Negative mind chatter affects every single human being from elite athletes, global business leaders and politicians to you and me. It influences your mood, hampers your ability to concentrate, has a negative impact on your behaviour and can make you angry and unhappy. It’s a fault in the human wiring system.

FACT: 90% of our daily thoughts are ones we’ve had before and 80% of these are negative?

“She is so much better than me. That’s because they are more intelligent/attractive/cleverer”. Sound familiar?

FACT: we cannot NOT think of a negative….If I ask you not to think of a blue elephant flying in a helicopter…..you just did right?!

Many people are plagued by negative thoughts when it comes to their ability to do absolutely anything? Are you a person that convinces yourself you can’t do something before you’ve even tried it? Do you find your mind doing the following things?

1.  Listing your fears – both real and imaginary.
2. Recalling hurtful things.
3. Judging yourself and those around you.
4. Always wondering what if?

If the answer is yes read on! Thankfully you can learn how to recognise and change these negative thoughts with a bit of focus and lots of practise, allowing you to take back control of your life. Whilst it’s very easy to tell you to try and think more positive thoughts, this alone doesn’t work.

Here are 4 tips, from Chris Oakes of Oax Life Coaching, to help you out.

1. Negative to Positive. The second you get a negative thought in your head counteract it with a positive one. For example, turn “I don’t have the confidence to do that” into “Yes, I can do that”. Self-fulfilling prophecies work in the positive too.
2. Focus on the present. Yes, it’s important to be mindful and set goals for your future but it’s not healthy to worry about the what if. You need to pay attention to what’s happening now. Freaking out about things you have no control over is wasted energy.
3. Get rid. As soon as you start thinking a negative thought, get rid of it and immediately think of something completely different. You can only think of one thing at a time so by using this technique your mind is letting go of the negative mind chatter.
4. Don’t react. If you react to the negative mind chatter by thinking what am I going to do, this might happen etc, it’s got you. If you fail to react the control has gone and it won’t send you into a negative mind chatter spiral.

How I deal with negative thoughts.

I confess to being a little anxious when I first started my business. My negative mind chatter used to say things like “It won’t be successful because I don’t have the experience of the other competitors, what if I don’t make an income, how will I pay the bills?”. Bizarrely this negative chatter always seemed to happen when I was out running. My mind would start racing, seeking ways to make me instantly better than those who had been in business for many years; I would then further worry about the enormity of trying to be that good instantly! The technique that worked for me was allowing myself to listen to the negative words, then metaphorically brush them of my shoulder and then replace this with positive mind chatter telling myself “All those others started out where I am; I can be successful if I put in the hard work that they have to get where they are”. I was then ready to take on the day (and the world!) POSITIVELY.

Don’t see everything as failure if the result is not the outcome you were hoping for. If you only completed 3Km of the 5Km park run, you did not fail to finish the last 2Km, instead you managed to complete 3Km. You can then move forwards on a positive footing.

Set milestones not just an end goal. If you set out from nothing with the only result being to complete that 5Km run, you have no positive achievements on route to the ultimate goal. If you set out to complete at least 2Km on the first one and then 3Km on the second etc, you will consistently achieve your targets and head on to achieve the ultimate result in a positive mindset.

Taming your negativity and putting the perceived fears into a logical concept will give you the following:

1. Clarity of mind.
2. It will allow you to focus on the task at hand, in other words the present (it takes time to get to the top).
3. The quality of your sleep will improve.
4. Your sense of well-being and calm will increase.
5. It will make you happier!

Remember, you can’t change the past but, by doing something positive in the present you can have a positive impact on the future. So, whether your fears are losing weight, getting back to being fully functional after an injury or completing that first 5Km park run; work out which method is best for you and implement it the second any negative mind chatter starts.

Beat that negativity – Make the Change!

Chas