…Even When Your Inner Voice Is Trying To Sabotage You
What follows is my response in the form of a TOP 20 list of all the things I do on a day to day basis to stay positive, keep myself inspired and make sure that little voice in my head tells me great things about myself and my future…
BE WARNED: This is not your traditional positive thinking crap. These are simple, yet profoundly effective tips for staying in a positive frame of mind.
Lastly, please forgive me for not always going into greater detail on each item on the list. It would take an entire book to do each one justice. However, the tips are self explanatory and you can use your common sense to apply them in your life.
My Top 20 Ways To Stay Positive:
The following is a list of things I do and think regularly (if not daily) to stay in a positive frame of mind. If any of these speak to you, use them and let me know your results… Of course, this list is far from complete, but it contains my personal favorite techniques…
Your Body:
Your state of mind is influenced by your energy levels. The following tips will help your body operate at peak performance and keep your head clear. When your body is running like a finely tuned machine, your mind follows suit.
- Exercise daily. This increases blood circulation to the brain, giving you more energy and keeping your mind clear. Make sure you choose exercise that is fun for you.
- Add lots of raw vegetables, nuts and fruits to your diet and stop eating crap. The quality of the food you eat will determine how you feel. How you feel will impact what you think.
Crap food in = crap thoughts and feelings out… - Eat a nutritious breakfast – it’s the most important meal of the day. I make a green smoothie every morning. Here is a link to a video a friend of mine made teaching how to make a green smoothie… http://www.theshawnstevensonmodel.com/green-warrior-shake/
- Take some time out every day to do an activity that is fun for you. This will release Serotonin in your brain and make you feel good, promoting a clear mind and good feelings.
Your People:
I’ve heard it said that our lives are the sum total of the 5 people we spend the most time with…
- Hang around with high quality people who support where you are going in life.
- Share yourself vulnerably with the people in your life. Vulnerable does not mean weak – in fact, it takes a lot of courage to be totally open and honest with people. Being this way regularly will grow relationships built on trust and honesty. These relationships are your support line when you’re not feeling great. Also, don’t pretend that everything is OK if it is not. Just sharing your challenges with another person you trust can get rid of a lot of the anxiety you may be feeling at the time.
- Contribute to the people around you regularly in whatever way you can. It will make you feel good about yourself. Also, what comes around tends to go around, so by contributing, you can be sure that you’ll be contributed to in some way in the future.
- Personally, I have made a commitment to myself not to withhold important communications from the people I love. When we don’t say something you know needs to be said, we bottle it up inside, and that pressure causes tension in our mind. This tension often manifests itself in the form of negative thoughts and low energy. So, say what needs to be said (with love of course) and most times you’ll immediately notice a sense of relief.
- I also have a commitment to love my family. I believe that our relationship to our parents is of FUNDAMENTAL importance to our happiness. Notice that I said our relationship to our parents and not with our parents. Even if your parents are no longer alive, you can still relate to them with love. If you know you are harboring resentment towards a parent, seek counseling or get the issue resolved. Whatever the case, LOVE your parents and you’ll love yourself. I wish I had the space to write more on this topic, but I’ll have to save it for a future post…
Your Thoughts And Feelings:
The way you see the world directly impacts the thoughts you think and how you respond to life. Here’s a list of ideas and beliefs I have. Try them on and see if they fit you…
- I have a commitment to myself not to judge anything as ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’. It is what it is…
- I have a commitment to myself to find the blessings in any circumstance. This way, I ALWAYS benefit, even when at first it appears as if life is throwing me a curve ball…
- I have a commitment to myself to feel grateful as much as possible and I focus on cultivating gratitude.
- I have learned to trust that the tough times always pass, and that I am always looked after by Life (or some higher power). I consciously cultivate this belief and look for evidence of it, so I see it every day. This is a VERY powerful belief to cultivate and can remove all future based fear.
Your Work:
Given that most of us spend about a third of our life at work, here are some basic, yet powerful tips for staying positive and focused while working:
- Take regular breaks and if you can, nap once a day for 20 minutes. A nap will recharge you and clear your mind of clutter.
- Focus on your strengths at work and if possible, delegate your weaknesses… If you’re an entrepreneur, go take the Wealth Dynamics test to find out your entrepreneurial strengths.
- Complete the tasks you set yourself. Set yourself one important primary priority task to achieve every day and get it done. It will give you a sense of satisfaction and help you experience making progress. Feeling like you are not making progress in life sucks (at least for me it does)!
Habits To Adopt:
Your results in life come from your habits. I have made many of the things on this list a habit, and do them daily. Try some of these out and watch how your state of mind improves magically.
- Before I go to sleep I run over my day and congratulate myself for everything I did well and let go of any judgment about the things I did not do well. This keeps me feeling like I am making progress and doing a great job in my life.
- When I’m feeling really low, I pull out a pen and pad and begin writing down my feelings and my thoughts. This helps me get clear on what I am really feeling and seeing it on paper helps me understand what is going on. I don’t stop writing until I feel better.
- Perhaps most profound for me, I have managed to ACCEPT my life just as it is and as it isn’t. As a result, I rarely get upset. Practice not resisting things the way they are.
- Perhaps the most powerful habit I have adopted is waking up and immediately visualizing my day going well. I do this to keep my focus on where I am going and why I am going there. It motivates me and keeps my mind in the space I need it to be in order to be successful in my life. To help me visualize, I use the Relaxation For Manifestation audio program. It’s the best.
Print this list out and try out a different tip each day. Notice the results and keep doing what works for you.
VERY IMPORTANT: Smile, take a break and get outside today and always remember… You are amazing!
Bruce
P.S. I’d love to hear your ideas to add to this list. Please leave them below. I read each one.
P.P.S. If you liked this post, please share it with your friends using the links below.
Right on Bruce. I try to get a bit of all that in any given day. Some days are better than others but I always try to give myself credit for the things that I did well before delving into what I can learn from what I could have done better. Another big one that I try find as often as possible is when things go ‘wrong’ or not according to plan and yet at the end of the day/week that which didn’t work out in the first place lead to an even better thing or opened a door for a new and/or great experience. It’s all about gratitude I say and if you can find gratitude in every experience (even if it didn’t go according to your ‘plan’) then life becomes much more light and free.
Great tips- I’ve found a few of my personal favorites in your list- gratitude, acceptance and exercise make such a difference.
Thanks for sharing.
hello,thanks for your article…the very first on the list;exercise,i jog thrice a week…it has helped me tremendously in staying positive and focused and am keeping at it…it can only get better!thanx
hey bruce,wow your tips are so helpful men….i appreciate your articles each time i get to read them you’re a great teacher men…thanks for impacting lives positively
Very good article Bruce, your tips are great.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you!
Thanks for the great reminders. We all know how to do this but we must remember to do them.
Hi Bruce. Thank you so much for the inspiration and reminders. I am reading this and doing it daily. Maybe several times a day until it is really in me. You are wonderful for sharing this gift. Thanks again. Susan
I loved this so much, I pasted it into PowerPoint and passed it onto my kids. I’ve heard alot of this stuff before but packaged all together, it’s brilliant! Thanks Bruce.
Dear Bruce,
I am not a man of many words, your article touch my soul immensely, just want to say thank you.
God bless you
Hi Bruce,
Great article, extremely informative, and very insightful. I really appreciate your work as it creates a lot of value in my life, keep up the good work. By the way, the best nutrtional breakfast under the sun is the Herbalife Shake, nothing beats that in this planet – research it.
Take care,
Regards,
Toto
Hi Bruce, amazing article!
The point that has made a difference in my life is just accepting things as they are, or are not. Being happy with today is what we try to achieve, because it is always today!! 🙂
lots of love Sharyn
Hi Bruce. great article and one of your best! I especially liked the part about staying in touch with parents and family! i often quote you positive ideas at work ! Well done !
Wow, Great article Bruce! Yep, am gonna go out and enjoy everyday as a new day, new challenge and as you said i am amazing and feeling so great already. Thanks for sharing this slice of joy with us and giving out with joy …… keep smiling….
Great article Bruce! Thanks for sharing. Reminded me of some good habits. I would add Meditation to the list as well. It really works for me.
Bruce, I realy liked your article and got inspired.
I would like to add other points that makes me positive, may be it doesn’t work with others but with me: I am trying to be nice even with pets that they are not mine, whenever I find a cat near my door I feed him even If I know it could never come back, the result you make friends that realy like you, wait for you to come back at home and sometimeswalk with me on the stairs, they like me for no reasons and every time I find them that reminds me of people that I love for no reasons and tthey do the same for me.
Watching a plant growing reminds me also to stay positive because I am growing also in all fields everyday.
Thank you so much and forgive my english, english is my third language.
These really are basic, but things you wouldn’t think of or remember to do on your own if you were in a negative funk! I’m printing this out for those times. Thanks for sharing so beautifully!
Thank you, Bruce. You have no idea how much I needed this
message. I especially appreciated not resisting unhappy circumstances in life. I stay positive by positive affirmations and encouraging self talk. Just started using
positive affirmations over “bad” news and circumstances and
remembering that this too shall pass. Thanks again.
Thanks Bruce! Great list of ideas. I, like you, use the first few moments after I wake up: I ‘feed’ my mind with positive, empowering and uplifting self talk to get me motivated. I’ve found this has a really powerful effect on me, and has a positive knock-on effect to the rest of my day!
Bruce, I gather more from your post each time I read it. Even though many of these things we think we “know”, it sure is helpful and centering to re-read them. It brings back to focus that which we truly want for ourselves, a mini check-up. Clarity opens the doors wide for creation, and all of these tips lead to that. Thank you!
Great article with some excellent advice. Thanks for putting it in writing instead of video format (which I probably wouldn’t have watched anyway). This way I can print it out or make notes easily. Thank you.
Hey bro great article …… And why not write a book about it……?
Some very good tips for staying positive in that article.
The points you made about taking care of your body by eating well and exercising, makes the biggest impact for me personally.
Also liked the concept of accepting life as it is without resisting the situation.
As i am reading and writing this message i am listening to M People – Search For The Hero. How apt. I too left the corporate world behind having been undervalued and my confidence ripped out of me. So now its time for me to shine and do something that i love that treats people the way that i want to be treated. So with the people i work with and my quiet moments i always remember that life is short and that i have made it my goal to touch as many people in my life with positivity…give them the helping hand/encouragement they need to succeed. Fear and losing the focus….are just obstacles to test how important your goals are. If they aren’t important or you’re not committed to them..thats when the negative talk really manifests and shatters that goal. So i would say search for what is your real passion and live and breathe that passion. Success will follow and be yours.
One life. LIVE IT.
Thanks for reminding me again that horrible things will pass, even if it takes some time!
Regards
B.
excuse spelling mistakes…i have 2 keys missing from my laptop!!
I think thats a brilliant article, everything is in there in some way..lots of valuable content. The parnets part is the key like you stated, no matter what happens if we hrbour resentment to our parents it blocks the flow. My mums still a pain in the but and in complete denial but still love her!!!
Love this Bruce. As always you are an inspiration!
One of the things that I started when I was working in the corporate world (and not enjoying it) was to program into my cell phone one or two of my affirmations or visulisations. SO at 11am or 2pm, no matter how busy I was my phone would remind me to take a moment and visualise something positive and wonder-filled.
I am now out of the corporate world and starting my own business because those little reminders helped me believe in myself enough and, as you said, know that I am totaly supported by Life.
I’m sitting here watching whales in False Bay having given up all the normal securities in life, got out of the corporate rat race and I’m starting a Personal Introductions business, Lodestar Partners!
It’s ALL good :o)
Bruce
I appreciate your well written article on how to stay positive.
Many thanks.
Regards Peter (Sunny Cape Town)