The Inspiration Place

Posts Tagged ‘Negative Thinking’

There are many inspirational quotes about positive thinking ranging from those applicable to everyday situations to business, science, psychology and everything else one might think of. Interestingly enough, a good percentage of these actually pre-date the positive thinking concept as initially promoted by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale some sixty years ago. One website offers quotes for more than 120 topics; others are offered in more ‘targeted’ categories. All are free for the downloading, but many contain related ads for purchasing products and programs. There are offline collections of quotations on positive thinking too in the form of available library books.

Many of the quotes from famous people that pre-date the formal concept serve to point out that positive thing was embraced much earlier, even though undefined as a formal method of improvement. This makes it apparent that highly-successful individuals owe at least a portion of their successes to having and utilizing positive thinking and self talk as an inherent characteristic of their minds. Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Oprah Winfrey, Carl Gustav Jung, Mahatma Gandhi, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Benjamin Franklin, to name just a few, have all uttered numerous wise phrases that are heavily quoted well before positive thinking gained popularity amongst the masses.

Is it logical to assume, then, that success only comes to positive thinkers? Or is positive thinking merely an attribute that aids success when applied only to certain situations by people who have less than positive attitudes in general? There are, after all, those circumstances in life that require some degree of negative thinking if for nothing else than a cautionary measure for self protection. Engineers, for example, are taught to design products and systems for ‘worst case scenarios’ to assure reliability and function in less than ideal conditions. Guaranteeing proper operation under the worst possible conditions is both cautionary and wise.

Some of the older quotes from well-known people really point up their use of positive thinking principles even if they were undefined as a concept when spoken. For example, Albert Einstein said in the 1920’s, “You have to learn the rules of the game. And you have to play better than anyone else.” He certainly applied that rule in developing his Theory of Relativity. Winston Churchill, while Prime Minister of England during World War II said, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Mahatma Gandhi is often quoted as saying, “A man is but the product of his thoughts, what he thinks, he becomes.” These are very-tangible evidence that positive thinking is indeed an old concept that helped great people to achieve their greatness. Therein lies the great value of positive thinking quotations.

Positive thinking in the workplace is literally mandatory if successful career building is the goal. The upwardly-mobile business person does more than just show up on time and do a reasonably-good job. He or she must have a mental attitude geared toward excellence in everything done for employer, customer or client and focus on solutions to problems, rather than the problems themselves. They must understand that problems are temporary and that positive results are always possible despite momentary roadblocks.

Positive thinking produces a positive attitude and should be used with the boss, workplace colleagues and virtually everybody involved with the company’s products or services. A positive attitude is especially called for when things don’t go right and that happens in every job on occasion. Whining, complaining and throwing one’s hands up are indications of negative thinking and are unproductive. Instead a positive solutions orientation will be instrumental in overcoming problems.

Men and women just starting out on a career path will always be subject to assignments where they don’t feel secure in their knowledge or experience. The negative thinker responds with ” Oh No! This is way beyond me. I can’t do it.” Conversely, the positive thinker tells himself or herself ” Well, this is a challenge. I don’t really understand it yet, but I will fill in the gaps and move ahead.” They then seek counsel from more experienced colleagues or do the fact-finding research necessary to understand and implement the assignment. It’s all just a matter of attitude!

This is where the all important self-talk comes into the picture. Positive thinking requires that you always use words like “I can”, “I will” and I’m ready” in lieu of giving yourself all the reasons why you can’t. Perhaps equally important, always remember that when you are positive and have that aura about you in business, it is readily apparent to the people you work with and especially to your supervisor. Upward mobility (success) comes much more readily to the employee that is positive than it ever does to the negative thinker.

There is a lot of help available to guide your efforts to become an effective positive thinker. A check on the Internet will produce many successful instructional and motivational programs on the subject that are offered from professionals with long experience in the subject. Some of this information is offered free while others are available in the form of nominally-priced audio programs on CD or via video. There are also many e-books to be found that cover the subject of positive thinking for business success very thoroughly.

Positive thinking is really a rather simple concept to grasp. By definition, it is merely “the adoption of a mental attitude that lets one focus on thoughts and images that will lead to growth, success, happiness and health.” Of course, defining a concept is often far easier than applying it to one’s life, especially after years of negative thinking. The good news is that tens of thousands of people are successful each year in making the adjustment to a positive mindset that gives them the ability to anticipate a successful outcome from every situation they undertake.

Despite the fact that millions of people worldwide have reaped the benefits of positive thinking over the years, and that medical science has actually proven that it is advantageous, there are still those who think that the whole idea is ridiculous. And there are those who, despite the fact that they accept positive thinking as a concept, are unable to apply it to their own lives. Part of this is due to inadequate commitment, while still another part arises from the fact that many negative thoughts are protective in that they allow one to avoid possible rejection and failure. When this idea is ‘top of mind’ in the subconscious, shifting from negative to positive becomes more difficult but is still doable.

In most cases, positive thinking opens the door to achievement while negative thinking does just the opposite by preventing one from trying to succeed. Both mindsets become a conscious and subconscious habit pattern that defines personality.

Most of the people we meet in our business and personal lives relate more readily to the bright, outgoing individual with a positive atitude. Conversely, they tend to avoid people who radiate an attitude of negativity. This being said, the challenge to becoming a positive thinker comes down to undersanding this and making a sincere, personal commitment to change the way we look at things.

People who have been primarily negative thinkers for many years may not be aware of it and, if they are, haven’t any idea how to change. The first thing to understand is that it took a long time to become negative and you’re no going to change that overnight. To switch one’s mindset to positive will require commitment, lots of inner work and an understanding of just how to re-train your thought processes. Forunately, there is a wealth of good information and instruction that can be readily obtained both in books and from sources on the Internet.

A good start is to agree that positive thinking really works and can bring you more happiness and success than negative thinking. This goes without saying based upon thousands of success stories from those who have done it. Positive thinking is powerful!

The benefits of positive thinking are well known and widely practiced. They are considered “guidelines to success” by most good businessmen, professional athletes and anyone else who wants to achieve all he or she can. However, sometimes it’s not easy to determine just how to go about becoming a truly positive thinker, especially if it represents a major shift in the way you’re used to looking at things.

The steps of positive thinking require a considerable amount of self talk and a continuously positive attitude. Once you learn to do this on a regular basis, you will gain optimism in place of pessimism, a new way of looking at the brighter side of things and, in general, the ability to expect good things to come your way. The necessary steps mean learning to have a positive attitude by finding reasons to smile more; choosing to be happy instead of sad; reading inspiring articles and books; looking at the bright side of life instead of worst-case scenarios; realizing that negative thinking is self destructive; and choosing to remain optimistic. Instead of thinking about and visualizing bad things happening, you’ll be ideating the good probabilities. Eventually, you may come to believe that no obstacle to your progress cannot be moved out of your way.

There are many benefits to be realized by accomplishing this. It will help you achieve personal and business goals and have success; successes will be faster and easier to attain; you will have the ability to inspire yourself and motivate other people and those people will respect you. Perhaps most important of all, you will be happier and have lots more energy. And always remember that a positive attitude says, “I can” while a negative says, “I can’t!” If you think that you can’t, you won’t, because you’ll never really try.

Ask yourself, “Do I really want to be a positive thinker?” If you do want to reap the many benefits of being a positive thinker, it takes a lot more than just telling yourself that everything will be okay. It has to be a conscious decision that is ‘top of mind’ with you all the time. It also has to include putting the fear of failing or rejection safely away in your back pocket for all time and becoming aware only of those good things that will come from your attitudes and efforts.

If you have a personal computer with Internet access, you can be the recipient of a wealth of detailed information about positive thinking written by experts with long experience. Merely type ‘positive thinking’ into your computer’s web browser and click ’search.” It will all be at your fingertips just that easily.