When life hands you lemons, make grape juice, sit back, and watch the world wonder how you did it." Unknown Author

Today, almost everyone is working longer hours. Many executives are even doing the job of at least one and sometimes two managers who have been terminated. Small business owners are struggling to stay afloat. Do they need positive thinking? Yes they do! We all need positive thinking!

All business enterprises first started as a thought, an idea, a dream, an intuition and positive mental attitude of the business owner.According to a Stanford Research Institute study success is 88 percent attitude and 12 percent education. This means that a motivated positive thinker will succeed 88 times out of 100 times regardless of his/her educational level. Research has also shown that positive, motivated, and productive individuals set the tone for those around them. They are contagious!

Some of you might be thinking, how can a person be positive when everything around seems to be snowballing down a slope of extreme negativity? Well, the answer lies within shifting your individual states.

Can you recall a time when you were extremely happy, and then you thought about something negative, and you almost instantly felt bad? Do you ever find yourself, whist driving in your car to a meeting, creating negative scenarios in your head of how the meeting might turn out? Doesn't it almost instantly place you in a negative state? Well, let me tell you that these changes in states reflect themselves on our bodies. They create a brutal cycle of self-doubt, and this cycle becomes visible to the outer world. If you have ever heard: "What's wrong? You don't look like you're having the greatest day.", then you know exactly what I am talking about.

Fortunately, you can change your negative states as quickly as they were formed. Although it might take some time to master the art of positive thinking, results will be tremendous on your emotional, mental, physical, spiritual and financial fitness.

The following are the 6 easy steps:

1) Associate yourself with successful and positive people: As I mentioned earlier, these people are contagious, so keep them around!

2) Always have your positive affirmation ready, and constantly rehearse it to yourself. a) Ex. "Every day in every way I am building a profitable business".

b) Affirmations are great, but not enough. Do them with conviction, and follow your affirmations with massive action.

c) Avoid words like: Can't - Might - Try - Hope - Maybe - Wish

3) Avoid negative thoughts by shifting your state. We all have negative thoughts from time to time. It's normal. A quick and easy way to shift your state is by changing your physiology and your focus. Remember: "Where focus goes energy flows." - Anthony Robbins

4) Set SMART goals. (Paul J. Meyer describes the characteristics of S.M.A.R.T. goals in Attitude is Everything.) Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals, but don't dwell on your goals waiting for the perfect time. There never is a perfect time. You must take action NOW!

5) Be grateful. Gratitude is perhaps the single most powerful and positive tool for success. When you're grateful for all of the wonderful things and people in your life, the challenges you face seem significantly less important, and are more easily dealt with.

6) Pay it forward. Helping other people is the greatest form of true happiness. When you help other people, you feel exceptionally alive. Try it, who knows, it might just work for you!

In the end, I really hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Anthony Rizk, CT.NLP, C.Ht.

http://www.anthonyrizk.org

Don't forget to visit this link to get your personal development CDs: http://www.anthonyrizk.org/services/products

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Author's Bio: 

Anthony Rizk, MBA, CT.NLP, C.Ht. has been a student of human behavior patterns, lateral thinking, behavioral change, NeuroLinguistic Programming and hypnosis for many years. He holds a Masters in Business Administration, and is an NGH Certified Hypnotherapist in USA, a Certified Master Hypnotist, a Certified Self-Hypnosis Teacher, a NeuroLinguistic Programming Trainer, a Corporate Trainer, a Public Speaker and a Personal Development Coach.
He operates out of a cozy clinic in Beirut, Lebanon where he has successfully conducted thousands of hours of hypnotherapy, corporate consultancy, and extensive one-on-one personal coaching. In addition to his clients, famous celebrities, politicians, high profile professionals, and leading companies consult him regularly seeking to overcome personal challenges and realize their true potential.
Anthony Rizk, MBA, CT.NLP, C.Ht is the first fully certified NeuroLinguistic Programming Trainer in Lebanon. Moreover, he has helped put together a NeuroLinguistic Programming course exclusively for business professionals, and received the complete approval of the National Federation of NeuroLinguistic Programming, hence allowing him to fully train and certify practitioners from all walks of life. Moreover, his motivational events have been compared to the likes of Anthony Robbins and Zig Ziglar.
As you will experience soon, Anthony’s recordings, sessions, trainings, lectures and events are consistently the most effective, popular and trusted of their type.