the ratio is helps give us something to be happy about.
2. The world we live in is an imperfect place. Understanding that helps one take it in stride when challenges and adversity happens.
3. Do something to help others. Volunteer, be a mentor, anything that helps someone else. The sense of fulfillment is amazing.
4. Have realistic goals and a means of achieving them. A goal not worth planning for is not worth achieving and on the other side, a goal that is unreachable not matter how much planning is done only serves to disappoint in the end.

Aron Ralston, a mountain climber, spent over 5 days in a narrow slot canyon with his arm pinned under a fallen rock. He eventually cut his arm off to escape. Even after that horrific experience, he went through months and months of often painful and emotionally draining rehabilitation. He survived, wrote a book about it called “127 Hours” and is living a happy life today because he naturally applied the four traits above to get him through a terrible part of his life.

What does this have to do with marketing? A lot! Having a great attitude, accepting others and being focused can mean the difference between a success and failure. A great attitude will inspire those you work with to be enthusiastic. Accepting others will help you find the gold in their ideas and feedback. Being focused will help drive to the goal and know when to adapt the plan if things change.

Life is good no matter how challenging it can be. Keep that in mind and everything else eventually falls into place.