The One Difference Between how the Ordinary and the Successful Think
Start changing your mindset today.
Without giving too much away, the difference in thinking between successful people and ordinary people is that the latter don’t select what thoughts they let into their minds. If you are aware of how easy radicalisation is, then you should know how dangerous thoughts can be — successful people understand this very well and are extremely selective as to what they allow into their mind — if it doesn’t positivity contribute to their overall goals, it’s gone. In this article, we will discuss what that really means and how we can make the shift.
1 — What do you mean by ‘selective thoughts’?
Really, it means that those who achieve their goals in life refuse to let negative thoughts; they understand that they may fester and grow into obstacles to their dreams. The thing you need to grasp is that the smallest notion for failure can hibernate under the surface — compound, multiple and snowball into self-doubt, lack of confidence, and an inability to execute. These issues are fatal to success. Successful people understand that small, insignificant comments you pay zero attention to can mutate and ruin your mentality. Thus, those who achieve in life only allow positive thoughts to fuel them. Or, they utilise comments they may be negative in a positive way.
2 — The difference in action
The idea behind this article was prompted by a conversation I had with my partner. She was obviously having some difficulty in dealing with some comments she had received. In which I realised that I never have to deal with that — I pondered as to why. Then I realised, if someone says something negative, I block it out. I refuse to let it in, for the reasons described above. I know that negative comments can turn into self-doubt and second-guessing your own thoughts — a near-impossible roadblock to get past in the pursuit of success.
2.1 — ‘You’re dreaming.’
Further into our discussion, I was reminded of a negative comment I received a few weeks prior that I hadn’t thought of until that very moment where I was prompted. It was from my mother; I was discussing a recent article I wrote in which I explained that renting is the path to wealth vs. a mortgage as you can use the freed-up cash-flow to fund a business that will bring greater returns as opposed to property. I further explained my goals and ambitions as an entrepreneur, and my mother, looking in disagreement, said that I was ‘dreaming.’ For a single second, I registered the comment and made the judgement that that comment does not positively contribute to my overall goals, so I refused to think about it any further. That was it! I did not think about that comment until a few weeks later when the conversation warranted it back to my memory.
3 — The alternative
Imagine if for those few weeks I thought about that comment, that I was ‘dreaming’ — head in the clouds, talking nonsense. The comment would fester. My mind would begin to compound, mutate, and multiple, which would have caused me to question my ambitions and whether they are achievable. I would question if I actually was dreaming if I actually was wasting my time. Suppose I should focus on getting a job. These thoughts are a very quick way to ensure that you won’t achieve anything noteworthy in this life.
4 — Make the shift
What you allow into your mind is a powerful and scary tool. Once you understand how easily your mind can be influenced, you can use this to your advantage. In the same way, that negative thoughts can mutate and multiple, you can achieve a reversed result with positive comments. You need to feed your mind with positive thoughts constantly. Whenever you get a negative comment, you need to reassure your mind off the opposed — after the comment I received, I told myself, ‘You are not dreaming, you will achieve everything you set out to do’ — and I focused on that. Instead of letting my mother’s comment fester, I allowed my comment after to fester, which means that as every day goes on, I get more and more certain of my goals and ambitions. Having this kind of power makes success inevitable in comparison to the opposed.
4.1 — This takes time
This skill, yes, it’s a skill, takes time. You have to develop it, have patience, and start small. When starting, I highly recommend having a set list of positive affirmations that correspond to the mentality you want to have and the life you want to live that you read at least 3 times per day — when you wake up, during the day, and wake you go to sleep. Just try this for a week and see the difference it creates. I guarantee this is the change in mentality you need to become successful. Those that achieve in life do not focus on the negative comments. They fuel themselves on positive comments to further solidify their ambitions in life.
5 — Final thoughts
Success is a mindset, and a mindset is something you have control over — you can develop, change, and enhance it to fit your life. You just need to learn how to exercise that control. It begins by ignoring negativity and replacing it with insanely high levels of positivity. I don’t believe this is a negotiable element to success. The easiest way to start is to have positive comments ready and waiting to feed your mind. As humans, we like to ponder, to mull over, to contemplate, to reflect — why do you think we have so many words for it? It is an integral function of the mind — thus, we need to pay attention to it and use it to our advantage.
5.1 — What next?
The key is simple — positivity. Negativity leads to awful things — it stems largely from those around us, and results in a lack of ambition, a fear of failing. All things that lead to success in becoming an impossibility. Make success easier for yourself and feed your mind positive comments constantly. Before long, your mind will naturally reject negative comments as opposed to what it believes. Like trying to explain a leftist argument to someone on the right? Or trying to explain a rightist argument to someone on the left? It’s impossible. Using positive comments, you turn your mind into a fortress where negative comments are not the spoken language and cannot enter. Thank you for reading. To begin your journey of positivity, I say this: You have got this. You can do this. You are strong enough. You are smart enough. You are good enough. No one has the power to stop you from achieving what you want. Keep going because you will make it. You just have to believe in yourself — I believe in you.
