These positive thinking ideas can change your life as it did for me. As long as you put God in the center of it.
“I would not feel tired anymore. Tired of anxiety and tension. In many cases it consumes my mind with negative thoughts and my body tense busy physical. No harm is painful, but I do not want to feel so. I do not want to feel that I live in a spiral of fatigue and exhaustion 24 hours. I do not want to be just a man suffering day after day .. “.
These lines I heard from so many workers ,technologists, nurses , patients and those who are looking for jobs throw the years . I share this with you because I heard this over and over again dozens of times.
When you have these feeling you must work on shifting your negative focus, from “I do not want” to “what I want.” Because I am sure that it is always the focus that grows within us more than anything else in our lives. And always remind yourself that your life story is an expression of what you trust, and believe in ideas and words chosen in your lives to express themselves; it works to turn on the formation of their identity and their essence gradually without feeling it.
How is the case with the story of your life now? Do you put ideas and words that puts you into the “positive thinking mode”? If you listen to yourself , you will listen to many negative phrases that are pulling you down from finding the happiness you deserve . You have to train yourself to thinking positive, be positive .It is hard to do all the time but step by step it will improve your life and the mindset that you have all these years . In my view negative thinking and self blame is an addiction and we need to break the chain that slave our mind and free our self to the world of positive thinking.
Your ability to write the story of your life in a positive way depends on the language. I am not talking here about the language of your tongue such as Arabic ,English or other languages, but I am talking about the internal and external verbal language of your phrase that makes happiness possible, and broadcast in real life the noble goals and meaning to your life and imagination, and the vigor and vitality to achieve what you aim ,wishes, dreams, and what you hoped for.
you must start now to replace the negative thoughts and words with positive alternatives. I do not care who said it and it is not that important who quoted . Choose a positive saying , a positive great quotation that reflect your dream and hope and reflect your current problems or your experienced , and use it as a phrase repeated between you and yourself ,every time you feel that the negative creeps inside you repeat the phrase . It can be from the Bible, The Torah, The Quran ,or from any other book or people who effect your life positively. These 40 points can change your life.
- If the other side have the grass greener than your side. Stop comparison. Refraining from complaining, and start watering the grass you stand it. Don’t just quit your job for any minor problem ,count your blessing, your peace of mind versus stress don’t compare it for salary sake only. Don’t burn the bridges .Work to resolve your problem on hand and find a solution to your problem and don’t fall for your temptation for the better job in other side or better person or material gain. I am not asking you to kill your dream and hope or to stop progress and stay in one place ,but give it a chance and if it doesn’t work then move on with no regret and no looking back.
2- You comfort zone is not always achieving what you want; but it is in level of tranquility and peace of mind that you have and your level of satisfaction in yourself, life, family, and friend’s circle. Don’t be afraid of change as it is important to progress, your comfort zone will have a higher bar but it will be normal after a period of struggle. Without a struggle there will be no change and no progress , no freedom and no hope. Life is a struggle so we have to adopt and compromise our comfort zone for a while if we want to change.
3- Sometimes, you have to stop and look at your past, reassess yourself, reinvent yourself, and learn from the past to add more smile and satisfaction to your present , and thank God for what you have now and be hopeful for a better future. God is with us always as he is the master of the positive energy that drive us and make all the creation move forward , advance and evolve, and sometimes he makes things to be deformed and devolve , change and stop from the progress to protect us and the universe from destroying our self , as he have the great wisdom and he sees things that we cannot see at this time and it will be clearer later on. So looking back to compare is not bad idea as long as it does not feed our negative thinking .It doesn’t matter now when mistakes was done in the past, we must learn from the mistake and make sure that we do change, repent , and undo the harm that we done to others then we can be free to move forward with peace of mind. Sometimes all it takes is one word I AM SORRY.
4- If you know that what you are in will not last long, or if you have a locum or casual job , some you love will leave soon, or someone will die in few months, it does not mean that it’s not worth the effort to try hard, work hard, enjoy the time with the present work, or with the one you love and live the beauty of the day and the memory of now, try to make an effort to be happy and make those who around you be happy, happiness breed happiness. You can work to get to what you want later .You have to be positive, stay focus and be strong. If your love one have a chemotherapy it is not the end of the road , do your best now and be positive because when they live and overcome their illness you will be so happy and joyful that God gave you the strength to carry on .And if he /she passed away you will not be in a situation to blame yourself as you know that you tried and did everything you could and now it is in the hand of God. Dont blame yourself.
5- If you lose something don’t be too sad , when you lose something you will gain something else. It is like action and reaction , you can gain peace of mind, less stress, the knowledge of not to do the mistake again, to learn more skill to go ahead, and the list can go on and on. Life does not have to look perfect to enjoy what you have in your hands ,and to value your faith , yourself, your family, your work, and peace of mind .
6- If get broke, file for bankruptcy, get laid off, or slipped behind it does not mean that you failed. Know that all great success requires some sort of stumble in-paced attainable and achievable, as long as you stay positive and keep trying like Edison. Make the ants your example ,they go after the grain of food hundreds of time until they get it to the colony after hundreds of failure but they never give up.
7- You cannot achieve victory if you’re planning for a defeat and surrender. You can start slow, get stronger, earn the trust .Your weapon must be your positive thinking, integrity, respect, and add the skill to it and keep going to get the experience need it to be a great person and to defeat your negative thinking about yourself and about others.
8- In spite of not being able to control everything that is happening, but you can control your attitude toward what is happening around you. In doing so, you will adopt and control the change instead of letting the chain of events control you .No matter what don’t lose your cool and stay positive .If your boss didn’t give you the opportunity you want and he selected someone else, let it go and keep focus because your turn will come.
9- Use the struggles and frustrations of today to motivate you rather than upset you . Control the way you look at life. Control your negative emotion so it doesn’t lead you to a disaster . Be a walking talking positive energy.
10-Stop blaming yourself when you couldn’t get the things you want , as long as you tried. Remember that as long as you are alive; it means that you go wrong from time to time and you will make mistakes .Try to fix these mistakes and look forward to round 2.
11- Sometimes, you must alter some things to get the desired change. Sometimes, you have to break a habit to gain change. You must recognize the great positive power that God gave you and put inside you . Sometimes, you should strive to gain wisdom . Sometimes, you should be able to learn from your sadness to gain the happiness in the future. Remember, all of the above, sometimes! Not all the time. Life is a balance act.
12 –The true measure of success is the number of times that your balance prepared after the failure. You must bounce back feed your positive energy by surrounding yourself with positive people , people with faith in God and humanity ,positive attitude people like Noah ship it will save you from drowning in the sea of negativity and pull you from the abyss of unknown.
13- Sometimes, the wrong choices lead us to the right places. Remember do not repeat that mistake! as chance might not strike again. Thank those who helped you, ask for help don’t be shy , recognize that you are a human and you need help when you want to correct yourself and your behavior.
14- If you are no longer able to change something ask for help, or find the reason , why you can’t what is the alternative solution knowing the reason is half of the answer to a sound solution.
15- If you feel that your ship is sinking, it may be this is the right time to get rid of unnecessary things that burdened your life. If you have bad relationship that going no were, bad job and bad boss, stressful work place , addiction .Try to get rid of the negative elements that contribute more to the self destruction and to your work and life environment .It is so hard to change these addiction but with faith and the trust in the lord you can. Star with good friendship , healthy living, positive attitude and your are in your way to peace of mind.
16- Perhaps the next step is more harder than your present situation , but it is not more difficult than you stay in your current situation which is no longer fit for you. Change start with hardship and struggle, new adjustment and compromise . Think that you must leave this dark tunnel of struggle to the freedom that you deserve.
17- your life is a story of several chapters. Bad and good .If you have one bad chapter it does not mean it is the end. So, stop , re-read this chapter, correct the mistake and write new chapter and when you done open a new page.
18- You must remember one fact, and that is; If you are not satisfied now you cannot move forward and you will struggle.
19- You can certainly leave for short vacation, long vacation if you can afford it, to reflect back, relax, and enjoy life to re energize yourself . You must take advantage of this moment well. Make sure to invest in every minutes of the vacation as your body deserve it, your mind need it.
20- If you are selected to a leadership , supervisor , or manager position you must open your heart and your ears to all your workers , work with them and be an example .
21- Stay away from the hypocrisy of others, those who nose brown you when you succeed and back stab you when you fail. Whenever you win, or lose you must stay natural ,in balance, and learn from your success and mistakes to gain more insight.
22- Be careful about who gives the microphone to scream in the faces of others. And make sure not to be deceived by high hearing shouts. Listen only to the sounds of sincerity, even if it comes from the those who have no seniority or no great skills and in the back seats .Try to listen with your heart and ask God to let the holy spirit dwell in your heart to select the best choice.
23- Remember that you cannot please everyone, you cannot make everybody happy; do not think about it as a failure. You are a human, you make mistake, you will adjust and correct, and others will have their turn to win .The team must pull together and you must pull with them for your place to be successful. You must reward those who bring you more with satisfaction to make their dream come true and those who are trying to bring their positive energy and encourage them to achieve more.
24- Do not allow negative people affect your life and your work place .recognize those people who are back stabbers, work witches, negative thinking workers who cannot and do not want to change , and get rid of them form the work place to safe yourself, your work place , your stress level and your employees. Every place have a witch , every place have an ego maniac dark cloud personality ,if they don’t come to the mainstream get them out of it fast.
25- To be the best positive thinker you should not allow others to imposed their negativity on your hopes and your dreams. The real destiny lies not in the narrow outlook. Only focused on the facts at hand, not on the sentences issued by others you. They ruin their self and now they are trying to pull you down even if they don’t meant it. Always put a buffer zone between you and those who are bad influence on your life and business. Avoid them and remember that when negative and positive elements collide a spark of events could happen, like a thunder .You cannot stop the electric bad storm .Avoid conflict with those negative people.
26- Do not keep your idea untested .Start to implemented it on the ground! At first, you may not go in the direction of your dream, but as long as you start and keep working to improve it and listen to other positive remarks you can then change and modify your methods to gain sure success.
27- You might not find anybody beside you, people and love once can leave you, divorce you, pass away, put you down, be jealous of you, not support you . Do not be sad and remember that God is with you if you tone your life with him. He is more than enough. The lord will take your hand and lead you victorious as long as you do his well , don’t revenge, work smart and hard , and don’t look back at those friends who left you alone. Actually if they fall down try to give them advise and help .They will realize them how great person you are and be a sham of what they done to you. It is very hard to do ,but with faith nothing is impossible.
28- Always write down on a piece of paper your best ability, your best skills and achievements, your goals, your mission and vision , and reassess that every now and then, reevaluate yourself. Then, use this trump card at any moment you feel you began to doubt yourself to charge yourself with positive energy .But you must always keep an open mind, study and learn and not stay still and look at your past achievements. This life is dynamic , fast changing, so motivate yourself with different projects , but keep strong in one or two that you think you can make a difference with. Put God in front of you and the rest will be OK.
29- Do not give up regardless of what happened to you, you am not a victim as long as you’re still thinking. Many will back stab you and hurt you from the jealousy point. Many will leave you and expose your business idea to your opponents, many will betrayed you and chat on you , but you must stay focus and don’t lose the faith. Be strong and don’t show them weakness. Remember that you are not yet defeated, but a little delayed. Remember that just before the sunrise the darkest moments of the night occurred.
30- You have to accept and be satisfied with all the offset that you will face, the most important thing is accept what you get and try for the best and never lose trust in your ability. Without negligence.
31- The only thing that waste most of your of your time, and stands between you and your goal is a negative thinking that you cannot achieve your goal, your tell yourself that you have limited ability and time , you cannot do this or that without trying or giving yourself a chance .your mind will feed you a fake negative reasons . Remember the devil is negative energy and he will try anything to destroy your dreams and make you fail .That’s only happen if you let him. As soon as you bring God into your life ,his positive light will fill your spirit and the negative thoughts will have no control over you . As long as you in toned with faith you will be set free.
32- Remember God made you and brought you here for a reason. So trust in him and do your best to go in the light with the positive energy. Surround yourself with the faithful and the believers, the dreamers and achievers, the positive thinkers and the inventors who are in tone with the faith. Find your true purpose in life. Helping others is a good way to start.
33- Know your limits, you can or not can, you able or not able are both true facts. But try to focus on the optimistic side , the glass half full side more often and the lord will full the glass of life for you, trust me on this.
34- All great achievements require time. So, they deserve most of your time. But don’t forget God time, your family time, time for yourself and your kids, time for your workers and those who serve you ,make sure never forget those who work for you.
35- Remember that the pyramid of Egypt was built of stones, small and large .So don’t underestimate the small things in your life, small contributions of your workers, small events , small ideas, small investment and the small but hard working people around you. They are all part of your life pyramid of success.
36- When things are getting tough and difficulty depend on the lord and ask for goodness, don’t resist because if you resets the toughness will brake you down, and if you let go and be lean you will lose. So focus on been flexible to avoid the side effect and keep your trust in God.
37-If you want happiness and joy; try to abandon the idea that you are perfect and you never make a mistake, try to stop think that you are always correct, instead try your best to do the right things and think positive .
38- Don’t stress yourself for nothing, stress leads to depression and depression to illness and weakness. Too much concern for negative issues is waste of your time and it drains an enormous amount of your energy. It does not change anything in the end. All it does it steals your joy, and hinders your ability; to prevent you from doing any positive action in your life.
39- Stop the stress by stopping the stress factors in your life and work place , when you do that you will reduce your anxiety, skepticism and doubts. Think positive and think that every think we’ll be OK as long as you trust in God and yourself, your family and those who help you.
40- Don’t set high expectation, in this life, no matter how long it takes, you usually get what you want, but it rarely comes as you thought it’s supposed to come out. So be satisfy for the outcome and hope for better nest time, work hard and balance your life. Trust in God in every step and you will see the positive change in your life.
25 Lessons Learned from John Maxwell
Here are 25 key lessons that capture and distill what I think are some of the most important insights from John Maxwell:
1. Leadership is influence.
Maxwell defines leadership as influence. It’s simple, effective, and precise. In The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Maxwell says, “True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes only from influence, and that can’t be mandated. It must be earned. The only thing a title can buy is a little time – either to increase your level of influence with others or to erase it.”
2. Leadership isn’t a position, it’s a process.
Leadership starts right where you are, from the inside out. Maxwell says, “Most people who want to get ahead do it backward. They think, ‘I’ll get a bigger job, then I’ll learn how to be a leader.’ But showing leadership skill is how you get the bigger job in the first place. Leadership isn’t a position, it’s a process.”
3. Just do it.
Forget motivation and just do it. Maxwell says, “The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation. Just do it. Exercise, lose weight, test your blood sugar, or whatever. Do it without motivation. And then, guess what? After you start doing the thing, that’s when the motivation comes and makes it easy for you to keep on doing it.”
4. Your attitude towards life is still under construction.
According to Maxwell, your attitude towards life is constantly being shaped by the following factors: personality (who are you), environment (what’s around you), word expression (what you hear), adult acceptance/affirmation (what you feel), self-image(how you see yourself), exposure to new experiences, association with peers (who influences you), physical appearance (how you look to others), and marriage, family, and job (your security and status.) Maxwell believes that your environment shapes you more than your personality or other inherited traits, and that your outward actions are a direct reflection of your self-image (we tend to act consistently with how we see ourselves.) In Attitude 101, Maxwell says, “Whether you are eleven, forty-two, or sixty-five, your attitude toward life is still under construction. It’s never too late for a person to change his attitude.”
5. Use principles to guide you.
Drive from durable principles instead of a bunch of rules and policies. According to Maxwell, “policies are many, principles are few, policies will change, principles never do.”
6. Leadership is a collection of skills.
Leadership is something you can learn and improve at. Maxwell says, “Although it is true that some people are born with greater natural gifts than others, the ability to lead is really a collection of skills, nearly all of which can be learned and improved.”
7. Build trust through competence, connection, and character.
You won’t follow somebody you don’t trust. As a leader, you have to build trust. Maxwell says, “There are three qualities a leader must exemplify to build trust: competence, connection, and character.”
8. Success is a journey, not a destination.
Don’t think of success as a place. Think of it as a path. Success is a journey you can enjoy a day at a time. Take the right people with you on your success journey. In Your Road Map for Success, Maxwell identifies 10 things to look for when figuring out who to invest in or who to bring with you: 1) make things happen, 2) see and seize opportunities, 3) influence others, 4) add value, 5) attract other leaders, 6) equip others, 7) provide inspiring ideas, 8.) possess uncommonly positive attitudes, 9) live up to their commitments, and 10) have loyalty.
9. Success is a daily thing.
You can be successful one day or one decision at a time. Maxwell says, “If you can handle today correctly, tomorrow will take care of itself.”
10. Success is a decision at a time.
Maxwell says, “You don’t become a success when you get your diploma. You became a success when you decided to go to college. When you get your diploma you get the rewards of success.”
11. Seven Steps for success
In Success One Day at a Time, Maxwell shares 7 steps for success: 1) make a commitment to grow daily, 2) value the process more than events, 3) don’t wait for inspiration, 4) be willing to sacrifice pleasure for opportunity, 5) dream big, 6) plan your priorities, and 7) give up to go up.
12. Look for the landmarks of success.
The highest levels of success require a series of significant trade-offs. Maxwell identifies the following trade-offs that serve as landmarks: 1) achievement over affirmation, 2) excellence over acceptability, 3) personal growth over immediate pleasure, 4) future potential over financial gain, 5) a narrow focus over scattered interests, and significant over security.
13. Leadership is a visual thing.
The greatest leadership is by example. Maxwell says, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”
14. Everybody needs encouragement.
No matter who you are, you still need encouragement. Maxwell says, “Remember, man does not live on bread alone: sometimes he needs a little buttering up.”
15. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
In Your Roadmap for Success, Maxwell says we need to be able to laugh at ourselves, “… success depends more on your attitude than it does on how important you think you are. Life should be fun. Even if your job is important and should be taken seriously, that doesn’t mean you should take yourself seriously. You’ll go farther in life and have a better time doing it if you maintain a sense of humor, especially when it comes to yourself.”
16. Use failure as a springboard.
Unsuccessful people avoid taking any risks to try and avoid failure. Successful people turn failure into feedback. They don’t dwell on mistakes or the negative consequences of failures. Instead, they focus on the rewards of success and on learning from their mistakes. In Your Road Map for Success, Maxwell shares 10 ways to fail forward effectively:
1) appreciate the value of failure2) don’t take failure personally3) let failure redirect you4) keep a sense of humor5) ask why, not who6.) make failure a learning experience7) don’t let failure keep you down8.) use failure as a gauge for growth9) see the big picture10) don’t give up.17. Win with people.
Growing people is the key to growing your success. Maxwell says, “The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership” and “true success comes only when every generation continues to develop the next generation.” In 360 Degree Leader, Maxwell says, “Great leaders don’t use people so they can win. They lead people so they can all lead together. If that is truly your motivation, you can become the kind of person that people want to follow – whether they are beside, above, or below you in the organizational hierarchy.” Maxwell makes people development a priority. To avoid spreading himself too thin, he focuses 80 percent of his time developing only the top 20 percent of the people around him. Maxwell says, “your time is limited, and it makes more sense to help a few learn how to fly and reach their potential rather than show a big group only enough to whet their appetite.”
18. Let people fly with you for a while.
In Maxwell’s experience, the most effective way to mentor and ramp people up is the same way craftspeople have done for years: 1) do it, 2) I do it — and you watch, 3) you do it – and I watch, 4) you do it.
19. Ten principles for personal growth.
In Your Road Map for Success, Maxwell shares 10 principles for improving your personal growth: 1) choose a life of growth, 2) start growing today, 3) be teachable, 4) focus on self-development, not self-fulfillment, 5) never stay satisfied with current accomplishments, 6) be a continual learner, 7) concentrate on a few major themes, 8.) develop a plan for growth, 9) pay the price, 10) find a way to apply what you learn.
20. Don’t make happiness your measure of success.
Happiness is fleeting while success is a stable path. In Your Road Map for Success, Maxwell writes, “The continual search for happiness is a primary reason that so many people are miserable. If you make happiness your goal, you are almost certainly destined to fail. You will be on a continual roller coaster, changing from successful to unsuccessful with every mood change. Life is uncertain, and emotions aren’t stable. Happiness simply cannot be relied upon as a measure of success.”
21. Achievement over affirmation.
Focus on achievement rather than worry about fitting in. Maxwell says, “Affirmation from others is fickle and fleeting. If you want to make an impact during your lifetime, you have to trade the praise you could receive from others for the things of value that you can accomplish. You can’t be ‘one of the boys’ and follow your destiny at the same time.”
22. Four kinds of people when it comes to relationships.
In Success 101, Maxwell says there are 4 kinds of people when it comes to relationships: 1) some people add something to life (we enjoy them), 2) some people subtract something from life (we tolerate them), 3) some people multiply something in life (we value them), 4) some people divide something in life (we avoid them.)
23. Lead yourself exceptionally well.
Leadership starts from the inside out. Lead yourself first. In Success 101, Maxwell identifies 7 areas that successful people must self-manage: 1) you emotions, 2) your time, 3) your priorities, 4) your energy, 5) your thinking, 6) your words, and 7) your personal life.
24. Treat people like a “10.”
Who gets your better effort? … a leader who treats you as a “2” or a leader who treats you as a “10”? Maxwell says that in his experience, people usually rise to the leader’s expectations – if they like the leader. Treat people like a 10 if you want their best. Maxwell says one way to do this is to focus on a skill or strength that somebody has that is a “10.” If you can’t find a “10” in terms of skill, then rather than write somebody off, look to a non-skill area where the person can grow into a “10”, independent of skill, such as attitude, desire, discipline, and perseverance.
25. Focus on production over politics.
In the 360 Degree Leader, Maxwell says there are two ways to get ahead: production and politics. Maxwell says avoid office politics and instead focus on production. Maxwell says that people who rely on production: depend on how they grow, focus on what they do, become better than they appear, provide substance, do what’s necessary, work to control their own destiny, grow into the next level, base decisions on principles. On the other hand, people who rely on politics: depend on who they know, focus on what they say, appear better than they are, take shortcuts, do what’s popular, let others control their destiny, hope to be given the next level, base decisions on opinions. Maxwell shares 6 ways to avoid politics: 1) avoid gossip, 2) stay away from petty arguments, 3) stand up for what’s right, not just for what’s popular, 4) look at all sides of the issue, 5) don’t protect your turf, and 6) say what you mean, and mean what you say.
Success Defined
Maxwell defines success in a very simple, but elegant way that’s empowering:
“Success is … knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum
Thank you fro reading and God bless you all.
Mai Fauzy
TV Producer at Aldarmedia