Think Positive in 1 Minute

When I conduct workshop on positive thinking, I use a technique to change the negative thinkers into positive ones almost instantly. I ask participants to write a sentence about their organization. I put the condition that they must use ‘but’ in the sentence. The most common response is, “My organization is a great place to work but it underpays me.”

When I ask them to write a sentence about their boss with the same condition in place. They write, “My boss is a good manager but he is biased.”

In my interpersonal relationship workshop, the one sentence is, “My spouse works hard but he doesn’t understand me.”

You must have observed the typical sequence in such sentences is ‘positive-but-negative’ For example, my job is interesting but it is thankless. In this sentence, my job is interesting, is positive. After ‘but’, it is thankless, is negative.

You just reverse the sequence from ‘positive-but-negative’ to ‘negative-but-positive’.

My job is thankless but it is interesting.

Without changing facts, you will feel positive about your job instantly.

It may be a fact that your organization pays you less. But it is also a fact that it is a great place to work. To think positive about it, you must say,

‘My organization underpays me but it is a great place to work.’

‘My boss is biased but he is a good manager.’

‘My spouse does not understand me but s/he works hard.’

'I failed but I tried.'

'I might have low self motivation today but I know I can do it.'

The empirical research on using the 'Negative-but-Positive' technique proves to change pessimism into optimism in 75% people.

Now, you are ready to change the negative feelings about a person, place or thing into positive ones within 2 seconds. Just practice.

One more thing you will notice after continued practice of this ‘reverse the sequence’ method that your productivity, self esteem and relationship with concerned people, place and thing will significantly improve within a very short period of time.

(c) Prahlad Kumar Pandey, 2020