Success is a journey. In fact, success is often one of the most difficult and exciting journeys we will ever embark upon in our lives. Years ago, I discovered a powerful secret that changed my life forever. I learned that success is a mindset. In the age of self-help gurus and motivational speakers we have heard so much about success. Yet it seems that we find ourselves living such unfulfilled lives. Clearly, success is not the product of much reading. Success is the product of reprogramming our thinking. Success is always connected to a thought pattern. Negative and toxic thoughts rob us of the ability to think clearly and create a life of success. Here are a few strategies I have learned to break through the mental barriers to success.
1. You have to get rid of stinking thinking.
So many times we want to throw positive thoughts on top of poisonous soil. If you have been thinking negatively and toxically for years, you cannot think that you are going to automatically become a positive thinker. Unhealthy thoughts must be replaced with positive destiny-affirming thoughts. That means you will have to be intentional about the thoughts that you allow to be planted in your mind. You must understand that your mind is a garden. You will always get a harvest on what you plant in your mind. However, the harvest is always determined by the seeds you sow into your mind. Uproot seeds of fear, frustration and defeat so you can change the harvest that you reap.
2. You must cultivate positive thinking.
Positive thinking will take time. It is not automatic. As I mentioned before, you will have to uproot toxic thoughts from your mind before you can even begin to plant positive thoughts. Once negative thoughts are removed you must then begin to cultivate the soil of your mind. In other words, we cannot just remove negative thoughts. We have to get to the root of these negative thoughts in our lives. Where did these thoughts come from? How have these thoughts shaped your belief system? You always have to get to the source of a thought before you can shift your thinking. Then you can begin to plant the right thoughts into your mind. You cannot plant anything into your mind that you are not persuaded about. Persuasion is what anchors a belief. We are always persuaded positively or negatively. When you have a positive persuasion you are able plant positive thoughts and produce the right harvest.
3. You must guard your thinking.
Do not think for a moment that you will not continue to encounter opposition psychologically. You will always be confronted with contradictions that attempt to change your conviction. When you are persuaded nothing can shake you from what you believe. However, when we fail to do regular maintenance on our minds we are once again susceptible to poisonous and toxic thoughts. Thoughts will always cross your mind and attempt to make you doubt; however, you have the power to deny that thought further access. That means if you can destroy poisonous thoughts in infancy they lose the power to infiltrate and influence your belief. Guarding your mind is ensuring that everything that is contrary to the life you are creating does not have access to your mind. Whatever the mind gives access the mind aligns with.
4. You must regularly reprogram your mind.
The mind must constantly go through a metamorphosis. In fact, only the mind that goes through metamorphosis will mature. Your mind must constantly be stretched and challenged if you want to experience sustainable change. Stretching the mind is constantly exposing the mind to new concepts and ideas. The greatest opponent to change is outdated concepts. Freshness of the mind is what fuels momentum in your life. Every time you stretch your thinking you expand your intellectual capacity. The more intellectual capacity you develop the more insight, innovation and creativity can explode in your life. Reprogram your mind and cultivate the thinking of an overcomer. No limits or boundaries can stand in the way of a person that unleashes the power of the mind!
Jamelle Sanders is a business coach, author, leading empowerment specialist and CEO of Jamelle Sanders International. Jamelle is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post and has been featured on numerous media platforms including NBC and Huff Post Live. Jamelle has successfully empowered leaders and entrepreneurs around the world to succeed in business and in life.
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