Your Thoughts

Your thoughts affect what you do, how you act, the kind of person you are, how you feel, and what you attract. Your thoughts can either solve problems or create them. Regardless of what your thoughts are, they are within your control.

Even the most positive, proactive person can have negative thoughts. A normally upbeat, happy individual will have off days. Although you choose your thoughts, there are thoughts that seem to pop into your head on their own.

How do you select the most desirable thoughts? What do you do when you have unwanted ones? Start by concentrating on what you want rather than what you don’t want. In every area of your life, there is something you want. Aspects of your personality, material desires, lifestyle goals, and how you want to feel are all impacted by how you think.

For each of your objectives, gear your thoughts to obtaining what you want versus avoiding that which you don’t want. If having more money is a desired outcome, you want to think about earning enough for your needs rather than trying to avoid bankruptcy. Perhaps you want to be more organized. Picture yourself as an organized person instead of thinking you have to stop being unorganized.

Thinking about what you want to accomplish is far more effective than thoughts of what you want to avoid. You already use this approach in many aspects of your life. When going to work each day you think about what you have to get done rather than attempting to just make it through the day without getting fired.

In your car, your purpose is reaching a specific destination rather than thinking about not driving off the road. When you sit down for a meal, you think about enjoying your food rather than not choking. Since your thoughts about daily routines are already outcome based, it’s not that hard to apply the same approach to major goals.

When negative thoughts pop into your head, as will happen, is something amiss? Don’t worry, there’s nothing wrong. Negative thoughts are normal. There is no problem with you. Fighting these unwanted thoughts won’t keep them away. You have to replace them with other, more desirable thoughts.

Suppose you are on your way to a job interview. You rally want the job and feel you will be a good fit for the position. While waiting to be called in for the interview, you start worrying about being unable to answer the questions well. You become nervous and try to force the unwanted thoughts out. A better approach is to change your thoughts to something positive. So focus on how well you will come across and how impressive you will sound.

Whenever you have a thought of “I can’t,” replace it with “I can.” Negative thoughts are always trying to get into your head. They can only be counteracted with positive thoughts. You don’t want to latch on to any negative thoughts or become consumed by fear.

Practice constantly to keep your thoughts focused on your desired outcome. Even the most successful people regularly fight this battle. People who have no goals, or rarely accomplish anything, have many more thoughts of avoidance than thoughts of accomplishment.

Your thoughts are your own. They may be influenced by other people or events, but the final responsibility for them is yours. If you don’t like what you think about, make changes. Don’t make excuses. Develop a constant awareness of what you are thinking about. This allows you to make adjustments as needed.