By Lolly Daskal, President and CEO, Lead From Within
YOUR thoughts are powerful. It may sound far-fetched to say
that what you believe will come true and what you think about
will come to you.
But it’s not really such a stretch. Your thoughts are
directly connected to your actions and therefore to your
outcomes. That means they play a significant role in your success
or failure.
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| Are toxic thoughts holding YOU back? |
Good thoughts give you confidence and empower you to
act; negative thoughts can keep you quiet and
hold you back.
Even successful people find the wrong thoughts can lead to
derailed plans and stalled momentum, and they learn to steer clear of toxic
zones.
As you direct your own path away from unsupportive, harmful
thinking toward positivity, here are six areas you definitely want to avoid:
1. The necessity of
perfection. Anyone who thinks they must be perfect is setting
themselves up for failure.
When perfection is your goal, you will always be left with
the feeling that you’re not measuring up, and in time you’ll come to see
yourself as a failure.
Everything you do creates your future, and it doesn’t have
to be perfect to lead you toward success.
2. Not being good
enough. Everyone at one time or another has moments of self-doubt.
But if it becomes a constant state of mind or something that
weaves through a lot of your thoughts – if you’re spending a lot of time
thinking you’re not good enough, smart enough, talented enough, or skilled
enough – you’re not taking responsibility for working on yourself to improve
the value of what you have to offer.
Successful people identify their strongest skills and
talents and use them to reach their highest potential.
3. Comparing yourself
with others. It’s a constant temptation, seeing how we measure up to
others.
But the reality is that everyone is different. No one else
has your particular gifts and outlook, your particular background and
challenges and interests.
And you can’t learn anything about yourself by looking at
others.
Successful people know there’s no sense in comparing
yourself to anyone else; instead, spend your time and energy creating the best
possible version of yourself.
4. Needing to always
be right. It feels good to be right. But the truth is we’re all
sometimes wrong, and that’s OK. There are times we need to learn from our
mistakes and maybe experience a little humility.
Left unchecked, the need to be right can do a lot of damage:
it can affect your relationships, your business and your leadership.
Sometimes you’re right and sometimes you’re wrong.
Remembering that and taking it all in stride helps us succeed – and it makes us
better people.
5. Worrying about
what other people think. People will always have opinions about you.
Either they’ll believe in you or they won’t.
Truly successful people understand that regardless of what
other people think of them, they can do what it takes to succeed.
They can take the bold steps and risky actions required for
success. Don’t take other people’s opinions to heart, because who you are and
what you can accomplish come from within.
6. Allowing the past
to determine the future. If you think that who you were and what you
did in the past will determine your future, think again.
People grow and change direction. Who you were yesterday
isn’t who you have to be tomorrow or even today. Even if you’ve failed in the
past you can succeed in the future.
Have the confidence to keep trying. Successful people don’t
allow anything in their past to erode their ability to create a successful
future, because they know life is full of second chances.
7. Believing your
destiny is out of your hands. So many people feel that their fate is
predestined.
The truth is your destiny is something you can mold – the
power lies within you, and allowing yourself to believe otherwise is just a way
of not taking responsibility.
Sometimes things will be difficult, sometimes things will be
challenging, but at all times, you have the power to create your own success or
failure.
Your destiny is in your hands, heart and mind.
Instead of allowing your thoughts to sabotage you, treat
them as you’d treat any powerful force:
Use them responsibly for good, keep them out of harmful
situations, and let them help serve you so you in turn can serve.
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