Does Positive Thinking Work?



I was skeptical at first because I did not get how positive thinking works. I spent the first half of my twenties under estimating the power of positive thinking. I think I spent most of my life trying not to think of a positive outcome to a situation because I feared disappointment. From what I have learned and now what I know is the following:

In order to achieve any success or conquer any goal, you must think positively!!!

It’s really rare to hear someone say that they really doubted themselves and still achieved success. They may have been sceptical at a particular point of process but it was their positive thinking that made them prevail.

From a young age I know my mother tried to instil this principle in me. But I usually didn’t listening to my parents because I didn’t realize how smart they were until later on in life. Therefore, it wasn’t until I read Napoleon Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich that made me aware of how influential positive thinking was.



What is positive thinking and why it is so important?

I think most of us know already know that positive thinking is having optimistic thoughts. Simply put, not thinking in the negative. For example, I assuming something will happen rather than doubting it will.

What I have also learned from Think and Grow Rich is that you become your thoughts. Therefore, if you continue to practice affirmative thinking, the probability will increase that you will have an upbeat outcome. That is how positive thinking works.

For instance, there have been so many cases out there of patients overcoming a disease just because they continued to believe that they would beat.


Why failure happens even when you thinking positive thoughts:

Since we become our thoughts, I believe there are two main reasons why we fail even though we might practice positive thinking:

1. We do not actually think we will achieve the goal. If we think like this we aren’t truly being optimistic over the situation. In fact, what we are doing is creating doubt in ourselves. If this is the case, I think it’s important to either start building confidences in yourself or re-evaluate why you are chasing a goal that you do not believe you can achieve.

To illustrate, I want to run a marathon in 2011 to mark my 30th birthday. Since I found running a half-marathon in 2009 challenging, I seriously doubt that I will be able to run a marathon. I know that until I overcome this doubt I won’t be able to run anywhere close to a marathon.

2. The second reason why we fail is that we do not believe we deserve to achieve that goal. I usually think like this when I’m trying to attain a goal that I’ve failed at before or when other people have doubted that I will.

Some examples are when you set a goal to lose weight and that you have failed at before you probably believe that you do not deserve to be thin. Or if it’s a job interview and you think you do not deserve the job because more qualified candidates out there. Think about it…..

I think it’s important to genuinely believe that you deserve to something in order for you to be able to achieve it.

Positive Thinking Works Even After a Setback:

It’s essential to still think positively after facing a setback. A failure or a setback is part of the process of achieving your goals. Just continue to work hard and patient because it WILL happen. Keep focusing on achieving your goals and dreams.

Click here for more examples of how positive thinking works.



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