If you really want to take action, succeed, change things in your life, you need to first focus on your mindset. Negative thoughts equal negative energy. Let’s just get into how to have a positive mindset.
**I am going to be quoting Born to Win by Zig Ziglar. This is one of the positive mindset books I would recommend. There are a lot of positive quotes, that help gets you thinking in a different way about accomplishing your goals.
Zig Ziglar said, “A simple fact about success is that it requires a lot of positive, personal motivation to achieve…”
If you think about it, it is usually ourselves that is getting in the way of accomplishing our dreams. And it usually boils down to our mind. What we think, how we possess experiences, and how we react.
Neutral Thinking – Stop Saying Negative Things Out loud
It’s hard to go from negative to positive just like that so let’s start changing slowly.
First, stop saying negative things out loud. I recently listened to Ed Mylett’s Podcast with Trevor Moawad and it just goes to show how powerful our thoughts and more importantly how powerful our negative words are. Statistics show that saying negative things out loud makes them 40 to 50 times more likely to happen.
Everyone has negative thoughts and we always will, but we have to recognize them and figure out how to get out of that negativity. Reframe the narrative to reflect what you want to happen—even if you doubt yourself.
To switch your thinking, start thinking neutrally. This is a small but positive step towards more positive thinking. Neutral thinking helps you move on instead of becoming debilitated by negative experiences. This mindset can help you remain calm and make the best of any less-than-ideal situation rather than ruminate on it.
Listen to the Podcast to learn more!
Get out of your own way
I’m not sure who coined this expression, “Get out of your own way” but it’s true! Get out of your own head, stop feeling sorry for yourself and just do it!
Easier said than done I know. We need to stop settling and stop being afraid.
Most of us end up settling in every aspect of our lives whether it’s our jobs, relationships, houses, opportunities, really anywhere and everywhere. We don’t think we can get any better. But that is our opinion of ourselves, it’s not a fact.
If you don’t want to be in that relationship, get out. If you HATE your job, find a new one. If you don’t like your house, spend a weekend and do some DIY projects. In all of those situations, it’s all choice to stay and settle.
Most of the time we settle because we are afraid. Afraid of what our friends will say, that we won’t have support, or that we will fail. But you know what, we need to STOP SETTLING and stop being afraid.
We worry about what other people think of us but you know what? They don’t really care. If they make fun of you, they aren’t your friends anyways. If you ‘fail’, you learned something. You are failing forward.
Be grateful for what you have right now
I guarantee you have at least 5 things to be grateful for. Can’t think of anything? How about you are breathing, have access to the internet, you have a mind that can process words, you can read, you want to better yourself. Look I just did it for you. We always have something to be grateful for.
Practice feeling gratitude. Replace the frustration and hatred with appreciation and thankfulness. Try to catch yourself throughout the day when you stop feeling gratitude. If you want to start developing a positive mindset, you need to keep this gratitude throughout the day. Don’t let the outside environment control your mind and what you think.
Stop worrying
“Worry is the most significant factor that relates to the root of negative thinking.” – Zig Ziglar
Worrying does nothing. If that terrible thing ends up happening you are suffering twice. Worrying won’t change anything.
Now I have severe anxiety so I get it. It’s hard to change your mind when anxiety kicks in, but if you have a game plan, that will help. You need to stop expecting if everything goes wrong, what if we thought about if everything goes right?
And once you start thinking about all the bad things that might happen, you forget about the good things happening to you today.
This does not come easy to me, I had to practice this for years and find what works for me when it comes to my anxiety. And if you think you have tried it all, you haven’t tried hard enough. Sorry for the tough love.
If you are living in anxiety and fear and thinking about the worst case scenario there’s no energy for growth and repair or healing.
If you are living in survival you can’t open your heart. You are thinking and living towards the worst case scenario. Thought and emotion is conditioning your body into fear and anxiety, leads to panic attack, then you think about the next panic attack. You don’t believe in possibility in this mode.
If you are negative all the time, you need to stop complaining, think positively of that negative thought. This will take time but keep a reminder either on your phone, wear a bracelet that will remind you, write it on your hand. Daily practice to be positive will help you in achieving your goals, but that is just step one.
Get confidence
Confidence starts with believing in yourself. Loving yourself. Being realistic. Thinking positively. If you truly believe in yourself, you can do anything and you will do anything!
To get confidence, you need to silence those negative thoughts about yourself. The story in your head is what your mind believes. Recognize those thoughts about yourself and turn them around. If you think, I’m not enough or I’m not worthy, say to yourself. I can become enough. I can become worthy.
But saying it isn’t enough you have to actually go do the thing to make you enough or make you worthy. Also, what you say out loud matters. If you say you are going to do something, do it! Hold yourself accountable.
If you hate working out, work out little by little. Start by one day driving to the gym then drive home. The next day,drive to the gym, walk in, get a drink, and leave. The next day, drive to the gym, walk in, get a drink, and walk on the treadmill for 5 mins. Every step you take, the more you do, the more closer you are to growth and leading to something that you want.
You need to commit to the thing and know why you are doing it. Knowing your why will help you achieve goals and help you follow through with it.
You need to always be learning. Whether it’s from a person or through a medium, never stop learning. It’s hard to be positive and enthusiastic about something you know little about. Find something that gets you excited and learn so much on the topic that you become the expert. And stop trying to always be right or perfect just look for the right answer.
Take Action
So now, let’s talk about what to do today to start being positive. Remember, it will take a while to fully get out of your negative mindset, but little by little, day by day if you remind yourself and watch yourself, you will start to have a more positive mindset.
- Wake up and say 3 things you are grateful for. If you start your day with gratitude, you are starting off on a positive note. And thanking God or whatever you believe in for what you have. (This was hard for me because everyone kept saying it and I thought it should be a lot more complicated than just this, but after a few days and weeks of doing this, you will notice a different)
- A quick journaling in the morning can help get all your thoughts out on paper to brain dump all the things in there or things you need to do for the day or things you want to remember. Find what works for you if you want to just write with no rules for 5 mins, fill up 3 pages of paper, there are many different ways to journal, but what I do is Daily Deposit and I did a whole blog post referencing it here.
- Now that you have shown gratitude, keep that throughout the day. Don’t get all pissy at traffic or complain to a coworker about a client. You need to stay in this positivity and thankfulness all day.
- If you find you get anxious or stressed throughout the day, do some breathing. Breath in for 5 seconds, hold that breath for 5 seconds, and release for 5 seconds. You can also do the exercise of what are 5 things you can see, 5 things you can touch, 5 things you can hear, what do you smell, and what can you taste.
Having a positive mindset is the first step of getting what you want and changing your life, so take these tips seriously if you seriously want to achieve great things. It seems super obvious, too easy, and sometimes ridiculous, but if you actually try and really try, you will find yourself wanting to have a positive mindset, be helpful, and ready to better your life.
XO, Annie