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Think positive

How can I think positive?

Most people I’ve met during all these years I’m practicing coaching, consistently ask me this question: “I’m trying to think positive but most of the times my negativity overcomes all those positive thoughts”. Most people I talk with have come to the conclusion that either positive thinking does not work or that they don’t try hard enough.

The fact is that positive thinking is an effective tool, but it must be used properly and in the right timeframe.

Life Self Coaching is proven technique in order to manage everyday achievement in almost every stage of our life. And that is not an exaggeration.. Researcher Susan Jackson conducted throughout the world a study on 28 athletes of seven different sports and came to the following conclusion: Self-confidence, the ability to concentrate and strong motivation, were the key factors of great success.
Life Self Coaching is the technique of being aware of our strengths and weaknesses and learn to be our best friends, as much as, be the strictest “coaches” of our own self, in order to become the best we can!

Some basic ideas on how we can manage our self are suggested below:

1. Align myself according to the main goal I have set.
The first step of Life Self Coaching is to make sure that I train myself towards my goal. The most important element in this phase is to have a clear and meaningful goal.
My focus is on my goal. My mind and my heart revolve around it. That is why my goal must be something that I want badly and not something that my husband or my parents or my child or my friends want for me. The motivating power of achieving my goal is myself. I light the fire and only if I maintain it, I’ll achieve my goal!

2. Visualizing my goal
After establishing our goal, the next step, is to visualize and feel the coming success in advance. Every day we must repeat this feeling, full of images and emotions, with calm voice so as to let it become part of our routine. Experts say that everyday oral repetition and visualization of our goal for 21 days in a row create a new command in our brain which we subconsciously follow, just as we brush our teeth at night or drive at home.

3. Command myself
I express calmly and in a low voice tone, what I want to see become my reality. Many times – especially when something inconvenient or something that makes me nervous happens, it is helpful to say to myself in a calm voice: “everything is under control…, take a deep breathe and relax… think positive”.
The secret in this case is to talk to myself calmly and not in a bossy and critical way. Talk to yourself like a hypnotist with a steady and calm voice. The tone of the voice is crucial because if it sounds harsh it can disorient me and prevent me from the beneficial impact that I was starting to create to my brain. Do not yell at yourself unless this causes the desirable effect!

3. Advice myself
Most of us are very good at giving advice to others but not to ourselves. Why don’t we try to imagine that our self is our best friend and give him/her advice, exactly as we would do if it was our friend who we love and care about?

4. Encourage myself
“I can do it”. This phrase motivates us to be committed to our goal and encourage our self-esteem, which acts like the gas in a vehicle, causing it to move. Without having faith to ourselves, achieving our goal is doubtful if not impossible.

5. Why?
The basic question in achieving my goal is “Why?” Do I want it? What does it mean to me? How will it affect my life? The reason you want to accomplish a goal is because the goal motivates you, as long as it means something to you. Remember your strengths. Also remember why you really want it. Meaningful reasons will motivate you and reinforce your determination towards achieving your goals.

6. Positive belief
Love is a “positive belief” and changes the way I interact with others. Instead of having a superficial positive reaction, I choose to sympathize with people and feel deep gratitude and understanding for them. The secret is that I don’t do this for them… I do it for me because that helps me feel complete and certain that, depending on the energy I send outside myself, the exact amount of energy will come back to me.

7. Try anti-negativity
Negativity kills creativity and always finds disadvantages in any thought that crosses our mind.

8. Invent words of success
I create short sentences, always in a positive tone, so as to “impose” positivity on my thoughts and eliminate negativity.

9. Repeat your positive beliefs
Studies and experiments have shown that a positive way of living helps to positive outcomes even in the most difficult situations. People who managed to survive accidents were those who not only never stopped hoping, but also continued to believe that what was happening to them was temporary and that there was no case of not being able to survive.

It’s never too late to become The Best of Yourself!