How to Think Positively to Achieve Success

 

A lot of cynical people believe that thinking positively is a crock. How is it possible that being obnoxiously optimistic is going to provide you with the tools that you need to become successful? No matter what you think it isn’t going to change the world around you, right?

While that may be true, thinking positively has been proven in studies to change your mind and body for the better and help you to recognize the opportunities around you. Whether you want to believe that blind optimism is the key to success or not, there is little dispute that being a positive thinker enhances your quality of life and makes you more likely to seize the opportunities that are around you and stay motivated to follow those opportunities down a path to success.

The first thing you need to do in order to begin to think positively is to really examine yourself and your negative thoughts. Be honest with yourself about where these negative thoughts creep up and begin to consume you. It is common for the human mind to overvalue negative input over positive input, so make sure that you know yourself very well and are willing to understand that your negative thoughts are not necessarily going to be productive. Interrupt negative thoughts with positive thoughts and rewire your brain so that you can think positively and achieve success.

This can be done in a number of ways. You can begin a dialogue with yourself that you alone are invested in. Remind yourself of all of the positive things that you have to gain and what you need to do in order to get there. This will increase your focus and provide you with a built-in fan base that will continue to move you forward no matter how challenging things may be.

It is also important for you to recognize your own belief system and the ways that it might be faulty. Each of us are raised with certain expectations of the world that sometimes just get in the way. Think about how you believe the world operates and consider the ways that these beliefs are actually holding you back. If you find yourself limited by your own perception, then it is not too late for you to change those beliefs and focus on something much more positive and productive.

Thinking positively can help you to view the world in a more objective light so that you are able to pick and choose the information that will help you along the way as you begin to plan for your successful venture. As long as you stay true to your own vision and don’t doubt yourself, you will find that your fears are unfounded and you actually are capable of success. Only you know what you are truly capable of, so do not trust any other authorities if they tried to make you doubt that. 

Remember, your vision is your own, and only you can make your dreams come true.

Accessing Greater Strength and Creativity Through Mental Control

Accessing Greater Strength and Creativity Through Mental Control

If you’re interested in the concept of heightening human performance and getting the very most out of your brain and body, then chances are you will have come across the subject of flow states. Flow states are a mental state synonymous with heightened awareness and reflexes, when we are completely focussed and all distracting thoughts melt away.

Flow states get a lot of positive attention and this is deserved for the most part; but they are often treated as a ‘cure all’ for our performance, along with increased mindfulness.

Right now, all the literature regarding our mental health seems to be around ‘being in the moment’ or focussing more.

But there is always a danger with something like this that we will become overly enamored with a single solution. Like a fad diet, we can end up getting carried away with one solution and end up trying to apply it to every aspect of our lives.

Flow states are not the answer to everything and they should not be relied upon in every situation. And while being in your own head can be a bad thing, it can also actually be a very good thing.

The Default Mode Network

Consider the default mode network for instance. This is a network of brain regions that activates in the brain when we are daydreaming, planning ahead or generally completely detached from reality. It often sees activation when we engage in repetitive, manual tasks and allow our mind to wander.

This is in many ways the opposite of a flow state, but that doesn’t mean it is a bad thing. After all, the ability to think ahead, to imagine and to create is what makes us human… and it’s also where many of our best ideas come from.

Einstein was almost certainly using the default mode network when he came up with his theory of Special Relativity. He was working in a patent office at the time and he even credits the menial work with helping him to flex his imaginative muscles.

So yes, be ‘mindful’ and aim for ‘flow’ but don’t forget that there are other useful mental states out there too.

Ultimate Strength

At the other end of the spectrum, what happens when you go passed a flow state? What happens when you become more aroused and alert than you ever have before?

This may be what causes a state known as ‘hysterical strength’. If you’ve heard stories of Mothers who have lifted cars off of their trapped children, then that’s what scientists now suspect hysterical strength to be.

Normally, you are only capable of recruiting 30% (average) to 60% (highly trained athlete) of your muscle fiber at once. This protects the body from harm and prevents us from becoming completely fatigued. But when you are in a life-or-death situation, adrenaline is released and this actually increases muscle fiber recruitment to a large extent – studies show that even shouting in the gym can trigger the release of enough adrenaline to cause marginal increases in strength.

So, when you see red and your body is awash with these hormones, it appears that you are actually capable of tapping into immense reserves of super-human strength. It’s not something that has been thoroughly researched or even proven, but it’s a fascinating concept and it demonstrates just how much untapped potential our minds and bodies are hiding.

Accelerated Learning Techniques

Accelerated Learning Techniques

From a neurological perspective, there are few things that are better for the development of true intelligence than to learn multiple subjects. This encourages the use of multiple brain areas and by learning lots of different subjects you can use them together – thereby enhancing the interconnectivity of your brain. Learning itself triggers the release of dopamine, BDNF and other neurotransmitters that enhance plasticity – meaning that the more we learn, the easier learning becomes.

And having multiple skills means we can thrive in multiple different situations. This is one benefit of being a freelance writer – I’ve learned countless skills from how to pick a lock to how to fix the toilet!

And if you want to learn more, faster, then you only need apply a range of ‘accelerated learning’ techniques. Here are some of the best…

The Feynman Technique

The Feynman Technique is a mental model named for Richard Feynman. The aim is to learn and to increase your depth of knowledge by making sure you can teach someone else the subject. The idea is that if you can’t explain a subject simply, you don’t fully understand it.

To this end, Feynman suggests a flow chart of steps.

Start with the concept and then ‘explain like I’m five’ (ELI5). If you don’t understand, pinpoint the gap in your knowledge. Then try using an analogy to explain that (which actually taps into the way we understand the world – using embodied cognition) and then simplify that concept.

Then repeat the cycle.

Writing an explanation of the topic you’re trying to learn can often help to this end.

DiSSS

Tim Ferriss, author of The 4 Hour Workweek has a different method for learning subjects more quickly. He calls this the DiSSS method.

The phrase is of course an acronym, which stands for:

·        Deconstructing (what are the minimal learnable units?)

o   iNterviewing (asking people who have already mastered the skill)

o   Reversal (looking at the end goal – for instance, Tim recommends learning finishing moves first in chess and then working backwards to learn how to get to that point)

·        Selection (which 20% of the minimal blocks should I focus attention on?)

·        Sequencing (what is the best order to learn said blocks in?)

·        Stakes (how can you set up stakes to motivate yourself to keep learning)

The First 20 Hours

The First 20 Hours is a book by Josh Kaufman, that explains an alternative accelerated learning method. The central conceit is to aim for a ‘target performance level’ or more specifically, to know what you want to achieve through learning. In particular, if you want to learn to code, then don’t set out to ‘learn to code’ which is much too vague, but instead set out to create a specific goal. Not only is this much more intrinsically motivating with more of an emotional drive, but it also gives you much more structure and it shows you precisely which skills you need to develop.

Conclusion

Combine these methods with adequate interest and with strategies to increase brain plasticity and you can rapidly accelerate your learning and become a far more formidable mind.

Find Out What Drives you!

The Value of Mentors

The value of Mentors:

(An Article by Brian Tracy)

Benjamin Franklin once said, “There are two ways to acquire wisdom; you can either buy it or borrow it. By buying it, you pay full price in terms of time and cost to learn the lessons you need to learn. By borrowing it, you go to those men and women who have already paid the price to learn the lessons and get their wisdom from them.”

This is the essence of the mentor-protégé relationship. By going to people who are ahead of you in the personal or professional arena, and by opening yourself up to their input, advice and guidance, you can save yourself the many months (maybe even years) and the thousands of dollars it would cost to learn what you need to learn all by yourself.

Kop Kopmier, the famous success authority, said that one of the most important secrets of success is to learn proven success methods. He once told me that perhaps the fastest way to get ahead was to study the experts and to do what they do, rather than trying to learn it all yourself. In fact, he mentioned that no one lives long enough to learn everything they need to learn starting from scratch. To be successful, we absolutely, positively have to find people who have already paid the price to learn the things that we need to learn to achieve our goals.

The mentors you choose should be people you respect, admire and want to be like. The advice you seek should be guidance regarding your character and personality and specific ideas on how you can do your job better and faster. Remember, you can’t figure it all out for yourself. You have to have the help of others. You have to find men and women who will guide you and advise you on the road of life, or you will take a long, long time getting anywhere.

There are two vital aspects to look for in a mentor. The first is character and the second is competence.

Character is by far the most important. Look for a mentor who has the kind of character you admire and respect. Look for a person who has high degrees of intelligence, integrity, judgment and wisdom. The more you associate, even in your mind, with men and women who are advanced in the development of their character, the more you will tend to pattern them and to become like them.

The second thing you look for in a mentor is competence. This means that the person is extremely good at what he or she does. A good mentor in your career is one who has the knowledge, skills and abilities to move ahead far more rapidly than his or her peers. The impact of a mentor on your life is dependent on two additional factors. The first is your degree of openness to being influenced by another person. Openness is so important because many people, especially young people, are extremely impatient, always looking for shortcuts. When they get advice that another person has spent many years learning, they often try to add their own variations and improve on it without ever having mastered the original instruction in the first place.

Remember, when you open yourself up to guidance and input from another person, concentrate first on understanding and learning exactly what that person has to teach you. Afterward, you can modify and change that lesson to suit your changing circumstances.

The second factor that determines the influence of a mentor on your life is the willingness of the mentor to help you in every way possible to achieve your personal goals. We know that the more emotionally involved someone is in our life, the more susceptible we are to being influenced by that person. When you consciously and deliberately seek out a mentor, you must look for someone who genuinely cares about you as a person and who really wants you to be successful in your endeavors.

So, for a good mentor-protégé relationship, you must be wide open to the influence and instruction of the other person, and at the same time, the mentor must be genuinely concerned about your well-being and your ultimate success. These are the two essentials.

Your ability to choose your mentors, in written form, on audio and video, live at seminars, and (even better) in person, can be a crucial step toward achievement in all areas of your life. So here are twelve steps you can take to build successful mentor-protégé relationships:

1. Set clear goals for yourself in every area of your life. Know exactly what it is you want to accomplish before you start thinking of the type of person who can help you accomplish it.

2. Determine the things you have to do in order to achieve your goals, the obstacles you will have to overcome and the roadblocks you will have to surmount.

3. Identify the areas of knowledge, skill and expertise you will have to acquire in order to overcome the obstacles standing between you and your goals.

4. Look around you and select the most successful people in the areas in which you will need the most help.

5. Join the clubs, organizations and business associations these people belong to. You can find out this information if you ask.

6. Once you have become involved in these organizations, become actively involved and volunteer for responsibilities. This will bring you to the attention of the people you want to meet faster than anything else.

7. Work, study, and practice continually to get better and better at what you do. The very best mentors are only interested in helping you if they feel it is going to be of value. You will have no problem attracting people to you when you develop a reputation for being an up-and-coming person in your field.

8. When you find a potential mentor, don’t tackle him or her or make a nuisance of yourself. Instead, ask for ten minutes of his or her time, in person, in private. Nothing more. Remember, most mentors are busy people, and they may be opposed to someone trying to take up a lot of their time. It’s not personal.

9. When you meet with a potential mentor, express your eagerness to be more successful in your field. Tell him or her that you would very much appreciate a little guidance and advice to help you move ahead. Ask for an answer to a specific question, or for a specific book or audiotape recommendation, or for a specific idea that has been helpful to him or her in the past.

10. After the initial meeting, send a thank-you note and express your gratitude and appreciation for his or her time and guidance. Mention that you hope to meet again if you have another question.

11. Each month, drop your mentor a short note telling him or her about what you are doing and how you are progressing. There is nothing that makes a potential mentor more open to helping you than your making it clear that the help is doing you some good.

12. Arrange to meet with your mentor again, perhaps on a monthly basis, or even more often if you work closely together.

Over the course of your life and career, you will have many mentor-protégé relationships. As you grow and develop, you will move on to mentors who can give you the kind of advice that is most effective for your current situation.

The most wonderful thing about this process is that successful people are very open to helping other people who want to be successful. This is especially true if you are willing to be a mentor to others who are younger and less experienced than you. The more open you are to helping other up the ladder of success, the more open will be to helping you.

The fastest way for you to succeed is by piggy-backing on the good advice and counsel of men and women who have already spent years learning how to succeed. When you do this on a regular and systematic basis, you will open up doors of opportunity and possibilities for you that today you cannot even imagine.

When you practice positive self-talk, and keep your words and your mental pictures consistent with your goals and dreams, there is nothing that can stop you from being the success you are meant to be.

Author's Bio: 

A leading authority on the development of human potential and personal effectiveness, Brian Tracy is a dynamic speaker with a wonderful ability to inform and inspire audiences. He is the president of the Institute for Executive Development and was formerly the president of a major development company. The author of numerous books and other materials aimed at helping people perform at their peak and achieve their full potential, Tracy has shared his winning insights with thousands of people throughout the world.

https://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/the-value-of-mentors