Module 33 - Daily Positive Mind-Setting. Keeping your negative /non-productive thoughts out of your mind

Leadership & Personal Development Series

Why did I choose this topic?
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Probably, because, I face the same challenge as many of you - the need to focus on the positive in every situation vs. the negative. Often times, if you allow negative thoughts or emotions to take over, you would become controlled by them, and all actions tht you would take will most likely result in negative outcomes. I have been guilty of allowing negative thoughts or situations to dictate my next steps, which never resulted in the positive outcome. Instead, negative actions led me to the negative results. However, when I acknowledged that negativity has taken over my action and re-focused only on the positive instead by pushing away any negative thoughts and emotions, all of the sudden my day dramatically improved and productivity increased.

There are two primary ways that you may be exposed to negativity. First, is your mind choosing to focus on the negative thoughts and see negative outcome in every action that you may take. Second, is being surrounded by negatively-minded individuals, who are not happy or satisfied with what may be happening around them at any given point of time, almost every day. I will discuss both of these ways separately for further clarity.

Negative mind is your own enemy. How does our own mind become our source of negative energy? Usually it all starts with experiencing failures on the repetitive basis in our personal and professional lives. Most people would focus on the negative outcome before any action is even taken, just because that is what they had experienced in prior attempts. Therefore, the thought is, "well what is different this time, it will still result in the failed outcome." For example, a particular initiative was discussed and implemented temporarily in your business, it generated a lot of excitement and drive, however, in the few months the idea was placed on pause or stopped all together. Then, new and exciting initiative is introduced again, but now instead of feeling excited and hopeful, your mind is focusing on the negative, thinking "well, this initiative will be forgotten in few months again, just like the one prior." Therefore, instead of focusing on the positive and presenting a plan of action to ensure that this time the new initiative becomes very successful and long lived, our mind goes into negative mode which required no action on your part, and no need to present solutions - an easy way out. But is that an effective way that will help you and your business to be successful? Of course not, as focusing on the negativity will result in the negative outcome for all parties involved.

Negative people = Negative Thoughts = Negative Results. What happens when you are surrounded by negative people? When you are surrounded by negative people, often times their negative energy consumes you and begins draining your positive energy. The goal of negatively-minded people is to convert your positive energy into negative, to ensure that your energy and way of thinking matches theirs. It works the same way when you are surrounded by positively minded individuals. Their positive energy and way of thinking will inspire you and refill your positive energy bank to the top, which usually would lead to positive and successful outcomes. Therefore, be mindful of the people with whom you surround yourself with, to make sure the energy you receive from them is the energy that you need.

So, what are some of the ways to keep positively-focused mind and keep negative thoughts out?

1. When faced with a situation where you know that similar situation when tried before failed, instead of focusing on the prior negative experience, focus your mind on the positive
   1. Break the situation down into smaller pieces and find something positive in each piece (ex. trying something new is better than staying in one place and not changing, or you contributing to the organization and flow by sharing your ideas, may lead to a positive outcome vs. not sharing and keeping your great ideas to yourself)
2. When negative thought enters your mind, refocus on something different, something positive, and do the same every time negative thoughts enter your mind. Eventually, this exercise will turn into habit
3. Always look for something positive in every situation, regardless how challenging or difficult it may be. If you focus on the negative (ex. telling yourself that you cannot do something), guess what is going to happen - lack of progress on a particular task, that is if any progress at all.
   1. If you continue convincing your mind that you cannot do something, eventually your thoughts will become your reality. However, if you focus on what you can do, you would overcome any obstacle and find a way to get things done. Don't set yourself up for failure, set yourself up for success.
4. When you are surrounded by negative-minded group of people, seek to understand the reasons behind their words and actions. Often times, it could be as simple as not understanding the bigger picture and their individual role in a particular situation, which could be critical to the overall success.
   1. Many people do not ask questions to understand the "why" and instead create their own incorrect and often negative opinion about a particular situation.
   2. When you are positive and other people around you are negative, they would want to understand why you are seeing the same situation from a different, positive perspective, and that is your opportunity to help them to see "why" behind it.

These are some of the ways to overcome negative thoughts and focus on the positive and exciting future. Remember, negative thoughts lead to negative results. So, you should ask yourself, what kind of results I want to see in my personal and professional life?

If you have enjoyed what you have read and you are interested to learn about additional and different ways to remove negative thoughts from your mind while focusing on the positive in every situation, you may purchase my e-book titled "Daily Positive Mind-Setting Techniques - Ways to keep negative thoughts out of your mind." This e-book will be available in the Heart & Mind of a Leader store on Wednesday, April 27th and will include the four steps mentioned earlier and 10 additional ways to help you re-focus and think positively every day.