My last post talked about how the thoughts that run through your mind can sabotage your best efforts at business building.  You may have tried the exercise I suggested, and seen for yourself how the tape you are playing in your head affects the responses you get. Today I’d like to talk about the practical steps you can take to change your thinking patterns.

You may have come across the question, “How do I stop thinking about the elephant in the room?” And of course the answer is, “Think about something different.”

There are two key Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) ideas addressed here:- the first is that your unconscious mind doesn’t process negatives.  So when you say, “Don’t think about that!”  – whether it’s elephants, or your own lack of certainty regarding your product or service, you’re actually telling yourself to think about that negative thing.  Secondly, changing your thinking takes effort.

Your mind (both the conscious and unconscious parts) are rather like a track in the forest.  It takes regular use to wear a new path – and at first it takes effort to stop your mind from following the old, destructive path you want to change. 

Now, when I say ‘effort’, I really mean you need to make a choice.  Are your current thought habits serving your needs, or sabotaging them? If they are sabotaging your goals, then you need to decide what thoughts you’d like to replace them with, and make those positive thoughts and positive messages as powerful and visceral as possible.  It’s like using all five senses in our goal setting. Link to Blog #18 The more powerfully you visualise your positive messages and positive outcomes, the more powerfully they will be impressed on your unconscious mind, and the more they will drive your behaviour.

At first your mind will slip into those old, negative, self-sabotaging thoughts.  You’ll probably catch yourself indulging, and you might say to yourself, “What’s the problem with just sliding a little further down this track now I’m here.” Don’t! You are in control of your thoughts.  Maybe it will happen five times an hour, that you’ll have to pull yourself back from your old habits, and put those motivating pictures in front of yourself, maybe it will be even more often … but do it anyway.  Every time you let those negative thoughts control you, you’re wearing the path deeper and deeper.  Every time you change your mind, and put positive thoughts in their place you are wearing your new path deeper.  With perseverance, the positive thoughts will take over and your sales results will show the difference.