Designing Your Life

Success Through Positive Thinking

// August 28th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Personal Development

I studied for each test, which was more than some of the other students in my class did. I didn’t devote nearly as much time as I should have to studying for a test though. I could have prepared a lot better, but I didn’t. Each test I would show up maybe slightly unprepared, but I would still do well. I didn’t doubt that I would do well, because I knew that I put in a good amount of effort. I had studied, and I had learned. The thing that separated me from a B and an A was my positive thinking. I knew that I could do well because I had studied and attempted to do well. I didn’t let doubt creep in. If I let doubt in then I wouldn’t be able to do as well on the test. I wouldn’t be able to think of the correct answer as easily if I was preoccupied with doubting myself. I didn’t want to let my self confidence drop or else I wouldn’t be able to do as well. Positive thinking will help anyone a lot more than doubting yourself.

Why do you allow yourself to think negative thoughts?

Your thoughts turn into your actions. These thoughts literally become a part of you. You will make yourself feel negative, you will make yourself feel inferior to others. You wouldn’t let others say bad things about you, so don’t do it to yourself. By being your own enemy then you allow yourself to only function at a portion of your capability. You can’t win if you only think about how you will lose. If you have willpower then you are able to change yourself. You decide what thoughts you entertain, so it only makes sense that you think of the positive instead. For example, if you want to plan a trip then you would think of all the exciting things you would do. You don’t want to dwell on thinking that the trip won’t happen because you will fulfill your own thoughts. You will sabotage the trip since you won’t be planning and thinking of ways to do it. Instead you are thinking of why it will not happen and this will make it not happen.

Have Courage in Yourself

Hiding in the corner will only help you continue to hide in the corner. Negative thoughts are like hiding in the corner. You are scared you will fail, so you don’t do anything. Have some confidence in yourself and courage, then you will be able to achieve more. Once you begin to want something you will start to visualize it. This visualize will take you down two different paths. If you are using positive thinking then you will see yourself achieving this goal, but if you aren’t then you will see yourself not achieving it. If you see yourself achieving the goal then you will start to commit to it. This will bring you closer to success just by the thoughts you have. You bring yourself farther from success when you refuse to think of success. Start off on the right foot and think positively. You have done things in the past to be proud of; I know this because everyone has. You have wonderful qualities, so focus on them. If all you do is focus on the few things you don’t have then you cannot see all the great things you do have.

Instant Results

Think of something that you failed at. Focus on it. It’s easy to feel the disappointment. Now, think about it as a learning experience. You won’t make the same mistake again, and next time you can succeed. Feel a little better now? That is the power that everyone knows about positive thinking. There is no reason to have negative thoughts when you know that it is only ruining your happiness. It is similar to hitting your head on the wall. You know that it hurts and it causes damage, but you continue to do it. Stop today. Allow your thoughts to come to you as normal, but when something negative surfaces just acknowledge that you are having a negative thought and replace it with the opposite. One example is when you are starting a project. Maybe you have to write a report. You start to think how hard it will be. You start having the negative thought, but you just let it flow past and replace it with a thought of the happy feeling of having the project finished after you start it. You might dwell on what someone will think of it, but you can replace that thought with one of how much someone will like it. It’s easy to know what to do, but implanting this is harder. It will take practice but there are many benefits.

The Need to Stop Placing Blame

// August 26th, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal Development

I work as a cashier at a home improvement store and I meet a lot of people each day. It never fails to amaze me how often people get upset about things that were caused by themselves. They might forget to write down the number of how many screws they get and become angry at me for their mistake, or they could get the wrong item and become frustrated when they find out that I had already rung up the item that they failed to tell me that they did not want. This gives me insight on the importance of taking responsibility for my actions. We shouldn’t be so quick to blame people for our own mistakes.

Often we are quick to take out our anger on someone else, and sometimes this person had no part in creating the anger. They are only people that are close by at the time. We refuse to accept that problems are our faults. This would hurt our ego if we were able to admit that we made a mistake. So, we try to cover up the mistake that we made by blaming others. This is like trying to yell at a tree when you crashed your car into it. You blame the tree, but really the accident was your fault.

The downfalls of blaming others

If you continue to blame others, then how can you ever improve yourself? You expect other people to improve since they are the ones that are fault for your problems. If someone runs into you while you were trying to text message someone then you blame them for running into you while you weren’t watching. You go on texting after this since you don’t think your behavior was at fault. You aren’t taking the blame, or admitting that you have a fault. It reminds me of the twelve step program where you must admit that you are an alcoholic. You have to take blame for your actions to be able to change

The reasons for blaming others

You are taking the blame away from yourself. Sometimes we do this enough that we really begin to believe it. We truly believe it was the clerk’s fault that the item won’t ring up, instead of the reason being our fault for failing to write down the correct number. We are able to be perfect, because we never made the mistake. We are putting up a fake show for others around us. We want others to think that we are perfect, so we try to convince others that we are never at fault, or else we can’t be perfect. We try to repress the idea that we failed at something. This translates into many areas in life. We blame the train for being slow, while we should have left earlier. It doesn’t make sense to blame the wind for blowing over your paper house, instead you should think harder for ways to protect against the wind.

The benefits of stop blaming others

Once you are able to blame yourself then you can take the steps to stop from messing up. You don’t have to get angry at yourself, but accept the small inconveniences. We shouldn’t direct our anger towards others, and we shouldn’t direct it towards ourselves. We should learn to accept these things, but we cannot accept until we stop placing blame. You aren’t accepting something fully if you are still blaming the other person. Once you take action to place the blame on yourself, then you can take the action to let it go. Your car might break down, but you don’t need to blame the car, or the road. Just remember that you should have had it tuned up a while ago, but you kept putting it off.You focusing on the internal world works a lot better than focusing totally on the external world. All the improvements will come from the inside. You shouldn’t punish yourself, but merely accept the situation. You are able to do more from focusing on the internal world, since you have full control over that. You don’t have full control over the external world.

Sometimes we are unable to see that we reacted without knowing all the facts. We might not know that the man did not know he was being rude by leaning on your new car. We didn’t know that the woman was rushing to get to the hospital when she ran into someone and ran off without an apology. We don’t always know the full details and we are quick to jump to conclusions that it is their fault, but in the end it is our fault for jumping to the conclusion in the first place. We are the ones to blame, and we should blame ourselves for it. We shouldn’t beat ourselves up for it, but we should at least place blame on the right person, since it isn’t going to be any help to us to blame someone else. It is merely a waste our time. Guard your time wisely; it is far more valuable than to be spent on anger.