Updated February 8, 2019
In Part 2 of the series, we talked about the benefits of positive thinking. Now, let’s look at the flip side. When your thoughts turn negative, they have just as much impact as positive ones. However, rather than helping you accomplish your goals, they slow you down and can even bring you to a complete standstill. As we look at exactly how they do this, I want you to pay more attention to how your thoughts and attitude affect you in both a positive and a negative way. We’ll work on having more positive and less negative thoughts.
Negative Thoughts Undermine Your Confidence
When you think you can’t do something or convince yourself that you’re not going to succeed, you’re also hurting your self-confidence. Without that confidence, you don’t have the drive, energy, and desire to make progress. Instead, your thoughts run more along the lines of “why bother, it’s not going to work anyway.” Consequently, you tackle things slowly, if at all. Your progress comes to a halt all because of your negative thinking. Fortunately, all is not lost. Some positive thinking will get you back on track and move you forward.
Negative Thoughts Make You Doubt and Second Guess Yourself
Along with a lack in self-confidence, negative thoughts also make you doubt yourself. You’re not sure if you’re on the right track or doing things the right way. What do you do when that happens, and you start to second guess yourself? You become reluctant to proceed. You may seek a second opinion for reassurance. In short, you slow down or even worse, you come to a standstill.
Compare this to times when you’re thinking positively and know exactly what you are going to do. You breeze through those projects and get them done ahead of time. Don’t let negative thoughts rob you of that!
Negative Thoughts Turns Fun into A Chore
Think back on a time when you had to tackle a big project. Let’s take cleaning out your closet as an example. If you’ve just finished reading a great book on decluttering and refreshing your wardrobe, you’ll be excited to get in there and sort through all the clothes you own. It’s a positive job and something you are tackling with lots of positive energy.
If on the other hand, you go into it with a negative attitude and think it’s something you have to “get through,” then something that had the potential of being a positive and empowering task becomes a dreaded chore. And, you’ve known since childhood that dreaded chores take a long time to complete. Don’t let that happen. When you find yourself dreading something you have to do, find something positive in it and turn it into a rewarding experience.
How to Turn Thoughts from Negative to Positive
Step 1: Become Aware of Negative Thoughts
Your first step will be to simply become more aware of your thoughts, particularly the negative ones. Monitor what you’re thinking. Stop yourself several times per day and audit your thoughts. You won’t be able to fix these negative thoughts until you become fully aware of them.
You’ll get better at this and catching various negative thoughts more often with practice. To speed up the process in the beginning, you can use the rubber band technique. Put a rubber band or hair tie on your wrist. Make sure it’s not too tight. Then snap it anytime you recognize a negative thought. The little sting from the rubber band makes you pay attention. After a couple of days of this, you’ll become aware of your negative thoughts without the rubber band to aid you
Step 2: Find Something Positive to Counteract the Negative Thought
When you catch yourself in a negative thought, it’s time to balance the scales with something positive. Acknowledge the negative and then come up with something positive. For example, if you find yourself thinking that you shouldn’t bother starting a garden next spring because you have a brown thumb; counteract that with a mental statement about how good of a cook you are.
The idea is to not let the negative thoughts bring you down. You’re also simply acknowledging that the thought is there–not that it is right or valid. We’ll tackle that problem next. For now, simply get into the habit of following up negative thoughts with positive ones. The closer you can relate them to the negative one, the better. So, an even better response to the earlier statement would be that you’re good at growing herbs on the window sill or that you have some of the prettiest houseplants around
Step 3: Replace the Negative with Positive Thoughts
Last but not least, it’s time to truly turn the negative into a positive thought. The key here is perspective. If you look hard enough, you can find something positive in every negative thought. Thinking that you’re not a good gardener also means that you have the opportunity to learn more. You get to play in the dirt and experience. You could even think about how fun it would be to get some help and tips from a gardening friend.
Call to Action: Begin each day by finding something positive and start to focus on that. Think of shortcomings as opportunities for improvement. Once you get into the habit of turning your negative thoughts around, you open yourself up to a lot of happiness and almost unlimited possibilities.
Subscribe to my newsletter and receive your FREE 13-page Self-Care Starter Kit. If you need a boost of motivation or inspiration, follow me on Facebook or Instagram to catch my daily quote.
Leave a Reply