Improving your work and personal life through perspective breakthroughs
Breakthrough – a sudden, dramatic, and important discovery or development
Have you ever talked yourself out of starting something you wanted to achieve? We’ve all been there. We create excuses, have internal dialogues, convince ourselves that our actions will be to no avail, or even grab the phone to scroll on social media mindlessly. None of it helps. It only trains our brains to become more pessimistic about everything we encounter. Eventually, the chemicals our brains release during these negative thoughts become almost an addiction, and we stop wanting to achieve goals until we hit a breaking point. Coaches refer to this as a negative belief cycle and focus on guiding clients to breakthrough moments.
The Breakthrough
Achieving a breakthrough takes willingness and desire. The bottom line is that you have to want to improve on something to legitimately improve upon it. If you hardwire your mind to negative convictions (limiting beliefs) and emotions, you’ll be in a cyclical spiral of consistent failure. You might even notice some business models expressly point you to this behavior on purpose to get you to keep the focus on the negative and create a reliance on their product/service. Social media influence has also been the source of giving negatively impacting “advice” under the guise of help. From commercials to ads and videos, 30 to 60-second clips generally have only one goal: getting you to want to purchase/follow. That doesn’t help you; that benefits them.
Positive thinking directly correlates to reducing certain heart and health problems. On top of the physical aspect, rewiring your brain to see the positive things can also improve your quality of life, increase your energy, and help you succeed. There are a series of techniques to help shift to this way of thinking that you can start practicing immediately but step one needs to be your breakthrough moment.
Repeat this statement: I want to find more daily positives in my life.
As you spoke it into existence, did you believe yourself saying it? If you didn’t, take a moment to repeat it out loud again and reflect on what it would mean to you. Could finding more positives in your day-to-day life help you smile more? Could it help you achieve more physical activity goals? Could it help you find a deeper focus on work? Could it improve your relationships? Could it help you sleep better? The “glass half-full” approach has a ton of potential – could it benefit you to try it?
Taking Action
One of the first steps in positive thinking, after the breakthrough, is answering the questions above: Visualization. This technique requires you to allow your mind to take a focused leap into what benefits specific action could provide. The voice in your head is powerful and constantly bombarded by negative influence and desired bursts of random dopamine (a neurotransmitter made in your brain that acts as a “reward program” for your mind and body). To help you focus more on positivity, you’ll need to take charge of the voice in your head and tell it to “see the good.”
Have you ever been angry at a loved one? Has something ever gotten you angry? Anger is a result of care. Simply put, you wouldn’t be so upset about something or towards someone if you didn’t care about it or them. Taking a step back from the surface-level emotion and understanding that the upset correlates to care is a way of reframing a situation. When you’re able to do this, practice visualizing what you like or enjoy about the things you have negative emotions toward. This will help you want to find solutions first and guide you in the direction of positive thinking (aka: stepping into “The Now”).
Expressing Gratitude
Daily acknowledgment is a fundamental part of the positive-thinking strategy. It empowers the brain to focus on goals and actions instead of comparisons and internal isolation. Consider that gratitude has the potential to be expressed to everyone you come across daily and try to examine what you could thank someone for doing. Go more profound than a “thank you” and be meaningful in your language. Has your client been talking with you about cases recently? Consider thanking them for building such a productive dialogue with you. Has your coworker been putting their best foot forward with their work? Consider thanking them for being a daily source of inspiration.
Gratitude can and should be expressed for others and your self-presence. What are things you are grateful to have? What are things that you like having or that are helpful to you? Grab a piece of paper and jot down three things you’re grateful to have. Think profoundly and include why you appreciate what you write down. Fold this paper and put it into a jar or anywhere else that you’ll be able to see it visually. Repeat this project daily and watch it pay dividends as the visually growing pile constantly reminds your mind of positivity.
Surroundings
The company you keep adds to the mindset you take on. Laughing often with friends, exploring possibilities with clients, and having conversations about growth with leaders are all factors reprograming your brain. The more your surroundings and company inspire, your brain will rewire into a consistently positive solution-driven space. Suppose you challenge yourself to build a more visually appealing workspace and have more intellectually stimulating conversations. In that case, you’ll find your convictions will create a more robust drive and that internal dialogue will improve drastically.
A look into upscaling your view of positivity has exceptional benefits on a physical and mental level. It can propel you forward in your career and open up new avenues of success you’ve always wanted. It can help improve relationships with clients, adjusters, coworkers, friends, and family while also helping to improve your internal dialogue. Imagine your next series of thoughts helping you take positive action instantly. It all starts with that breakthrough desire.
