Negative mindset is a “No-No” for success.

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Negative mindset can be defined as a pattern of negative thoughts associated with negative emotions like guilt, shame, fear, anger, envy etc. which often leads to a negative perception about the self and the world.

These thoughts can be problematic if you spend most of your waking hours caught up in them. They distort your perception of reality and can prevent you from thinking clearly.

Besides being a hindrance to your overall progress, holding on to such thoughts can cause physical and mental health issues including, but not limited to, anxiety, depression, stress, insomnia, lethargy and cardiac problems.

Therefore it is crucial to recognise these patterns and take measures to turn them around.

Thought patterns suggesting a negative mindset:

• Always looking for negatives in every situation and every individual including yourself.
• Jumping to negative conclusions without suggestive evidence.
• Generalising independent outcomes to all areas of your life.
• Replaying one negative incidence over and over in your head and feeling helpless.
• Constantly comparing yourself to others.
• Playing victim and blaming others for your problems.
• Blaming yourself for things you can’t control.
• Feeling powerless, anxious, depressed or guilty thinking about the future or the past.
• Simple situations causing a lot of crippling stress.
• Having a “Can’t do” attitude.
• Abrupt mood swings.
• Obsessing about perfection.
• Thinking and planning about revenge.

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Reasons for negative mindset:

Now that you have recognised these negative patterns, the next step is to identify the underlying emotions and reasons, most common of which are:

• Low self esteem can breed self-doubt and reduce self-confidence which can often lead to negative perceptions about one self.
• Multiple failures and rejections in personal or professional life can cause a person to doubt their abilities.
• Traumatic childhood experiences are usually associated with anger and trust issues in adults.
• Failed relationships, if associated with betrayal, can force a person to think about their inadequacy and mistrust everyone including him/herself.
• Fear of failure is most commonly because of unfairly high expectations.
• One can easily spiral into negative mindset if they over-analyse the past mistakes instead of learning from them.
• Manifested as a result of other psychological problems like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), anxiety, depression, mania etc.
• Addiction to psychoactive drugs, especially depressants that promote depressive state of mind.
• Habits that conflict with your values (personal, family and cultural) or societal norms, can subconsciously foster negative thoughts.

More often than not, it is the combination of different reasons associated with strong negative emotions that is the cause of negative mindset in an individual.

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How to change a negative mindset?

By taking the right measures, it is possible to get rid of your negative thoughts and attain blissfully positive attitude towards life.

• Identifying behavioural patterns and the underlying reasons is the first step. Journaling your negative thoughts is a great tool in understanding the emotions and reasons behind your mindset.
• Challenge your thinking. Try to find evidence in support of your negative claims. If there is none, ask yourself if there is any alternate explanation for those claims. Most of the times, there is one.
• Replace negative thoughts with positive ones. Mind is a tricky organ. You can force your brain to think positively. You can actively choose positive thoughts over negative ones.

Journaling Exercise: Whenever you find yourself thinking negatively about yourself or someone, stop right there, write it down along with reasons and evidence for these thoughts. Now write three or more positive qualities about that person. This will rewire your brain to think more positively than negatively about yourself and the world.

• Talking to a trusted friend or family member, or a professional therapist can help you find lost perspective about the world.
• Practice self compassion and self love. Use positive self talk and affirmations to start building your self confidence.
• We all make mistakes and we all face failure. There is no reason to feel discouraged. Accept your shortcomings and slowly work to improve them.
• Set achievable goals and start achieving them to increase your self confidence. Your achievements are a testament to start believing in your abilities.
• Stay physically active. It helps reduce stress, get rid of negative thoughts, motivate and improve performance.
• Going out in nature is helpful in calming your mind and finding some positive energy.
• Practice meditation and mindfulness to attain a clear and calm mind.
• Keeping yourself busy with meaningful work keeps the excessive negative thoughts at bay.
• Try to change the habits that you deem to be a negative trait, to boost your self worth and confidence.

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Conclusion:

You can greatly improve your chances of success if you can learn to recognise thoughts and beliefs that prevent you from focusing on your goals. Eliminating negative mindset enables you to hone your abilities and gain confidence to manifest great results.

Have patience and work consistently.

I wish you all the best in your conquest against the demons that are holding you back.

Thank you for reading.