POSITIVE THINKING
DREAM MERCHANTS
Archana Law suggests ways to accomplish your goals
Some people spend their entire lives wondering how to be successful but can never figure it out! Everyone desires personal success, a happy and healthy life, meaningful work, a rewarding career, financial independence and the chance to positively impact those around them. In short, everyone wants to do something wonderful with their lives.
In that sense, we all share a common goal! So here are some pointers…
SUCCESS Luckily, success is not determined by our background, intelligence or native ability. Nor is it our family, friends or contacts who enable us to do extraordinary things. Instead, the key to success is our ability to get the very best out of ourselves under virtually all conditions and circumstances. It is our ability to change our very lives.
You have in you deep reserves of potential and ability. They will enable you to accomplish extraordinary things with your life – but only if they’re properly harnessed. That said, we may not live long enough to figure this out by ourselves!
As Benjamin Franklin once said, “men can either buy their wisdom or they can borrow it from others. The great tragedy is that most men prefer to buy it to pay full price in terms of time and treasure.”
PREPARE By achieving even one important goal, you create a pattern – a template for personal success in your subconscious mind. This will transform your life and automatically direct you to repeat that success in other spheres. Leverage your momentum through your achievements and eventually, you will create a synergistic effect.
POTENTIAL The only real limits on what you can do, have or be are self-imposed. As children, our pure and innocent minds explore freely with no limitations or self-doubts. But as we grow up, we unconsciously impose mental barriers on our potential. Once you make a clear and unequivocal decision to cast off all mental limitations, and throw yourself wholeheartedly into accomplishing your goals, your success is virtually guaranteed.
REVIEW To feel successful in life, we need to measure our progress against a set of criteria that we’ve established. Goals usually move frequently throughout life – as one set of goals is reached, others are created as we strive to reach the next level. The problem is that success based on material matters alone may not bring fulfilment. The secret to being happy and fulfilled is a set of goals that’s aligned with the mind, body and spirit.
CONCEPTUALISE “Thoughts become things. If you see it in your mind, you’ll hold it in your hand,” said Bob Proctor, the renowned motivational coach. Our thoughts lead to emotions both good and bad. We then act on these emotions and bring more of the same into our lives.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) focusses on changing our thoughts. In the process, we identify negative self-talk such as ‘I can’t do this or I’m not good enough’ – and change those thoughts into positive ones.
You too probably know this on some unconscious level. When you start the day in a bad mood, things around you begin to fall apart – first you spill something, then drop something else and are eventually late to work. The negative incidents snowball out of control the moment we become frustrated and start to think negative thoughts. And that’s why we need positive thoughts and habits – not only for ourselves but our loved ones too.
BE POSITIVE We have the power to take back our lives and make a difference by being a light in the darkness – a positive influence. If we chart our journey, and take ownership of our lives and happiness, our influence will branch out to reach others.
BE GRATEFUL Psychologist Michael McCollough of the Southern Methodist University in Dallas wrote about an experiment where participants’ stress levels were greatly reduced by a sense of gratitude alone.
The next time you find yourself filled with worry or doubt, shift your mindset and name five things you’re grateful for. This will give you a warm fuzzy feeling as a result of dopamine that promotes positivity.
The more you do it, the more your brain will automatically do this for you and make its own changes, snapping to the good without any effort. Soon you will become a positive person who draws the best from any situation.
LED BY DREAMS “Don’t be pushed by your problems; be led by your dreams,” suggested the great philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. The simple act of visualising goal achievement will open your mind to things you didn’t see before – those that can move you to success while motivating you with the right stimulus.
When you meditate and visualise, the stress that constantly floods your body vanishes. Your brain calms down, your cortisol levels drop, and you’re healthy and joyous. And here’s the quote that best sums up this column: “When I lost all my excuses, I found my results.”
Before the entry on positive thinking to achieve one’s goals, a major weakness cum barrier within oneself is procrastination. I believe this tendency to postpone itself can make a person a loser. Because almost everything is susceptible to be postponed, it blocks the utilising of intangible tools in the mind of a person such as courage, determination etc., even before we reach positive thinking. Even being grateful will be put off for a person in the habit of procrastination. In many perspectives, it is linked to the cognitive and behavioural aspects of a human.
Another conundrum is that humans crave instant results. They are reluctant to learn by themselves step by step but rather look or copy from another for a swift route. I am of the view that if a person is genuine to himself, is motivated within, knows what he is good at, is committed and works towards the goal with self learning and feedback, positive thinking will fall into place. And in this scenario, you need not force your mind to think positively. The real positive thinking achievers are self-taught and committed people.
Many of our talents do not reach the surface. Hence, it is our duty to be fair to ourselves by testing how strong we are in terms of positive thinking for achieving our goals. Some of the constraints in going ahead and tapping one’s goals is that people are trapped by the thoughts of good times and fortunes, unwanted fear of failure and being influenced by others, which happen to be mental barriers. Then again there are some who are encouraged – transforming negative incidents to positive ones and treating them as turning points. The power of visualizing thus gives us a valuable message that it is not just the plan nor the physical or material aspects that are the only focus of concern.
On the other hand, those who have experienced success are of the view that the fulfillment and joy are much more valuable than the return you get, further strengthening the accomplishment of goals and realisation of dreams. Who knows? The encouraging feedback, publicity and recognition could be a feather in your cap, helping you to land a marvellous opportunity!