I set goals. I have been setting goals for most of my life. When I was a paperboy I used to set goals for how many new customers I would acquire so that I could win whatever prize the Monterey Peninsula Herald was giving to the paperboys that month. For the longest time I was on a roll, it seemed like nearly every goal I set, and I really had a desire for, I achieved. But then there came a time when I couldn’t achieve anything. I would set goals for myself in my business and I would come close, but something would always get in the way of success. It seemed like I was finding ways of talking my way out of the winner’s circle.

Does this happen to you? Do you feel like you are always talking yourself out of success? As soon as you start to set goals for yourself, do you, like I used to, suddenly have nagging thoughts about how you aren’t up to the task? Do you doubt your qualifications to carry it through? Do you feel like you just don’t have what it takes?

If this has happened to you, and I’ll bet that it has, then you need to listen to your inner dialogue and change it to focus on the positive. You see, my belief is that we have been conditioned to react to the negative events in our lives. If you don’t believe me try to think about how many positive things happened to you today. Now think about how many negative things happened to you today. If you could remember more negative than positive things you’ve already proved my point. How can you change this perspective? The trick is that instead of obeying your negative commands, you can use positive self-talk to counter the negativity in your life and then overcome nearly all the anxious thoughts that come with them.

Setting Goals and Sticking to Them with Positive Self-Talk

If you are like nearly everyone else on this planet, when you set your goals you are initially filled with enthusiasm and excitement. You can’t wait to start out on your path to success. But then you might think, “I don’t know, I tried that once and it didn’t work” or maybe “That might work for Ernie but I don’t have the same education he has.” You thoughts begin to get clouded with self-doubt and self-defeating thoughts that can stop you in your tracks before you even get started.

The fact is that it can be extremely difficult to make the most of your life when you are constantly talking yourself out of being a success. Believe me, I know! Worse, it can be frustrating and discouraging to have these thoughts constantly plaguing you because they can cause you to quit even before you make an attempt! Many of us, in fact, don’t even realize we have these negative thoughts. The only things you know is that you don’t have the confidence to stick to your plans and reach your goals.

But I didn’t write this article to discourage you. I wrote this article to let you know that there is another way!

Positive self-talk is an effective method that you can use when setting your goals. It can ensure that you stick to them, even if you have never been able to do this before. The way this method works is that once you’ve decided what goal is important to you, and have planned the logistics of how you are going to attain your goal, you use positive self talk to reinforcement your desire. When self-doubt starts kicking in, you respond with positive affirmations that boost your confidence in your success so that you don’t surrender to negative pressures. You’re obviously not a quitter and you are certainly not a failure so use this method to strengthen your belief in yourself!

Re-Programming Your Mind

My practice, Total Mind Therapy, uses this tag line, “Helping you program your mind for success”. One of the ways you can do this is though the use of affirmations. What are affirmations? Affirmations are essentially positive statements that you repeat to yourself that re-program your mind in a positive direction. You can use positive affirmations the moment you have a self-defeating thought, countering negativity with a motivating statement.

Examples of positive affirmations are: “I am worthy of great success,” or “I see myself in the winner’s circle.” Using these types of statements replace negativity with empowering thoughts that will help you move toward your goals.

Implementing positive self-talk into your daily life is easier than you might think. Right now you are probably not aware of the severity of the negative dialogue currently within your mind. However, once you start keeping track and begin countering these thoughts with positive self-talk, you will suddenly realize that you have been self-sabotaging the goals you set for yourself, almost from the minute that you make them. Using this process will open your eyes to exactly how much your inner conversation has been interfering with your success. Once you start to get a handle on them you’ll again feel hopeful and begin to have the confidence that you can now set goals and surpass them.

Using your positive self-talk, you will be able to easily set and achieve your long and short-term goals. And as you use your affirmations, you’ll have tools within your reach to help you push yourself further than ever before. Learning to counteract and then quiet negativity with positive thoughts and affirmations will move you faster and more easily toward setting and attaining your future goals with ease.

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