‘It is the responsibility of every individual to replace negative thoughts with empowering positive thoughts. This is the only way to possess and cultivate a growth mindset. To do otherwise is to remain a poor performer or a non-starter in the race of life. It does not matter how many books you read on leadership or how many motivational speakers you inspire you that you have what it takes to lead, if you are a sub-optimal performer you will never earn the respect of your followers’
IN the first part of this series, we considered what constitutes automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) and how they are formed as the dominant thoughts out of the over 65,000 thoughts that daily pass through the mind of an individual. We went ahead to identify why it is imperative for an individual to replace automatic negative thoughts with positive thoughts that are empowering and energising. Then we started looking at how to effectively deal with automatic negative thoughts. In this concluding part, we shall share further information and techniques on how to replace automatic negative thoughts with positive negative thoughts.
Another way to deal with automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) is to be intentional about starting afresh. You can effectively do this by identifying, documenting on paper and focusing on your WHY by devoting your energy to your overriding goal which when realised, will have a domino effect that translates into transformational change.
Once you have resolved to pursue your major goal, it is time to begin your execution by starting to take small steps despite your big dreams. This approach is very important if you are serious about finishing big. Remember that the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates which is the tallest building in the world with a height of 2,722 ft with 163 floors was built one floor at a time. From my experience, one sure way to change your mindset if you are committed to realising your dreams is by setting small goals and consistently taking tiny steps daily to achieve your big dreams. If your plan is to walk for 60 kilometres in a month you can achieve it by walking for two kilometres everyday. This can easily be done if you commit to a moderate walk of twenty minutes everyday.
It is better for you to achieve a moderate goal daily than to overwhelm yourself by biting more than you can chew at a time. Your mini goal is a sure step for conquering your towering vision. One beautiful thing about mini goals, as positive as they are, is that they require little or no motivation or exertion of energy to achieve. If you think, at any point, that your mini goal is too small for you, just go ahead to increase it as much as you desire. The whole point about mini goals is that they help you develop a positive mindset about personal productivity as you achieve the minimum goal you set for yourself. Your ability to consistently achieve your mini goals will form new mindset habits within you. This in turn stimulates your thinking and bolsters your confidence to strive towards realising our biggest dreams.
If you desire to ultimately deal with automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) then you must overcome fear in all its ramifications. Fear has variegated streaks and colours. Fear of the unknown, fear of criticisms, fear of disappointment, fear of betrayal, fear of natural disasters and fear of failure are diverse manifestations of fear. Generally, the fear of failure is the most dreaded form of failure by individuals. A survey by the social network Linkagoal found that fear of failure plagued 31% of 1,083 adult respondents. Therefore, you must condition your mind to perceive failure as a phenomenon designed to toughen you instead of roughen you. Make up your mind to embrace fear as a tool for learning, improvement and toughening your mind. Refrain from reacting to the manifestation of the shades of fear with shame, anger, anxiety or sadness. To be successful with productivity you must never allow failure to deter you. If you fail in getting desired outcomes from a project you are not a failure. You just learnt one more way of not achieving your goal. You simply try again by leveraging your experience and feedbacks.
From the foregoing, it is clear that dealing with automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) does not happen automatically. You must be intentional in identifying the sources and patterns of automatic negative thoughts and take practical steps to replace them with positive thoughts by using the power of positive thinking.
It is the responsibility of every individual to replace negative thoughts with empowering positive thoughts. This is the only way to possess and cultivate a growth mindset. To do otherwise is to remain a poor performer or a non-starter in the race of life. It does not matter how many books you read on leadership or how many motivational speakers you inspire you that you have what it takes to lead, if you are a sub-optimal performer you will never earn the respect of your followers. Productivity inspires leadership because when you consistently maximise your results result oriented people will voluntarily follow you as the leader who models the way to success.
