David Wheeler,
It is surely obvious that positive thinking will
benefit you in all areas of your life. Research has continually shown for instance, that having a
positive mindset increases both productivity and quality in the workplace. Clearly, feeling
positive about ourselves releases our creative abilities and therefore our performance
improves.
When you are functioning at your best, you feel more
confident and this then positively affect all facets of your life. On the other hand, fear can cut
off your productive thought processes in an instant. Fear of making a fool of ourselves in some
way, can stop us making good decisions. We will start making bad judgment calls and will hesitate
to act when faced with a challenge. Instead of seizing and making the most of an opportunity, we
will allow it to slip through our fingers, while the rest of the world moves on, oblivious of our
inner turmoil. Emotions like anxiety, jealousy and regret, which are all based on fear, not only
will affect you physically but will also have a tremendous negative impact on how you live your
life. Undertaking a personal development course of some sort will benefit you immensely. It will
focus on cementing beneficial behaviors, while also helping eliminate those traits which hold you
back. You will experience an overall increase in well-being as your emotions, thoughts, beliefs and
actions are all interlinked. So, here are a few things you can do to maintain a positive thinking
outlook:
Set some
goals
To achieve long-term success, you need to have
long-term, mid-term and short-term goals. A long-term goal if you're a non-swimmer for example,
might be to swim a mile and raise money for your favorite charity. Clearly, that's going to take a
while to be able to achieve that! So, it's important you have something to aim at you can achieve
in a shorter time scale. Your mid-term goal might be to complete ten lengths at your local swimming
baths. Your short-term goal could be swimming half a length. Then as you reach each of these
targets, reward yourself for getting there. This will help maintain your motivation and positive
thinking attitude.
Have
self-belief
This is an absolute
must-have. You cannot reach your goals if you don't believe in yourself. Look around. You'll see
that those people who achieve are those who believe they can. To help self-belief, visualize
achieving your goal. Close your eyes. Using the swimming analogy, feel the resistance of the water
as you carve your arms through it. Hear the splashing as your legs kick. Make it as real in your
mind as you can. Include as much detail as you can; what you are wearing, is the water warm or
cold, how hard are you breathing, what sounds can you hear, and so on. Then smile as you reach the
finish line. Feel the intense sense of satisfaction and pleasure that comes with it. Feels good,
doesn't it?
Know your
worth
Say only good things
about yourself. Be your own best friend. Don't berate yourself when you make a mistake, like so
many people do. Criticizing yourself achieves nothing. Tell yourself what you're good at. If you
catch yourself saying something negative to yourself, stop. Using positive thinking, turn that
comment into an encouraging one. For example, if you have just tripped over something you didn't
see, instead of muttering "I am so clumsy", change that to "whoops, I didn't see that but next time
I will and I will avoid it".
Have an
action plan
This must be written
down, detailing what steps you taking, day by day to achieve your goals. Remember to include your
reward days! Obviously, this must be tailored to suit you, not based on what other people say you
should do. If you are being mentored, of course take into account your mentor's advice. Doing this
shows you that you intend to control your own life and is another tool to help develop a permanent
positive thinking mentality.
Maintain a
journal
This links in to your
action plan. At the end of each day you note down how much progress you have made towards your
nearest goal. You might also find it useful to note down the feelings you experienced while doing
particular things. Were they helping you in your efforts or not? If not, think about what you want
to feel when doing that task. Use the visualization technique to help you achieve it. Maintaining a
daily record of your progress and continuing to look back over it will help cement you into a
positive mind-set. Of course, you must be honest with yourself. Don't write that you did something
if you didn't and don't make excuses either. You might fool others but you cannot fool
yourself.
So, there are a few
valuable, workable ideas for you to try. If you use them properly, you will soon find that positive
thinking will help you achieve the things you truly want. Good luck...actually, you don't need
luck!
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