“Positive minds create positive vibes that create positive lives.”
― Natasha Potter
Negativity always finds a way to creep up in your life from time to time. It’s when negativity builds up too much or shows up too often that you have an obstacle to overcome.
A negative attitude can hold you back from truly living your life. However, you don’t need to feel stuck because you can bring positive thoughts back into your life!
How Negativity Can Hold You Back
Negativity can hold you back in a number of ways. Have you heard the saying: “If you think you can’t, you’re right”? It’s true! Negative thoughts like this really do sabotage your efforts.
The good news is that you can gain control over how you think. When you’re expressing complaints and negativity all the time, it not only affects you, but it also affects the people around you.
Negativity, itself, can be the reason why you create roadblocks that don’t really exist! So it’s time to choose the positive (and, yes, it is a choice!).
Manifesting A Positive Attitude
When you adopt a positive attitude, you open yourself up to the wonderful world of possibilities. When positive energy is in the air, you’ll be able to transform your negative feelings and maybe even bring others out of their negativity clouds.
Believe it or not, positive thinking is very powerful. It’s the driving force that steers your life into the direction of your dreams. Remember, your thoughts affect how you feel, and how you feel affects what you do, so if you can change your thoughts, you can change your outcome.
“Focus on an ocean of positives, not a puddle of negatives.”
― Kevin Ansbro
5 Ways to Keep Up a Positive Attitude
How can you change your attitude? It’s easier than you think.
Follow these tips to develop a positive attitude:
Visualize
When the negative thoughts come crawling into your mind, transform them with positive images. Visualize something that you find pleasing, peaceful, or exciting.
Remember what your ultimate goals are and imagine what it feels like to achieve them. If you keep a vision or dream board, you may want to take a moment to look at it, as well.
Write it down
Keeping a journal has many positive effects. It helps you vent your frustrations, organize your life, and reflect on your innermost thoughts and feelings.
Instead of focusing on the bad, use your journal to chronicle the things that have gone well in your life lately. Try keeping a daily gratitude journal to remind yourself of things that you appreciate in life.
Relax
Whoa, did I just tell you to relax!? Haha, yes.
Though telling someone “to relax” is often the best way to rile them up further, it’s still good advice to consider if you’re telling yourself to relax. Especially after you’ve identified your negative state of mind.
Negative feelings are bound to arise when you’re in a stressful state. It’s important to take time out of each day for yourself.
This means that you need to adopt a relaxation method that works for you. Perhaps you can take a bath, go to church, attend a yoga class, or meditate. When you’re relaxed, a peaceful and positive mindset will likely overtake you.
Read and write affirmations
Grab a book with positive affirmations in it, or better yet, write your own. Affirmations are a powerful way to bring positive thoughts into your present state of well being.
Affirmations are short statements in the present tense that remind you of positive attributes and goals in your life. Here’s an example: “I am strong and competent.”
Live for the moment
Live your life for the moment and let go of everything else going on in your life. Negative feelings can easily overwhelm you if you’re consumed by past failures or the fear of the future. When you concentrate on the present, your life becomes more peaceful and positive.
“Being positive doesn’t happen by chance. It’s a decision.”
― Diamante Lavendar
In the end, go easy on yourself. You don’t need to be your own worst critic, instead, try being your biggest advocate! Concentrate on your well being and you will develop a more positive attitude.
“Thoughts are energy. A drop of water, so cool and gentle can wear away a rock with repetitive drops. We are like rocks and our affirmations are like drops of water, wearing away the stubborn blocks within us one drop at a time. Repeating affirmations several times a day may be necessary in the beginning, depending on your need.” ― Sabrina Kastur, A Little Book of Affirmations
Do you talk to yourself the same way you talk to your best friend?
People tend to talk to themselves negatively, focusing on all the things they can’t do or don’t know rather than on all the amazing things they’ve accomplished and how much they’ve grown as a person.
It’s time for you to flip that around and remember that you really are the best friend you can have (sorry actual best friends, out there!) and you need to start talking to yourself like you realize it.
Positive self-talk is important to both your happiness and your success. The way you talk to yourself impacts your emotions and behaviors.
One popular tool to help you practice positive self-talk and build and your positive mindset is the affirmation. This is a short statement you can repeat throughout your day. With enough repetition, it will begin to infiltrate your self-conscious and move you to internalize a more realistic and positive belief.
Let’s discover how to use positive affirmations to develop a positive mindset that’s primed for success.
Making affirmations work for you starts with a clear understanding of what they are.
An affirmation is a concise positive statement written as if you are saying it and addresses a personal characteristic you may have, wish to have, or want more of or something you want to achieve.
Many affirmations also include content that prompts your mind to ponder the characteristic in self-reflection, but most are usually short, easy-to-remember sentences that you can repeat to yourself each day.
How Affirmations Work
The way affirmations work is that the words you drill into your head act as a trigger to your subconscious to act in a way that makes the mantras ring true.
Just as your negative self-talk is repeated throughout your days and influences your life in a detrimental fashion, proactively implementing helpful self-talk will accomplish just the opposite. Repetition of your affirmations can inspire you to act as you’re saying you do.
The more you repeat your positive affirmations, the better. However, there are specific times when it will benefit you the most to put these words into action.
“Negative self-talk and negative affirmation can keep you anchored in old thought patterns and identities.”
You’ve probably used positive affirmations already without even realizing it. Hyping yourself up before public speaking, asking someone out on a date, or before an exam are all examples of times when we instinctively use affirmations.
Here are a few other times when you might find using positive affirmations useful.
To boost confidence
When you feel worried or fearful before an important event, pull out a mantra to boost your confidence. Repeating it will allow you to get started on a positive note, which will likely continue throughout the event.
To finish a project
You can also utilize this positive self-talk to push you along when finishing a certain project seems just too overwhelming. Remind yourself of your strength or of the reward that awaits at the finish line, and you will feel more in control of your assignment rather than being overwhelmed or intimidated by it.
To give yourself a pep talk
When you’re experiencing negative feelings about yourself and your situation—such as hopelessness, inadequacy, or unworthiness—repeating a short pep talk can go far in allowing you to see your situation more realistically. You can use affirmations during any time of inner turmoil to turn your attitude around.
How to Use Positive Affirmations & Mantras
Using affirmations is really easy. As I mentioned before, you might already be using negative affirmations, so you’re already familiar with the process. You just need to practice replacing the negative with the positive.
Your affirmations should be short, as long statements are too difficult and making something challenging decreases your chances of following through with its use. Make your mantra short, snappy and to the point.
They should also be targeted to specific aspects you’d like to change. Developing targeted self-talk requires you to identify the areas you’d like to change.
For example, if you’re feeling less than competent lately, be sure to remind yourself of your worth by adding something like, “I am smart, competent and worthy. I add value to my world.”
Notice how this affirmation is made up of two sentences, but they’re both short, easy-to-remember, and work individually as well.
Make a list of your most desired changes, and then add an affirmation for each. Make your phrases meaningful and realistic in order to increase their effectiveness. Be sure to repeat them regularly.
Achieve self-improvement with affirmations
Affirmations are amazing tools for people who want to live life to the fullest but may be struggling with keeping a positive mindset. They confirm the great qualities you already have and help you develop and strengthen the characteristics you want to build.
Affirmations can also provide an endless array of self-improvement topics for reflection. This combination of self-reflection and repetition enables the affirmation to reach your subconscious mind and changes your beliefs and actions, one thought at a time.
“Affirmations are more powerful than requests, for they remind you that you already have what you seek.”
― Alan Cohen
Discover new and exciting qualities about yourself
Because life is often a rocky pathway, engaging in ongoing self-discovery can help you better navigate the bumpy parts of your journey by figuring out things about your personal qualities and ways of relating.
When you use these strategies, you’ll not only discover new knowledge while reading affirmations, but you’ll also learn how to apply the new information in your own life in ways that strengthen and benefit yourself.
How to Use Prewritten Affirmations in 5 Easy Steps
You can write your own affirmations or use affirmations that you find in books, on other blogs, or even in journals. Writing your own affirmations is simple, but its own beast, so right now I’ll cover reading and using prewritten affirmations.
These are good when you’re first starting out so you have examples of what an affirmation really is and you may even connect with one that you even didn’t realize you needed.
Since positive affirmations work best if they’re tailored to your specific situation, here are some tips to get the most out of reading prewritten affirmations.
1. Make an effort to clear your mind before reading an affirmation. Ensure you have enough time, like 15 minutes or so, to read, process, and reflect on the affirmation. Then, read through the affirmation.
2. Are you familiar with all the words used in the affirmation? If not, look up any questionable words. Think about how these words relate to the topic.
3. Re-state the affirmation in your own words. This step increases your understanding and retention of the content as your mind mulls over the concepts.
You could say something like, “I think this affirmation is describing the best ways to talk about your feelings with another person. It focuses on being honest and not being afraid to share how you really feel.”
4. Apply the affirmation to your own situations. Ask yourself this: do you really behave, think, or feel as the affirmation suggests?
If yes, then the affirmation confirms this quality in your mind and helps boost your self-confidence.
If no, what can you learn from the affirmation? How can you change your actions to make every word ring true?
Reflect on the positive methods in the affirmation to help develop those methods in your own life. Strive to apply the information in similar situations in the future.
5. Recognize that an important function of an affirmation is to encourage you to look within yourself. Effective affirmations usually state you’re skilled at something or can emotionally deal with situations in healthy ways.
“Affirmations take our thoughts to a more protective and powerful place. By affirming good, by affirming daily gratitude, you, yourself will find more peace from giving your thoughts a break from the worry cycle.”
― Machel Shull
8 Examples of Positive Affirmations
Your experiences are shaped by your thinking. Even obstacles have a value when you can see it. You can develop convictions that will help you to feel happier and achieve more, regardless of the situation.
Below are some examples of simple but powerful affirmations you can use in your daily life along with an example of how you can apply each one to your own personal experiences. Consider these empowering beliefs that you can start using today to transform your life through the power of positive thinking.
Also, don’t feel like you have to stick to these examples and meanings. If an affirmation has a different meaning to you, stick with that meaning! That’s what makes a truly powerful affirmation that will have an impact on your life.
I understand my potential
You can achieve amazing results when you put your mind to it. Feel excited about reaching your true potential.
I count my blessings
List each thing that you have to be grateful for. Remember to include the smaller items, like warm socks or tart cranberries. Expressing your appreciation reminds you of how rich you are.
I learn from mistakes
You can make setbacks work for you by focusing on the lessons that they contain. Flubbing one job interview can teach you how to ace the next one.
I find meaning in adversity
Tough times can be the most rewarding phase of your life. Know that you can emerge from any challenge with greater wisdom and courage. Look back at the obstacles you’ve already overcome, and reassure yourself that you can handle what’s ahead.
I embrace change
Accept that life is a series of changes. Focus on the present moment, and prepare yourself to adapt to whatever circumstances come your way.
I dream big
Expand your wish list. Setting demanding but attainable goals give you adventures to look forward to each day.
I practice forgiveness
Lighten your load by clearing away any resentment you’re holding onto from the past. Set reasonable boundaries while you respond with compassion when others disappoint you. Pardon yourself too.
I give generously
Sharing your blessings makes you more powerful and joyful. Volunteer in your community and speak kindly to each person you meet today. Buy coffee for your co-workers or give your receptionist a flower.
8 Useful Positive Affirmations for Entrepreneurs
The following affirmation examples can be used by anyone, but since this is a blog geared towards online entrepreneurs, these can help you build the mental skills needed to persevere as you build your business.
An upbeat attitude increases your happiness and productivity. Question your old assumptions so you can replace them with a new sense of certainty about yourself and your future.
I take responsibility
You are in charge of your life. Hold yourself accountable for the outcomes you create. Celebrate the fact that you have the power to determine your own future.
I apply effort
Figure out your definition of success so you know what is worth working for. Give yourself credit when you’re making progress rather than comparing yourself to others.
I leverage my strengths
You have your own individual strengths that you can draw on. Figure out what you’re good at and what you want to do. Let that knowledge guide your choices.
I connect with others
Moral support counts, too! Surround yourself with loving and encouraging family and friends. Join a community locally or online that caters to entrepreneurs with similar goals or businesses and be sure to actively participate.
I listen to feedback
Ask for feedback so you can enhance your performance and show others that you respect their point of view. You grow faster when you gather solid input that you can translate into action.
I ask for help
Expand your capabilities by building a sturdy support network. Find a business mentor. Ask questions in your entrepreneur community. Save time by dividing up household chores with your spouse and children.
I recognize opportunities
Stay alert for promising openings. You may meet a new friend while you’re standing in line to buy your morning coffee. You may find a business opportunity within an email newsletter.
I try new things
Be open to experimentation. Try a new marketing technique or do something you’ve been afraid to do in your business. You may discover something that works really well for you that might not have for others.
“Positive thinking is powerful thinking. If you want happiness, fulfillment, success and inner peace, start thinking you have the power to achieve those things. Focus on the bright side of life and expect positive results.”
― Germany Kent
Practice using affirmations daily
Adopt affirmations as empowering beliefs that build up your confidence and prepare you for greater success. Remember that your statements should be customized to your needs and lifestyle.
Using affirmations to develop a positive mindset is a worthwhile strategy, not just for entrepreneurs, but for anyone who wants to make a mindset shift. With practice, you’ll begin to make a habit of using them.
Soon, it will be easier to remember to pull them out when needed and to develop a routine that works for you.
Positive thinking is a wonderful thing. Once you start to understand how your thoughts influence your feelings and behavior, you may wish to take more control over your situation by intentionally turning your positive thoughts into more actionable steps.
This is actually something you can do by implementing some proactive strategies. Read on to discover how to go from positive thinking to positive action in your approach to life and goals.
The concept of manifestation is a powerful one. It relies on the idea that your desires will come to you if you make them known, that what you believe you receive.
This philosophy may or may not resonate with you, but the premise does have merit. By stating your intentions to the universe, you’re setting them into your subconscious and will be more likely to act on them.
It’s sort of like affirmations for your goals and actions.
Be Accountable
Don’t stop at telling the universe of your plans. Tell the world. Let you friends, family and social media followers know of your intentions and goals.
This will make you accountable for acting on them, rather than just wishing for them to become a reality. People are bound to ask you about your progress, and you’ll want to be able to give them a positive report.
You can even ask some of your closest people to help hold you to your goals by checking in with you on a regular basis. If you’re a writer, keeping a blog of your progress might be a good way to maintain accountability, as well.
Document It
Along these lines, documenting your goal plan and progress is a fantastic way to implement positive thinking into positive action.
If you decide to blog about your experience, your words offer written proof of your progress and push you toward completion. Taking photos is another awesome method for keeping track of your actions and pushing yourself further.
Check In With Yourself
Sustaining a goal is a difficult task. It’s easy to get excited during the planning stages when the idea is new. Once the novelty wears off and the hard work begins, it can be tempting to give up.
Keep yourself on track by checking in during the hard times to remind yourself why it is you’re striving for this particular thing.
Goals require motivation to come to fruition. Find your motivation, the thing that’s pushing you to keep going. Then remind yourself of it regularly.
You might even want to make desire visible somehow. You can write it on your mirror in lipstick or place an inspiring photo next to your computer as a reminder.
Find a Model of Success
Choosing a successful person to model your behavior upon and to inspire you is a wonderful way to ramp up your efforts. It’s important to understand that you don’t have to be exactly like this person, but having a role model sure can help you to envision your goal.
Choose a person in your life or one you’ve read about as your model. Study them to learn about their background, how they got to where they are, advice they offer and other such tidbits. This proof of success shows you it’s possible to accomplish your desires and gives you a sort of roadmap to make it happen.
These tips should get you moving from positive thinking to positive action. Once you start taking action toward your goals, you’re likely to gain momentum and find satisfaction in each step you complete.
“Write your dreams in journal, notebook, card or on a cork. When you pen down your dreams, an a inner strength and divine power is activated for your to work towards the fulfillment of your dreams.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita
Do you journal as a part of your daily routine?
Have you ever considered starting a journal specifically for your business?
Business journaling, basically what I call journaling as a part of the process of building your own business, is something I think every online entrepreneur should do.Whether you’ve been at it for awhile or you’re just starting your business, keeping a journal will help you learn a lot about yourself, your business, and most importantly: your customers!
Your journal doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but you should be able to have everything in one place. Maybe you want to keep a notebook or maybe you prefer an app or something else online.
I don’t recommend using your blog as your business journal, though you totally could publish stuff from your main journal. You want to be able to be 100% honest about your feelings, open with your ideas, and feel free to be yourself. A private journal is much better for this.
Of course, you need some ideas for what to write in your new business journal, so let’s take a look at some of the different ways I use my own journal!
Ways to Keep a Business Journal as an Entrepreneur
Make sure you take some time, preferably daily, to write down things like how you feel about your business, your progress with building your business, or even brainstorm ideas based on other things you’ve journaled.
You’ve probably been doing this with your business a bit already. I noticed that just doing my day-to-day work, I’ve basically been journaling and I didn’t even realize it.
I keep a lot of notes regarding business strategy, content and product ideas, and also any notes from webinars or other live presentations I attend all inside a series of pages in the Notion app.
This is basically my digital business and idea journal and planner. While I do keep some physical notes and planners, most of my ideas I record into Notion first to flesh out later.
Your business journal is basically all the notes you take for your business in one neat, organized place!
So with that in mind, here are 9 ways to use a journal as an online business owner.
Record new ideas
A journal is a powerful place to record and keep track of new ideas for your business. You can sort through which ideas seem the best to go forward with, add in the results of experiments, and record which seem to be a hit with your audience or customers.
Keep track of progress
Having a journal is a good way to record what you’ve done each day or even the results of what you’ve done.
If you had an awesome day for sales, write down why you think that happened.
Were you featured somewhere?
Did you start a new ad campaign?
Did you send out a certain email?
By keeping track of what you’re doing, you can easily work on repeating your successes and learning from your failures.
Recognize unhealthy emotions related to your journey
This includes the ones mentioned in my post on 6 struggles entrepreneur face. You could work through a lot of them by keeping a journal.
Here’s a quick example:
Feeling like you aren’t progressing? Start writing down everything your done or learned each day.
If it’s not much, motivate yourself to try harder. If it’s a lot, realize that you are doing things, but make sure they’re things that move you forward rather than make you run around in circles.
Your journal is a safe space where you can be honest with yourself. No one is there to judge you and you don’t have to pretend to be something you’re not. With that kind of freedom, you can discover the areas were you need the most help and seek out ways to deal with them.
“Your Journal is like your best friend, You don’t have to pretend with it, you can be honest and write exactly how you feel”
― Bukola Ogunwale
Take business-related notes
If you’re anything like me, you need to write stuff done or you will forget them fast than you can say “awesome business idea.” I make sure I have easy access to something to write my ideas down.
In my case, this is usually the Notion app, but I also keep a pen and notepad close by incase my phone battery is low or something.
Another way to use your journal for note-taking is as I mentioned before. Use it to take notes during live trainings or while you’re reading articles from other blogs. This way you won’t forget the important parts and you can always refer to them later.
Create a business plan
Do you know what you need to do to make your business a success? You can plan it all out in your journal.
You might feel anxious about creating an official business plan at first, but starting one in your journal might seem like an easier way to get started. Then you can discover if you need to find the answers to questions like how you’ll attract customers to make sales or what operational costs to expect.
If you need help with what exactly to put in your business plan, check out How to Write a Crazy Simple Business Plan in 8 Steps over at Crazy Cute Co. for a good starting point. There’s even a downloadable template that you can print out and stick in your journal!
Track your money
To run a successful business you need to know where money is coming in and where it’s going out. A journal is a good place to track this when you’re just getting started, though you may want to upgrade to accounting software or hiring accountant eventually.
Set and track goals
I’ve already mentioned in several articles why it’s so important to set the right kind of goals and to focus on building a systematic process to achieve them. A journal is the perfect place to keep a record of your goals and your progress.
Create a wish list
I like keeping a wish list for my business. It’s kind of like setting a goal, but it’s more like a list of products and services I’d like to try out for my business.
I think having a wish list like this is a good way to consistently remind yourself of the important of reinvesting in your business. You’re also more open to spending the money once you’re ready for items on your wish list because you’ve been looking forward to them for awhile.
Inspire yourself
One last way to use a journal as on entrepreneur is as inspiration to keep working on your business. Motivation is sometimes hard to come by, but looking back through your journal can show you that you’ve come much too far to quit now.
You may also want to take some time to write down affirmations or your favorite quotes to help you get through particularly tough days.
“Journal writing gives us insights into who we are, who we were, and who we can become.”
There are some pretty standard ways to use a business journal, but you don’t have to do all these things, nor are they the only things you can do. It’s your journal, you can do what you want!
The important thing is that you have a place to write, record, and track various information about your business and your progress with building your business. Make journaling a part of your goal-achieving process as well.
You probably know more than your fair share of negative people! Some of them may even be your friends or family, which is difficult because you still love them and want to be around them.
Since they’re everywhere, it’s important to know how to coexist with negative people. They can have an impact on your attitude and your day, but that doesn’t have to be the case.
This post is going to outline a few ways you can focus on the good things and become positive influence, even if it seems like everyone around you has a negative outlook on life.
“You can only overcome a negative attitude with a positive attitude.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!
Practice these strategies to avoid allowing negative people to negatively impact your life.
Try to influence others
Understand that you can only control yourself, but you can influence others.
You can’t snap your fingers and make the people around you take a more positive view of the world. But you can control yourself and how you choose to react to their negativity.
You might even be able to sway people over to your way of thinking a little bit. Set a good example and be a positive influence on those around you.
Be grateful
One way to maintain a positive attitude is to remind yourself of the positive. When you’re feeling run down by the negativity around you, make a quick mental list of the things in your life that you’re thankful for. It will give your mood a quick boost.
Remember that it’s not about you
Everyone has their challenges and issues. There’s no reason to be upset that someone has a negative attitude.
It likely doesn’t have anything to do with you at all. It could be circumstances in their life or their basic nature. Just keep on doing what you’re doing.
You have the choice to be positive or negative
You can choose to be affected or not by the people around you. Focus on yourself and keep your chin up. Take care of your business and let others view the world however they choose.
Speak up
Sometimes it can be helpful to tell people to just cut it out. Many people will push until someone calls them on their behavior.
Have a frank talk with someone that’s perpetually negative. Maybe they’re not aware of the impact they’re having on others.
Spend time with positive people
Recharge your batteries with the positive energy of other positive people. Get away from those negative people and spend time with people full of positive attitude.
It doesn’t take long to recenter yourself when you surround yourself with the right people. It’s amazing what a big change you’ll notice when you’re surrounded by others with the same goals and aspirations as yourself rather than negative people who will try to bring you down.
“You cannot expect to live a positive life if you hang with negative people.” ― Joel Osteen
Make the most of your time alone
Make the most of the time you have to yourself. Do things you really enjoy doing, read positive affirmations, or watch feel-good movies.
Put your attention on positivity. It can be like armor against negative people.
Headphone can be your friend
If the situation permits, put on some headphones or earbuds. What you can’t hear can’t bother you.
Consider listening to a positive podcast or music that makes you feel good. If your work situation allows this, it would be silly not to take advantage of it.
Stay away
There are plenty of people in your life that are optional. Stay away from negative people that you don’t have to associate with. You have some control over who is part of your life and who is not.
Negative people will drag you down if you let them. Take steps to minimize the impact they have on your life. Practice gratitude each day, and you can maintain a positive perspective. Block negative people out with headphones and stay away from as many negative people as possible.
Negative people will always be around, but you can choose to deal with them and still be a positive person.
“A negative attitude drains, a positive attitude energizes.” ― Lindsey Rietzsch, The Happy Lady
“Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity. Successful men act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive results.” — William James
A huge part of being able to achieve success comes down to how we think; not just about ourselves or our business but how we think about our successes and failures. Negative self-talk can reveal lot about how we really think about our progress, even if you don’t realize it at first.
If you’re constantly being negative, you’re more likely to subconsciously sabotage yourself, eventually racking up more failures than successes. While failure is an important part of achieving success, it’s still nice to have some wins on your plate, right?
What you need to do instead is take that negative self-talk and replace it with some positive affirmations for success and growth! This will help change your mindset from “I could never do that” to “what steps do I need to takes to make this possible”
Think of it this way: positive self-talk leads to success, negative self-talk leads to failure. As an online entrepreneur, some negative things you might be telling yourself might be:
No one ever visits my website
I’ll never make a sale
Purchasing ads would only be a waste of money
No one wants my services
I will never figure this out
I can’t be as successful as her
While I’m sure we’ve all felt this kind of frustration before (I definitely have!), if we truly believe these statements, we might as well quit trying and give up. And if you repeat them to yourself long enough, you really do start to believe them.
“Believing in negative thoughts is the single greatest obstruction to success.”
You have to stop yourself and really think about what you’re telling yourself. Are you going to continue being negative about your struggles, or are you going to focus on the things that you have achieved? Will you move past the ways that you now know don’t work so you can progress towards other ways that will?
The hard truth about being an entrepreneur is that it’s not always sunshine and daisies. You have to be able to push through the hard times. Positive affirmations can help you do this.
If you can make yourself believe the negative things, you can make yourself believe the positive ones, too. Keep reading for some negative thoughts to avoid and a few positive affirmations for success that you can use in your daily life.
Instead of letting negative thinking take over your life, make positive self-talk a new habit. You’re here reading this post, so you probably realize that you need a change already. That’s the very first step, and it’s actually a pretty huge step.
Now, you need to recognize your negative thought patterns and learn how to replace them with positivity.
“I’ll be happy once I…”
It’s a mistake to believe that you need to have or do anything before you can be happy. As soon as the criterion is met, another will simply take its place.
It’s always good to strive for more, but making your happiness dependent on achieving something may delay your happiness forever as you keep chasing things that you think you need to be happy instead of seeing the good in what you have already.
Find something that makes you happy right now and realize that this happiness is just as important as any happiness you’ll attain in the future.
“I can’t do this.”
Well, surprise, yes you can! Thinking that you can’t do something makes it that much harder to actually figure out how to do. You’ve already made up your mind that you can’t, so why bother trying, right?
What if you decided that you can do this? Instead of giving up before you’ve began, walk into every situation with the belief that you can work through it if you put in the time and effort. Focus on small wins that will add up to bigger ones.
“Today is a new beginning, a chance to turn your failures into achievements & your sorrows into so goods. No room for excuses.”
— Joel Brown
If you find yourself falling into this thought pattern in the middle of a task, it might be a good time to take a break or focus on something else so you can come back to it with clear eyes.
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve felt defeated by a project only to return to it the next day and get it figured out, often with better results than I was trying for to begin with.
“I can’t do anything right” or “I’ll never be successful.”
You’re going to make a lot of mistakes. It’s a necessary part of success, which means it’s important to view those mistakes as a learning process rather than a score or grade the measures your success.
The most successful people have failed more times than you can imagine. The difference between them and the average person is that they’re able to take the tumble, pick themselves back up, and continue moving forward.
Perseverance may be the most important skill for any entrepreneur to have. Tell yourself that you will learn how to do it right and you will achieve success, even if picking yourself back up is the most difficult thing you’ve ever done.
“Put all excuses aside and remember this – you are capable.”
— Zig Ziglar
Jealousy or resentment for the success of others
You’re going to see a lot of people who are lightyears ahead of your own success. They may be friends or colleagues and for a lot of people, that’s tough to stomach.
How can someone you know be so much more successful than you, especially if you’re working in similar fields? You do many similar things but you just haven’t found the same level of success.
Well, first of all, you don’t truly know how much effort someone else is putting into their business. You don’t really know what they’ve sacrificed to get where they are.
Instead, you have to worry about what you yourself are doing. Have you really exhausted all resources at your disposal? Are the actions you’re taking ones that lead you to success, not just the actions that someone else is doing to achieve their success?
Learn to admire the successes other people achieve and be happy for them! They have worked hard, too. Instead of feeling resentful, recognize the lessons you can learn from someone else’s success.
“Why do these things always happen to me?”
“When things go wrong, don’t go with them.”
— Elvis Presley
Bad things happen in everyone’s life. Things not being easy or not going your way isn’t something that’s exclusive to you. Believing they are is a good way to ensure everything you do will fail or turn out negatively.
Besides turning your thought towards positivity, acknowledge when you’re having a bad day and try simplifying your tasks so you can achieve quick, easy wins that put you in a better mood.
“I’ll do it tomorrow (or next week).”
Procrastination is one of the greatest enemies of success and ignoring dealing with it is just as bad as ignoring the work you need to do. Putting things off even just one day may set off a chain nof putting that thing off “until tomorrow” for weeks, months, or even years.
If you want to be successful, you need to focus on getting things done now rather than waiting until later when you think you’ll feel more up to the task. Chances are, you won’t, and you’ll put it off again.
Recognize and replace any other negative self-talk
There are loads of different ways we talk down to ourselves. I can’t list them all, but you should have a pretty good idea of what negative self-talk sounds like by now.
Whenever you’re feeling uncertain or lack motivation to focus on your goals, look out for any negative thoughts you have that may be blocking your enthusiasm. Recognize any negative thoughts and make a conscious effort to replace them with positive self-talk. At the very least, don’t let your negative thoughts drag you down further.
“If you absolutely can’t stay positive, don’t go negative, just cruise neutral for a while until you can get back up.”
— Terri Guillemets
With practice, you may find yourself automatically replacing negativity with much more positive outlooks. One way to practice this is through using affirmations, specifically ones that are designed to attack your own negative thoughts and focus on highlight how awesome you actually are!
Use affirmations to inspire success
Your negative thinking is just that, thinking. It’s all in the mind.
Rarely are any of these things you tell yourself actually true. You’ve just told yourself them for so long and so often that you now believe them.
If you can do that with negative thoughts, do it with positive thoughts instead!
Repeat affirmations that tell you that you can do this, you are ready to branch out, you will make that sale. You’ll approach your life and business much more confidently if you believe you really can do it.
When things don’t quite go your way, instead of blaming it on bad luck, you’ll realize that there must be something you’re missing that will make it work. You’ll focus your energy on finding out what that is rather than just assuming “it will never work for you.”
You have the power to transform your life, as long as you’re willing to do so. Banish all negative thoughts from your mind and nurture yourself with positive affirmations to achieve the success you deserve.
“Remember, you have been criticizing yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.”
Below you’ll find some examples of positive affirmations for success that you can repeat yourself daily and when things are looking rough.
Affirmations work best when they’re personalized to your own situations, so feel free to re-word them in any way that better fits your needs or to make them sound more like yourself.
I am putting my life in order, preparing to accept all the success that is coming to me.
I believe in my skills and abilities.
I am focused and persistent. I will never quit.
I am continually and easily moving towards my next level of success.
I choose to place my focus and effort one the value-generating aspects of my business.
I choose to see challenges as invigorating and purpose-filled opportunities to succeed.
I am filled with enthusiasm that attracts the “right” people I need in order to achieve success.
I manage my time effectively so I have “extra” time each day.
I let go of my excuses so I am productive and focused on results.
I learn something new every day about niche related topics.
I interact with people and build relationships every day.
I delegate tasks and projects wisely, fueling my success as well as others’ success.
I am courageous, willing to act in spite of any fear.
I create and follow daily routines that support my self-care.
I am prepared to answer the door when opportunity knocks.
I show appreciation of others kindnesses and efforts immediately.
I enjoy helping others achieve their goals.
I give myself a positive “locker-room” talk twice a day to keep my positive attitude.
I am a savvy business owner who has confidence in my well-chosen team.
I lead by example in my business and personal life, every day.