Staying Positive

Some days are rough....some days are rougher. There are those days that you just cannot imagine getting any worse. You reach your lowest point and there's now way anything else could happen to make that day any worse than what it is already....but somehow it does, another issue arises, another challenge fronts up and you start to feel like your already depleted resilience level is hitting empty faster than your petrol tank right before payday!On these days. its not that easy to wear the brave and confident mask. 

I'm currently working in a job I don't really like too much, I'm dealing with incompetence, favouritism and absurd management that leaves leadership at the door and poor decision making the number one priority. It's rough some days. I've read so many self-help books  however for the most part the tips and hints offered are generic and are not tailored to the individual. Problem is we're all different with different needs, we think differently with different emotions, different reactions but for some reason we're all thrown into one group aptly titled "Need Help!" 

I may well try to walk the "Be Positive" path and convince myself that my life is fantastic but I'm only human and I face my struggles the same as everyone else.  In saying that though I have discovered a few techniques that I've learned primarily from a man called Napoleon Hill. He may be long gone but he understood adversity, struggle and the power of the mind better than most

1. Stay 100% focused on the life you want not the one you have. There is much evidence to support the theory you attract all that you think about. If your job isn't so good or your boss is a moron, try not to think about them. Instead change your thoughts and think the perfect job you like to be doing.Remember whatever thoughts you send out, that's what you'll be drawing back to you
2. Vision Boards. Lovely idea but the majority leave out one important fact. It's not enough to put up pictures and words of what you want, you need an action plan and a commitment to putting that action plan in place to get what you want. So: Goal - Plan - Action Plan!
3. Happy Lists! Spend some time and come up with a a list of wonderful things you can think about when your thoughts go off the rails. Distraction to better things can help dispel negative thought patterns. 
4. Profiteering from Adversity. Remember when the chips are down and your reaching your lowest, it could be that your being nudged to the next phase of your life elsewhere. Your mental attitude is the only way you can convert defeats and failures.
5. Master your mind. Think before you speak and refrain from saying anything negative. Understand that good or bad, you have absolute and total control over every single thought you create

I do try to put the wise words of Napoleon to everyday effect but like so many I'm just as prone to reach for the negative as my default response. However I can say with all honesty that the more I practise these techniques, the easier it gets to change my negative default to a more positive one and it happens a little faster each time! 

Someone once said "Life wasn't mean't to be easy" Between you and I, I'd like to find that person and ask them a very simple question: "Why not?"