On the other hand, when we “do it right” how often to we give ourselves a pat on the back? We are our own worst critics, but the only value in that is the headache we get from constantly whacking ourselves. Other people will tell us “good job,” why can’t we tell ourselves that? Heck, we’ll tell THEM “good job,” but say that to ourselves? It just doesn’t feel right, right?

In the interest of starting down that path of “learning to think in a positive manner” here are ten steps to thinking positively.

1 – Focus on where you want to go, not where you’ve been. We’ve all made mistakes. Now it’s time to think about what we want to do to take the next step forward. Set small, positive goals, think about them, and accomplish them.

2 – Learn to forgive yourself and others. Most of us are wherever we are in life because we put ourselves there. We all make bad choices from time to time, and now it’s time to let that go. It’s called forgiveness and we really can forgive ourselves for bad choices. The next step is to move forward and consistently work to make better choices.

3 – If the glass is half full, then fill it. Optimists are right at least as often as pessimists and have a lot more fun. There’s nothing wrong with taking that half-full glass and filling it the rest of the way.

4 – Look for positive role models. We all need to find someone who inspires us. Maybe that person is someone who overcame a major handicap or maybe it’s just someone who put one foot in front of the other, year after year, and came out very nicely in the end. Or maybe it’s someone who just worked his or her pants off and won the big prize. Let that person be an inspiration.

5 – Change your atmosphere. Instead of listening to the news all the time put on a CD with a good motivational speaker or uplifting music. Most of the news is repeated many times a day and it’s not intended to make us feel good.

6 – Headlines (including news stories) are designed to surprise, shock, and otherwise yank you into a story, Disaster and scandal sell, or so the publishers think. Read something uplifting instead. Visit your bookstore or library and make note of all the motivational type books they have available. Get one that feels right and read it.

7 – Read something positive everyday, preferably when you get up and right before you go to bed. Then think about it, in a positive way. Grab that book you picked up in step 6 and read it for 15 minutes morning and evening for 30 days.

8 – Visualize good things happening. It’s too easy to visualize bad things happening. Bills, what the other person will say, “what if this happens…” and so on. Visualize the good thing happening. Visualize the project going well (whether it’s homework or that next presentation) and people telling you that it was “good stuff!”

9 – Mistakes are something to learn from, not a bat to whack ourselves with. We all make mistakes, it’s how we use them to move on that makes us better. So what if we “blew it” on the last effort, there is always a next time and we can always learn from what happened and do things differently the next time. That’s how we improve.

10 – Dreamboarding is the practice of placing images of “what you want out of life” on a piece of posterboard and placing it where you can see it. As a reminder of where you want to take yourself and what you want to have. Some people have found dreamboarding to be very powerful.

Thinking in a positive manner is as much a habit as is thinking in a negative manner. The reason negative thinking is so easy is because we’ve had so much practice with it. Practice the positive thinking tips to overcome the bad habits and replace them with new ones.

Everyone, from you and me to those awesome Olympic athletes, has a set of habits and these habits either move us forward or hold us back. If we can learn the habits of the successful people, and practice them, then we also will move forward.

Wow. What a show, from just about any way that you want to look at it.

The Chinese are reported to have spend 50 billion dollars on the event, with all the new construction, festival, support services, coordinating upwards of a million volunteers, training, consumes, infinite tiny little details, etc.

And the athletes. Wow. Forget for a minute the issues about a few of them being under-aged, or on drugs, or flopping, or even the what China is like being the scenes.

The athletes are the show. The pageantry is awesome, but it’s not the show. The show is all about the years of training, work, and sacrifice that it takes just to be considered for the Olympic team, much less hit the gold. Imagine the habits that have to be formed and the attitude that these people need to develop.

Nerves? Part of the training they work on is getting past the nerves and the fear. Hard enough doing a talk in front of your group at work, now imagine doing a routine on the balance beam in front of 4 billion people.

How many times does a sprinter work on the launch? How about that little bend over they do when crossing the finish line?

Most of the actions these people do they’ve done to the point where they become habit, and how many times does one have to practice a Vault for that habit to happen?

Getting the Focus

They’re way beyond the “Ok, now I have to do this thing this way and I have to look for this point and I hope I don’t…” With the rare exception where concentration cracks a bit they’ve developed the habit (yeah, I say it’s a habit) of focusing exactly what they want to do and on shutting out all distractions.

I’d even say that most of them aren’t even aware of the audience when they’re doing whatever their event or routine happens to be, especially for the short events. Obviously in a team sport, such as Soccer, the teams are aware of the audience and their cheers and jeers. Still, the habits and the focus are where they have to be.

Now I’m the last person anyone would ever think of as Olympic material, but I did some Martial Arts for awhile. At times the going was easy and at times it was just hard. They easy parts were when I had the training habit down and a routine established, which made the concentration easy.

It’s way too easy to lose that habit.

Even the little habits, much less what it takes to Pole Vault in front of a billion or two people, can drop out of whack with surprisingly little effort.

But if we can find a way to lock in the actions and thoughts which create good habits then we’re on the road to where we want to be. Obviously all those marvelous Olympians, even the one who weren’t competitive, had those habits.

Nothing’s stopping us from developing ours, but the “how” part can be hard, and a little help is nice. The Athletes have their coaches, mentors, support, etc. and there’s not reason that we can’t have the same.

There’s a book which will help you on this path: the Habit guide.

It’s a great way to start building the right habits that are needed to hit your goals, even if they aren’t balance beam routines.

Get your copy of this very helpful book, here.

More Resources for Creating Good Habits:

Millionaire Mindset to Achieve Financial Freedom – Repeated action leads to good habit. Good habits lead to positive character. Positive character and attitude lead to phenomenal result and destiny. Begin to take action and make our dreams become real. Inspiring Journey To Financial …

Good Habits Are Hard to Break – You can train yourself to create mostly positive outcomes on a daily basis in your life by developing good habits. How often have you walked away from some sort of minor catastrophe, disaster or accident, in the kitchen or otherwise, …

Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival: Good Habits Edition – I can’t think of a better way to keep motivated in our endeavors to create good habits than the experiences she shares in this entry. She shows how putting down a new “habit rail” brings more freedom to your life. …

Habits: how to create good ones – 2. I want to relinquish myself from my need from sugar. 3. I want to feel accomplished. HOW DO I CREATE GOOD HABITS? I googled: How to create healthy habits and came across this great blog. Creating Healthy Habits …

Back To School – 17 Good Habits For A Successful Life – It is an indicator of whether you mean what you say and can be trusted. Do not introduce doubt about this into people’s minds by showing up later than expected. Create the habit of being punctual now and you won’t have to worry. …

The Habit guide – The Habit Guide shows you how to live a happy, healthy lifestyle for good. Perfect for newbies and seasoned health seekers alike, Mike Kinnaird reveals every step-by-step detail you must know to finally lose weight, get healthy and set yourself free…”