Negativity comforts defeat.

1. There’s no use trying.
2. It doesn’t matter what you do.
3. It seems like the harder you try the worse things get. Just stop trying.

Defeatists get it right eventually.

Bad stuff happens. Small problems escalate into crisis. Predicting troubles is useful, but it doesn’t fuel success. Greatness includes self-confidence.

Negativity:

1. Blocks achievement.
2. Limits potential.
3. Undermines happiness.
4. Stifles learning.
5. Pollutes environments.
6. Drains motivation.
7. Saps energy.

5 powerful ways to release negativity:

#1. Own your own darkness.

You can’t fix what you don’t own. Own your negativity but don’t excuse it. Get over saying, “I’m not a pessimist, I’m just a realist.”

#2. Embrace useful pessimism.

Use problems, resistance, choke points, and adversity to inform plans. Devise strategies and solutions.

#3. Cultivate self-belief.

Confidence reinforces positive attitudes. Self-doubt energizes negativity. If you feel incapable, believe you can become capable.

#4. Stop fabricating negative stories.

Pessimism fabricates dark stories when it doesn’t know the facts. Get the facts rather than feeding negativity with dark speculations.

#5. Establish aggressive deadlines.

Long timelines are the swamps of negative speculations. Aggressive – yet achievable deadlines – lead you away from speculation to action.

Bonus: Focus on what you want rather than what you don’t want.

How can negative people develop positive attitudes?

Still curious:

How to Overcome Negative Thoughts

15 Reasons Positive Leaders Seem Negative

Here’s a book: The Power of Bad and How to Overcome It.

John David Mann and I invite you to checkout our new book, The Vagrant: The Inner Journey of Leadership.

• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Books-A-Million
• IndieBound/Bookshop.org

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This post was previously published on Leadership Freak with a Creative Commons License.

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