Each week as part of our Thursday Thoughts series of blogs, we’ve been taking a look at how we can be the best possible version of ourselves.  Last week, we had a think about the self-talk cycle and how it can have a huge impact on both our personal and professional lives.  So this week we thought we would expand on the self-talk cycle taking a closer look at positive and negative thinking.

You will have met many people who talk themselves into defeat before taking on a new project.  They often start conversations with: “the trouble is”, “the time is not right” or things are against me”.  Obviously, this way of thinking and talking is going to stop any project before it gets started. This is often exacerbated by what we have retained as a child and young adult. If you were told things like “you will never be any good”, “Who would want to hire you” and “you’re not bright enough”, then it stands to reason that self-talk may revisit these statements and stop you in your tracks.

This way of thinking lowers self-esteem and has a negative impact on performance.  Focusing on disappointments and failure will only bring you down and make you unable to see your own potential and skills.  In order to be successful, we must convert these negative thoughts into a determination to prove others and a part of ourselves wrong.

The key is to turn the self-talk cycle from negative to positive by reminding ourselves how good we are, how hard we have worked, and if we keep positive thoughts in our head we will perform to a much higher level.

Writing a list of our successes, good points, talents and achievements is a good exercise to boost the morale.  The more we think something the more ingrained it becomes. 

Imagine an overgrown piece of land.  The first few times you try to walk through it, it will be hard work as you push bushes and long grass out of your way. As time passes and you take the same path over and over again the pathway becomes more defined and so much easier to walk along.  

A thought is very much like the path and the first few times you try to change your mindset it may well be tricky and need more effort; however, as time passes and you think those positive thoughts more often they literally become more defined within your brain and become instinctive.  This in itself is a positive outcome and gives a negative thinker something to strive for.