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Positive Psychology

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There is absolutely no doubt that optimistic and happy people think about the world differently. Positive thinking create a positive you. They don’t live in a different world but they certainly view the world in a different way. They focus significantly more on opportunities, rather than negatives or what could go wrong. Optimistic people focus more on their own strengths and qualities and those of others. They believe things will work out for the best and accordingly, they take action to ensure it does. This way of thinking lays the foundation for optimum performance in sport, business and in life.

Positive thoughts make a positive you. It will change your life!

Optimism is an integral part of performance. So how do you think optimistically if you’re not one of the “lucky few” who was born a natural optimist?

Easy, you learn! Optimistic thinking is a skill and just like any other skill you first need to learn what to do and then you simply need to practice. Further, the more you practice your skills in optimistic thinking the better you get and the more effective your skills become. Ultimately, the more optimistic you are the greater the likelihood of improving your performance!

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There are 4 steps to optimistic thinking:

1.         Think about how you think
2.         Identify unhelpful ANT’s
3.         Challenge your ANT’s
4.         Replace ANT’s with POT’s

1.  Think about how you think

Hold on, this might sound a bit out there but in essence it is about increasing your awareness of thinking (cognition). The best way to do this is to start keeping a thought diary. This involves writing down your thoughts (and feelings) in different situations throughout the day and carefully noting the relationship between certain types of thoughts and certain types of feelings. At this stage, don’t worry about changing anything, just try to become more aware of how you think in different situations (especially when under stress).

Motivational thoughts will change your life

2.  Identify unhelpful ANT’s! (Automatic Negative Thoughts)

This is just another name for the “bad habits” we all have in our thinking. We all make occasional mistakes and sometimes these mistakes are in our thinking. Some common examples include being too “black and white”, “catastrophising” or making mountains out of molehills, overgeneralising or personalising (taking responsibility for something beyond your control). Although normal at times,  constant ANTs will lead to reduced output and performance, not to mention higher than necessary levels of distress.

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3.  Challenge your ANTs

Just because you think something does not mean it’s true. Thoughts are not necessarily facts. If your ANTs are causing unnecessary distress you can learn to (in fact you’ll need to learn to) challenge or change them. This is simply a process that involves questioning your thoughts by asking questions like: Is this true? Is it helpful? Is it really that bad?

4.  Replace your ANTs with POTs (Positive Optimistic Thoughts)

We’re not talking about Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men, rather the final step in the optimistic thinking process. Once you’ve identified and challenged your negative thoughts, it is time to start planting positive (but still realistic) thoughts. To do this, add to the preceding strategies by actively focusing on all the good things in your life; by actively looking for more good things in your life; by looking at difficult situations as opportunities to learn; and by believing good things will happen in the future.

When you’ve mastered these steps you’ll undoubtedly experience more positive thoughts and less energy draining thoughts so make sure you do all you can to challenge your ANTs and replace them with POTs. Remember though each of these steps is a separate skill and like all skills, mastery requires practice, time and perseverance.

Becoming an optimistic thinker might not happen over night but it will (if you work at it) happen! So, I hope you find this interesting.  Start putting these into practice and you will soon notice the change.

For those of you who believe keeping a thought diary or postivie thinking diary may be of assistance, you can find some by clicking here.