Have you ever taken a week off from working out or eating well and that week turns into 2 weeks and then before we know it, we have gained 5 lbs.? Then we say, I’ll get back into it next week. Then, next week turns into months and the prospect of getting started again is so daunting that we don't get started.
We’ve all heard the term, actions speak louder than words. When I look at this term, the first thing that comes to mind is, I can't simply talk about doing things, I have to actually move. I have to actually do something in order for anything to change. We have all had those moments when we have a thought or an idea that could make a difference in our lives or our day and never actually took positive action. The famed motivational speaker Les Brown used to ask in his audience, what is the wealthiest place in the world? People would throw out different answers like the Cayman Islands or Switzerland and places like that and Les would then explain that the wealthiest place in the world is the graveyard. There are millions of ideas that have never been invented because someone never took action. There are millions of books, poems and songs that have never been penned because someone never took action. There are millions of relationships issues that never got resolved because someone never took action.
The common theme in these situations of inaction is that when people are in the habit of not taking action, that’s where the momentum lies. People that don’t take action tend to continue to not take action. The same goes for people who do take action. Those who take action continue to take action, but why is that?
The answer is kind of a catch 22 situation. When we take action, see small successes and celebrate those small successes with positive self-talk, our self-confidence and self-esteem increases. With increased self confidence and self-esteem, we create momentum and positive energy and we all know that we get back what we put out when it comes to energy.
The opposite is also true. When we don't take action on our thoughts or things we want or need to do, our self-confidence and self-esteem decreases leading to negative self-talk and negative energy. Just like positive energy, when we project negative energy that is what we get in return.
Here’s where it gets interesting. When we speak positive thoughts, we increase the probability of those thoughts coming to life by 10 times. However, when we speak negative thoughts, we increase the probability of that thought coming true by 4-7 times that of a positive thought effectively increasing the probability to 40-70 times. This is why it is so difficult to get out of a mental rut when we have fallen into one. The momentum is with the negative and the only way to stop that negative cycle is just like a car. If you are going in reverse, you cannot go forward without going through neutral first. We have to look at the situation as it is. No worse or no better, but simply as it is. Then we can make a plan of attack to move forward. We accept what has happened as fact, stop the bleeding and then we begin to repair by taking positive action.
Once we have created positive momentum, we start to view ourselves in a new light, a more positive light and we act accordingly because we act in accordance with our identity or how we view ourselves. When we take positive action, it creates positive momentum which creates opportunity for success.
Author: Michael Keane
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