“I’m not good enough,”
“No one will ever buy from me.”
“People are laughing at me.”
Has these thoughts run through your mind of late? Have you thought to yourself, “If I were to quit today, no one would notice”? As entrepreneurs, we LIVE inside of our heads and at times, it’s detrimental to our mental health and our state of being. When we live inside of our heads for far too long, the meanies come out and begin to bully with negative thinking (saying we’re a failure, no one takes me seriously, etc on negative thoughts).
I want to dedicate this month all around being being mindful over what’s going on inside our heads. I know how easy it is to get sucked into negative thinking and as I was hanging around my people in Phoenix last month, I realized that thinking positively and having a mindset that is centered and grounded in positivity is so important. It’s important to our mental health and our physical health! So I welcome you to this month’s theme so politely called, Mindful May.
I am now realizing that when I have a negative mindset, my words are negative. And as a Christian, in Proverbs 18:21, it states, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.” (NKJV) If my words have power, then that means what goes inside of my mind is just as powerful, because whatever is in my mind is also in my heart.
While I was at the conference, we watched a video of a sprint race and one girl was in the front, running, winning, until she fell flat on her face. Instead of walking off, she got back up and continued running. She won that race too!
After that video, Jane says to us, “We cheer for the person who fell and we believe people are laughing at us.”
The runner could have thought, “Everyone is laughing at me now, I just embarrassed myself!” And would have every reason to walk away right then and there. Instead, people cheered for her and she won!
How many times do you think that happens to us? How many times do you think to yourself, “No one likes me,” “No one is going to buy from me,” or “Everyone is looking at me as a fraud.”
I have had these thoughts. I’m not going to sit here and lie to you. I have literally thought to myself, “Everyone sees me as an unprofessional business owner. They don’t like me or care for me. If I disappeared, they would not miss me.”
How many people do you really think are laughing at you? How many people do you think really look you and think, “I’m not going to support him/her.” If what I’m thinking is going on inside of my head, it must be going on inside another person’s head as well. Meaning that everyone has their own bullies to deal with and most of our bullies look exactly the same.
At the same time, let’s take a moment and think about all the successful people in today’s world. How many successful people do you know have a negative mindset?
Probably none to very few.
Mindset is powerful. This is what I’m getting at: Whatever you’re thinking, you might be bringing into existence. If the Bible says that words are powerful and are like swords, then what words are you putting out into the world, or even thinking to yourself? How powerful is this rhetoric you’re teaching yourself? What are you believing that is limiting you from fulfilling your dreams?
Your limiting beliefs may start with, “No one will buy from me” or “Everyone sees me as a fraud.” That’s just the beginning of a whole circuit of negative thinking that is keeping you from playing big.
I am working on my mindset now because I want to play big and no one enters the big leagues by thinking “No one likes me.” I have to step up and be more mindful on what I’m thinking and then saying positive statements to myself to affirm that I am likable (I have to think of the “evidence”, which usually comes from all the people I have met recently and told me how professional, radiant, positive, and energetic I am), I am professional (you know how many people tell me I don’t act 27? They all think I’m in my early 30s, so I must be mature enough to be professional!), and that people will buy from me (I have had many people buy from me in the past).
This week, I want to challenge you to work on your mindset. We’re going to work on it all month on my blog because it’s SO important to your success! This week, I want you to pay extra close attention to what you’re saying to yourself. What are you believing about yourself that you know isn’t true? What thoughts are you allowing yourself to be held back from playing in the big leagues?
Take note of these habits, and then I want you to replace them with new positive thoughts. If you have to dig up an instance where your thought is clearly not true (like what I did with all the people I have met who actually like me!), then do that! Or if you need to stand in front of the mirror and tell yourself that you’re awesome, do that!
Remember that this is a journey and positive thinking won’t come overnight. You will have to battle against the negative thinking sometimes. When that happens, call a friend who believes in you and supports you. This person will encourage you and remind you who you are and what you have accomplished!
What are some ways you battle negative thinking? Leave a comment below and tell us how you battle negative thinking or what strategies you use to overcome your bullies.
I hope that today you’ll choose to be positive. I will leave you with a sentence that has helped me in the last few weeks on overcoming my negative mindset:
