Whether you are the most optimistic person who has a terrible life situation or a pessimistic person with a great life situation, we all admit that life hits a rough patch at times. While I admit that I am not the most optimistic person in the world, I admit that I'm also not the most negative person either. I have however, had a very profound experience battering my negativity. Whether it came to playing a football game or taking a math test, I always found one of the lingering issues that always seemed to plague my mind was my constant doubt. There is a common saying going around that "you are always your greatest critic" and I find that to be especially true within my life. I really found that while at times I was able to get around self-doubt at times, it would always come back to hurt me later. While I found that at times my negativity did hold of me too much at some points, I didn't really understand how much my negativity had changed my life and how much it can change everyone's life at that. I begun to notice this as I began my training as a non-profit canvasser for Twin Cities PBS. One of the most important aspects of being a canvasser is the mindset training and how well a canvasser can go to each door keeping a positive mind frame after getting rejected. Each day I've worked, I've knocked on at least sixty doors and have had at least 90% of people I talk to turn me down in giving donations to PBS. Some people turn me down politely and say they aren't interested today, others straight up tell me they hate PBS and that our organizations suck. While it is definitely not fun to deal with people who give those responses, I learned about how much mindset changes the results of my job. When I am at my best mindset at work, I find that more people are willing to give me some form of money compared to when I'm not very positive. I also found that the mindset I have while canvassing also serves at a solid mindset to maintain when approaching life. Nevertheless, here is an insight into how being a canvasser has show me how much mindset affects our everyday life.

When I first started canvassing for PBS, I did not understand how much mindset was going to affect my ability to raise donations. While I did do some door-to-door fundraising while I was in high school,I didn't really understand how much work it actually took to convince people to give you donations on a day to day basis.In high school, I would only do fundraising for a day at a time and the results didn't really matter as they were just to get money for school sports. Now,I had a job where my performance would determined if I stayed or got fired. I understood that there were going to be a lot more failures than successes. In the end though, I learned that this aspect of canvassing is something that is almost expected every time you go to the door. Life is similar in this way as often times failure tends to be more common than success at different point. In canvassing however, failure at each house is often seen as being one step closer on getting to the one or two houses that will hear your claim and give you money. While it does hurt to get the loud door-shut or hear the occasional conservative rant about how awful PBS is, it does mean that I have more experience for the next door that I go to.

One of the big things I learned when it came to mindset In canvassing and in life, is that ultimately what happens to when you are out there is only partially within your control. When I am out canvassing in the field, the only aspect I can control is the way I present my script or rap and my mindset at each door. I learned that I can't control how people react at the door and whether or not they will give money, and If they are even interested in learning more about PBS. The only thing I really can is my reactions and how I can hold up my end of the deal. In reality, that holds true for day to day interactions with anything. Whenever something bad happens to you, whatever someone dies or you lose a job, there are a lot of factors that are put of your control. The only thing you can really control is how you act or move on from it, and how it affects the rest of your life. Whenever I have a door where a person does not give me a positive reaction,I always tell myself that the the only person who really needs to have a positive reaction at each door was my own. I learned that while I cannot control what happens at every door,I at least can control what happens at my own door . Because of this,I try to take the same approach when it comes to the challenges that I face in life. Whether I get into a bad fight with my parents or spend too much money at a store, I know that the only thing in the end that I can control is the way how I choose to look at each situation. Often times, a lot of what happens to us in life is a result of other people's thoughts, actions and beliefs contracting with our own.

In the end, the most important part of maintaining a positive mindset is to work through negative attitudes and consequences. While I am not perfect at this in my own life,I do understand that there are a lot of steps I can take to make it better. I know for a fact that you the reader have the ability to control your own attitude about life's many complex situations and control your own actions. I hope that you will find that it is much easier to focus on your own outlook first before being concerned about others,and continue to develop the positive mindset you know you are capable of.