Negative thinking: what is it and how it affect your results
Negative thinking is the opposite of positive thinking. As Brian Tracy's blog states, it is characterised by a person seeing some things too darkly, focusing on the negative aspects of situations around them and generally tending to view things too pessimistically.
An overly negative mindset naturally affects your personal life and work performance. This is because it prevents you from seeing opportunities and saps your energy by occupying your mind with negative thoughts. Last but not least, negative thoughts influence your relationships with the people around you by affecting how others perceive you (because no one likes surliness), and such thoughts in general, among other things, limit your career prospects.
How do you know if you tend to think negatively about yourself?
Here are a few signals that show if you tend to think too negatively:
- When a situation arises that can be interpreted in more than one way, you tend to interpret it negatively.
- You expect only the worst
- Negative thoughts preoccupy your mind too much and you do not have time to focus on possibilities and opportunities
- You tend to succumb to severe stress, which, in the long term, cripples you
How to get rid of negative thinking
One way to get rid of negative thinking is to practise positive self-talk. Every day, lock yourself in the bathroom for a few minutes and say encouraging things to yourself in the mirror. This may sound strange, but it is a very effective way to boost your self-esteem and learn to see things positively.
Another way is to help the people around you. Lending a helping hand means forgetting about negative things for a while.
It is also worth trying to pursue things you enjoy and interact with people who keep you in a positive frame of mind.
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