Change Your Thinking, Change your Reality
One of my daily affirmations are: “MY THOUGHTS BECOME THINGS.” I recite this as a conscious reminder to always be positive. Why? It makes me feel as if I am adding to the light of the world.
When you change your thinking, you change your life. So much has been said about the power of positive thinking. Some might conclude that it is difficult and somewhat exasperating to remember to replace every negative thought with one that is positive in order to change your life. After minor experiences, we think, if it were that easy, life wouldn’t be as challenging, would it? No, wrong. You see, it's exactly the opposite—that kind of thinking is what leads us to the illusion of life being too difficult to experience.
In Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken, he wrote, “...Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” It is in my opinion that Frost is speaking of our tendencies to look back and attribute blame to minor events in our lives, or to attribute more meaning to things than they may deserve. For someone who takes “the road less traveled” is acting independently, freeing themselves from the conformity of others. Therefore, for this conversation it would seem that “the road more often traveled” is our negative thinking. Would you agree? So then, what is the road more often traveled? Conditioning, conformity, normality, societal rules and regulations? I think maybe for me; just maybe I have been conditioned to treat my negative thinking as normal behavior, which permeated what I called lack-full-ness. It was a way of life, until I challenged myself to stop, process what is happening in my world in my moment of thought. What is the story I am telling myself in my head at this moment? Is it true?
Now, let’s apply this to the business world. What if you were to practice thinking positive for just one hour throughout your day? Think about how your relationships will change. Would you be a catalyst for change within your work environment? There are times when the “industry” gets so busy that we don’t allow ourselves the luxury of thinking positive. We are short with co-workers, we are so deadline-driven that our customer service suffers and above all, we create an environment that does not foster growth or demonstrate a place where people want to go.
I was thinking that it really is not much of a cumbersome task to retrain your mind to think positive thoughts. You simply tell yourself you’re going to do it and you do it. The moment a negative thought enters your mind, you recognize it and replace it with something positive. Remember that your thoughts become action and they pave the way for your desires and visions to manifest in your life.
Here’s a practice: To help you begin, take the following words, unavailable, bored, and annoyed. Who hasn’t said that in the workplace before?
Unavailable, replace it with ENGAGED, now think opportunity, which creates the possibility to improve processes and potentially grow your business with new opportunities.
Bored, replace it with DRIVEN, now think determination, which creates an environment that fosters creativity and a workspace that values goals and success.
Annoyed, replace it with UNDERSTANDING, now think flexible, which demonstrates to partners and employees the value of compassion and long-term relationships.
Once you have learned to change your negative into positive, recognize the chain reaction around you. When you used to close your door because you were “too busy,” now your employees or co-workers walk by and see an opening to come talk – maybe the next big idea becomes a part of the strategic plan for the future of the organization. When you would be frustrated with a customer because they are not getting things to you in time, you show an understanding that can give them a sense of compassion and thus they might always bring their business back to you. When you stop being tired, and recognize that you are determined to do well, you show to others the passion that you have for what you do.
Little changes in our perceptions can make big impacts to our reality. In my profession, quality is the cornerstone of a quality life or profession.
About the Author
Graduated with a B.A. in Business Administration with a concentration on management from Strayer University in 2008. She works closely with the Council on Standards Development assisting the Standard Consensus Body, and/or committees with their Standards development projects and editing and maintaining IACET standards and publications. Before IACET, Teshia worked as a Technical Writer with large and small government contracting firms for more than 20 years with the last six as a Proposal Writer throughout the DC, Maryland and Virginia locale.
“I believe that my background in technical writing and documentation development will allow for a nice transition into assisting the IACET Standards Department,” Payne said. “I look forward to working with all of the different people that contribute to our standards’ process and to continue to build on the strong reputation and success of promoting and enhancing the quality of continuing education and training.”