Many people all over the world believe in using the power of positive thinking to manifest their dreams. Just look at the success of The Secret. The 2006 self-help book called The Secret was praised by Oprah and went on to sell 30 million copies worldwide. Whether or not you believe in the law of attraction is up to you, but one of the main themes in The Secret is positive thinking, which is important if you want to turn your dreams into reality.
In order to accomplish your goals, it’s important that you’re in the right mindset. And positive thinking can help put you in that mindset. Of course, just wishing for your dreams to come true likely won’t result in the outcome you’re hoping for. Instead, you need to use the power of positive thinking to motivate yourself and help you overcome obstacles that stand in your way.
Here’s how to reach your goals with the power of positive thinking.
Eliminate negative thoughts
The first step to reaching your goals with positive thinking is to get rid of your negative thoughts. Many of us talk to ourselves negatively everyday—you may not even realize it. For instance, if you get some constructive criticism on a project at work, you might say to yourself “Wow, I’m not very good at this, they must think I’m an idiot.” While that may be just a passing thought, it’s important to recognize those types of negative thoughts and eliminate them.
Next time you have a negative thought like that, replace it with a more positive one like “That’s great feedback, I’m going to get even better at this now.” When you say a powerful phrase like this instead of something negative, you’re giving yourself room to grow and improve.
Focus on the positive
While you can eliminate negative thoughts, you can’t stop setbacks or bad things from happening. For instance, if your goal is to save money for a new car and then you have to use some of your savings for an emergency, that will stop you from reaching your goal faster. It’s disappointing but you can’t avoid it so you need to focus on the positive.
Instead of looking at it like a setback, look at it in a positive way like “Because I started saving money and began improving my financial situation, I was able to deal with an emergency without asking for help from other people.” Looking at the bright side of things will help you overcome any obstacle.
Visualize your goals
If you want to reach your goals, you need to visualize yourself doing so. The idea behind this is that if you “see” your goal, you’re more likely to achieve it. For instance, if you want to buy a house, picture exactly what your dream house will look like, down to the decor of every room. You can even create a vision board to help you visualize your goals better.
But, be careful when creating your vision board. When creating a vision board, most people add photos of what they want; they’ll stick up a picture of a mansion, a nice car, and so on. The problem with these vision boards though, is that people are just waiting for those nice things to come to them. According to a study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, fantasizing about an idealized future decreases the likelihood that someone will expend energy trying to turn their fantasy into reality. So, instead of just visualizing your dream house, you need to be visualizing how you’re going to reach that goal. For example, you should visualize yourself working hard in order to actually bring those dreams to life.
Practice gratitude
If you want to reach a particular goal because you don’t like how your life is going right now, you need to change that way of thinking. Not being appreciative for what you already have will give you a negative outlook on life. So, if you want to be more positive you need to start practicing gratitude.
According to a study in Harvard Health Publishing, after 10 weeks, participants who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic and felt better about their lives. The more positive and optimistic you are, the better you’ll be able to reach your goals. Start writing down what you’re grateful for each day. When you appreciate what you have, you can attract more great things to your life.
Change your attitude to reach your goals
A negative mindset will only stand in the way of you reaching your goals. So, if you want to turn your dreams into a reality, you need to change your attitude. Use these tips to create a positive mindset and you can get rid of negativity to make room for progress.