Negativity in. Negativity out.

Surround yourself with positive minds. Including your own. As introverts, we spend a lot of time in our own heads, so going along with this month’s theme of Mindset, let’s explore the idea that what we are surrounded by can either nurture or pollute our brains, thoughts, perceptions and mindset.

If you have big goals for your life and for your business, you need that positive mindset to be strong in your own head. Step back from these negative-Nellies and the Woe-is-me crowd. Peoples’ self limiting beliefs have no place in your plan.

Consider a time when you started off in a situation completely content or excited. Someone in your life decides that YOUR plan is silly/stupid/will never work. You start to doubt your own ability to pull it off and quickly come to the conclusion that your negative-Nellie friend or family member (or even distant acquaintance) must be right. Your mindset around achieving success tanks and your (now) self-doubt becomes it’s own self fulfilling prophecy.

Ain’t nobody got time for that. Because you ARE destined to achieve greatness. You just need to convince your brain of that.

You are the architect of your own life in terms of how you approach your dreams. You are in charge of your attitude. Things will not always be smooth sailing no matter how many hours you have prepared or how crystal clear you have envisioned your path… but when things go awry you can choose to deal with a positive attitude and be able to come up with solutions sooner with your mindset in a positive place. Having some positive minds around you can help too.

The Introvert and Mindset

As introverts we tend to have only a select few in our inner circle. There can be other influences as well besides the friends we choose. Co-workers, family, clients can all take up much of our time and after awhile can wear us down. Be very clear about who you are allowing to rent space in your head (metaphorically of course). Don’t give them space in there and more importantly, don’t let them control your thoughts with their opinions. We also tend to spend a great deal of time thinking on our own, so listen to your own script; what are you telling yourself? Be kind to yourself in your head, listen to your heart for a few minutes and pursue those dreams. At first they may seem crazy, but really start to visualize what you could do to get there. Read up on others who have succeeded in the areas you are passionate about. How have they overcome obstacles? What was their mindset through tough times? (Spoiler alert: there will be obstacles on the road to achieving any dream.) Stay positive. They way I try to stay positive is to have a very quick pity-party, then move on.

How are the people you are surrounded by influencing your decisions? What effect do they have on your mood and motivation?

Even if you can’t avoid them completely (or don’t want to), make it clear to them that talking about XYZ is off limits unless they can support you. Or if you aren’t even comfortable with that, give yourself permission to ignore the negativity and then counter their arguments in your brain with remembering why you started to begin with.

ACTIVATE:
1. Make a list of 7 traits or qualities that you feel are your strong points/ strengths.
2. 3. Make a list of 7 traits or qualities that you aspire to.
List people in your life who display these traits/ live life in line with your positive traits/ goal traits. These may be the people you should be spending more of your time with.

Ideally, you want people who will support you to reach your goals. Find people you can work together with to support each other. You don’t have to have identical goals to work together, having positive mindset and encouraging each other.

Be your best self.