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DKI Episode 13 – The Power of Positive Thinking
A book written by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale called The Power of Positive Thinking was written years ago. Its message is still true today. I love to listen to it to help me stretch out of the space sometimes I can get into this talk that we have in our heads. What I learned is that we have 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts in a day. It is surprising that 80% of those thoughts are actually truly negative. It is only when we consciously think about the thought that we were able to really shift and reframe the thought into something positive. What is very interesting to me is that 98% of the thoughts that you think today were actually the same thoughts that you had yesterday. It blew me away and it really made me think about things a lot differently.
Positive thinking is not about putting on rose-colored glasses and ignoring the negative events. We hear about bombings and the terrible terrorist attacks going on in the world. Many of the things going on we do not have control over. You and I can think about our own thoughts and what can we can control.
“We are what we think” – Buddha Proverb
Norman Vincent Peale also talks about:
“Change your thoughts and you can change your world.”
“Anybody can do just about anything with himself that he really wants to and makes his mind to do. We are all capable of greater things than we realize.”
“Believe it is possible to solve your problem. Tremendous things happen to the believer. So believe the answer will come and it will come.”
What one should really think about is… where ever you are right now, I want you to think about the negative thoughts that you have been having. The self-talk that you’ve been talking yourself out of doing a thing and you truly want to do.
I am going to tell you why it’s important. What happens when you are positively thinking – impacts your leadership, impacts how you run your business, how you run your organization, and how you chase after that creative idea that you have. Whether you’re inventing something and bringing something to the marketplace, people need your ideas. People need you to step into the leader that you are truly meant to be. What happens when you are positive thinker, not only is this contagious, you can teach people how to choose their words and how they speak because whatever you think is what you are. Right? Refer back to the Buddha Proverb.
Benefits of Positive Thinking
The benefits of positive thinking include:
- decrease stress if you are thinking positively, you are not putting that energy into your fears, your worries, or your concerns about something,
- you’re able to handle difficult situations with ease because you are looking for a positive outcome,
- Decreases conflict because there’s intention to be more forgiving to really understand where a person is coming from. Are they truly trying to be malicious or are they know not self-aware of a situation?
better first impressions- When you are speaking positive and you are excited about your day versus someone who’s got slouched posture saying “Hi, how are you?” (say it in the Eeyore voice from Winnie the Pooh). Do not put that energy out there. You don’t want to be around them. You start to repel is like a magnet. You just want to walk away from that negative energy.- Improved health and vitality – Your thoughts influence your feelings and how you think about things and how you’re going to behave. The actions that you take. You are going to make healthier choices and it alludes to your longevity.
- You start seeing problems as true opportunities to be solved. You never know where it going to take you. It is like an open door that you just walk through and it’s going to be, “What can we do this now? What can we do better?
- It is always continuing so seeing that momentum and it is also motivating when you are thinking positively. It motivates you as well as the team that works for you.
How to Be a Positive Thinker
Positive thinking can be challenging at first if you have been negative long time but it starts with:
- Taking 100% Responsibility One of the most important key factors in determining people’s successes is being able to really take responsibility for your thoughts, your feelings, and your actions that you take and the impact that it has.
- Evaluate Your Thoughts I want you really think about your thoughts. Are these thoughts true? Is this something that I totally believe in? Do I know this for sure? Is the intention behind this is real?
- Listen to Your Internal Monologue Is this a cycle that you are listening to, is there truth to it? Are you coming from a reactive place? Are you being jealous or envious of another person? That’s when you start discounting your own worth and what you bring to the world. I want you to really catch and take a listen to what you’re saying. Are these thoughts true and are they negative? If they are, reframe them and change them into a positive thought. What you want to be? There is that saying, “act as if” ; you need to show up as who you want to be before you even become it so really thinking about what you saying to yourself.
Get Rid of or Cut the Drama I don’t like drama. One of the things that I’m telling about the drama part is, if something is not broken – with a relationship or you have some negative thoughts about something. Don’t jump in and start accusing somebody of something and getting into petty fights. A lot of the disagreements the people get into are over the little things that really don’t have a lot of significant. If you just open up the conversation, you find out that it’s not as difficult or a conflict as you what you thought it was.
- Turn Negative Talk into a Positive Talk what you want to be going on in your life. If you want to generate great stuff, you want to generate more positivity. You need to start yourself by being more positive.
- Feed the Positivity Hang out with people who are positive, who generate ideas and brainstorm with you, and give you excitement.
- Find the Humor. You can always discover the humor in a situation; although it might not be funny at the time. I’ve been in situations that I sit back and think “This is not funny”. I know I can be steamed and then realized a while back when somebody points out something that you just start laughing because it just seems so surreal that that even happened. It takes you to where you need to be but sometimes we just need to laugh situation and think you know what, one of those small things that it’s not a big deal.
- Continually Cultivate Your Positive Outlook Realize that as with anything that we want to be sustainable- it takes time to develop.
Brian Tracy said, “One of the most important leadership qualities is the accepted of personal responsibility. Leaders never complain, never explain, instead of making excuses, they make progress. Whenever they have a setback or difficulty they repeat to themselves:” I am responsible! I am responsible! I am responsible!”
What are you going to take responsibility for when it comes to you and your thinking?
No one can influence the thinking that you have. You choose how you think. We have a 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts coming through our mind at any point in time. You choose what you want to focus on. What you bring to consciousness, whether it be positive or negative, you get to choose.
Take responsibility, really challenge your assumptions, and challenge your thoughts to see if there’s truth in them. Cut out the drama, it is draining. It takes away a lot of your energy. Any thought that’s negative- start shifting into a positive talk. If you start doing this regularly, sometimes what you need to do is write it down. What is that talk and what how do I really want to be? When you start catching these things, you will start shifting how you are behaving, how you are thinking about things, and shifting to more positive thinking. Remember to surround yourself with quotes and sayings, listen to positive relaxing music, and the people you surround yourself with. Make sure that you are surrounding yourself with positive people who are providing a great influence for you. Read great books that add to your positivity. You do not want to be watching the news first thing in the morning or at night to set the tone for your day. Often what you see is negative. Start your day with positive thinking that and influence it either reading the quote or writing in a journal. Writing down what you are grateful for – really starting and ending your day with something positive. Remember to look for the humoring the situations and not to take yourself too seriously.
The power of positive thinking can really shift your life. It changes the way you lead. It changes the way that you develop yourself. What I know for sure is when you are positive thinking, you are in a find solutions and creativity in you everything that you do. You will be able to be more productive and increase your performance not just for yourself but for the people that you work with too.
What are you going to start doing to BE more positive today?
Email me at Debra@debrakasowski.com and let us know what you would like to be featured on the show. Subscribe to The Millionaire Woman Show. Give us a 5-star rating! Sign up for our Newsletter www.debrakasowski.com
DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her writing has been published in a variety of print and online magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. Sign up the Success Secrets Newsletter and get your free mp3 download today! www.debrakasowski.com
Time 13:51 min
Set Meaningful Goals. Many people out there don’t set goals. Only the top to 3% of people, set goals on a regular basis. When you set goals for yourself, you want to use the SMART goal method which is: S – Specific, M- Measurable, A- Achievable, R- Realistic, and T for Timely. When you use this, what you trying to do is be specific, what is it that you want to achieve, what you want to achieve and by when the timestamp because without that it becomes a wish; it becomes a dream. It something that you’re not actually working toward so we will be able to measure it; give it a timestamp as to when you might want to do this by. It’s commitment. The next one is achievable. Is this achievable within the time frame that you are trying to do this? Is this something you can actually do? Is this realistic? Is it something you can do within the time frame you provided for yourself?R is for realistic. People say why not lose weight in 24 hours. As you can see that’s not very realistic unless you’ve undergone some type of surgery. It’s about thinking about if it is realistic in the time frame. Maybe you need to adjust your time frame or test it out and then re-adjust- it happens. Timely, we want to be able to measure it. We want to go back to the time date stamp as to when you’re going to achieve it. Some people set goals that you cannot actually measure it’s not something they can measure per se.What I like to recommend is using a rating scale of 0 to 10, 0 (lowest point) is about how you’re feeling about a subject and 10 is that you are at the top of your game. Let’s say you are at a 5/10, and then you decide what actions you are going to take to go from a 5 to a 7/10 two weeks from now. Thinking about those strategies and what you need to have in place and who you need to connect with. These are how we say to breakdown and chunk down your goals. You have to really stop and think about all the things that can help you get to where you want to go. Work backward, so if you know where you’re going in the time frame, what are the steps you need to take? Break it down into smaller pieces thinking about the resources, how much time you need to a lot to it, and how much money might need to go into it. What are the resources? What is your grit power? What is the work that you need to put in to get this done? Maybe you are going to achieve it earlier and need to set a new goal to up your game or you might need to adjust some of the strategies.
Sometimes, we have to make sacrifices based on what is important to us and what our priorities are. You might end up taking a staycation instead of a jet-setting vacation while trying to save money toward your goals. You might eat in versus eat out regularly with friends. You might take evening classes instead of going out for a drink after work. Whatever that might be for yourself but where your focus goes is where you able to manage those things so that you can work toward the goals that you want to achieve.