Learn how to turn negative thoughts into opportunities for personal growth and success with these techniques. Embrace, reframe, and use negativity to your advantage.
Most psychological principles for success would suggest to think positively, not negatively, or to focus on opportunities rather than obstacles in order to be more motivated to create the desired results. This is all about managing emotions and thoughts. However, in real life, if we are not aware of the negative problems that may arise, being optimistic alone is considered too reckless.
We need to be “aware” of the negative so that we can distance ourselves from it. Recognizing the potential dangers will allow us to take timely corrective measures and ensure safety. However, we should not focus too much on the negative because focusing on something will automatically magnify it.
The technique to turn negative thoughts into positives is to “look at the negative and focus on the positive.”
For example, a golfer needs to know where the bunkers and sand traps are, but he doesn’t think about them all the time. He just glances at the bunkers and focuses on the green. Similarly, in the case of driving a car, cars are designed to have a negative warning display in front of the driver to warn when the engine is overheated, when the oil level is too low, or when there are other abnormalities in the engine system. Ignoring these negative warning signs can cause damage to the car or cause an accident.
The driver should therefore take appropriate action to avoid danger. However, he doesn’t need to look at the screen all the time. He just glances at it from time to time without worrying or thinking too much about it, but instead focuses on the goal in a positive way, knowing where he is going, and paying attention to road signs and traffic signals to help him reach his destination conveniently and safely.
Using this type of negative thinking correctly will lead us to success, which we can train ourselves to do by:
- Sensitive to negativity to the point where we become alert to danger, paying attention to important warning signs.
- Recognize the negative for what it is : something unsafe, something we don’t want, something that doesn’t bring us true happiness.
- Take immediate action on what is right and replace it with the opposite positive factors that will lead to success.
Such practice, through the technique of glancing at the negative and focusing on the positive, will soon create an automatic negative reflection, which will become part of our internal guidance system, helping us avoid failure and effectively leading us to success.