Control Your Reality With Positive Thinking

Marcus Oakey November 3, 2014
64 Comments

On this episode from the Vault you can pull up a front row seat on a train: we’re on in Aachen, Germany.

You’re going to learn one of my favourite positive thinking techniques, which I refer to as the “no problem” – technique. Throughout your life, you’re going to have events come up that cause you a bit of a headache, and when they do, you need to be prepared.

Positive thinking shapes your attitude when dealing with people. When we have a positive mindset, the emotional vibe that we give off is always upbeat, influential, and charismatic. Just think about how much more successful your own conversations are when you are beaming with positivity. Now I’m not the biggest fan of positive thinking exercises, because that kind of implies that you have to put in a lot of work to become a positive thinker, when really the whole process can be effortless.

To see how I deal with a real life scenario (that would once have sent me berserk!) keep watching and I’ll show you exactly what you can do to stay positive, no matter what is going on around you.

  • Positive Thinking Techniques
  • “No Problem”
  • Frustration
  • My “Challenges” In Aachen…

Every single day something will come up that is going to challenge you, and so I really want to share with you a really simple concept that will change your idea of positive thinking forever.

“No Problem”

Put simply, the concept I am referring to is reframing any problem that comes into your life, and being able to change your mindset in order to deal with it. And the best way that I’ve found to do this is to tell yourself, “No problem!”

By saying, “no problem” you don’t allow yourself to become emotionally invested in the conversation.

In the video, you’ll see that me and my two good friends Andy and Yad were running late for the return plane journey from our trip to Aachen. In similar scenarios, the majority of people’s blood starts boiling and they get overwhelmingly frustrated. But you can tell that all 3 of us are fairly relaxed and chilled about the whole thing, and it’s because both Andy and Yad employ similar positive thinking techniques themselves.

Frustration

Becoming frustrated is rarely of any use. Would it have helped us get to the airport faster? Not at all. All it really does it get your blood boiling to no avail. When people are faced with something they can’t control, they lose control of themselves. In reality, the only thing that we can ever really control in a stressful situation is our reaction to what’s happening.

Another great way of being more comfortable and relaxed with potential stressors is actually asking yourself what the worst possible thing that can happen is. Often you’ll find that it’s really not that bad!

My “Challenges” In Aachen…

To give you an example of just how badly things went for me in Aachen –  on my walk to the train station, my suitcase was left unzipped the entire way and as a result, my beautiful Macbook Pro had fallen out!

The bad luck didn’t stop there. Along with losing my Macbook, I’d lost a book I’d written for all of you on charisma, and lost my wallet!

So in total, here’s a list of everything that went wrong for me in just one day…

-I’d lost my Macbook

-I’d lost the book I’d written (Note to self: backup computer next time!)

-I’d lost my wallet

-We were running late for the airport and facing having to buy another round of tickets, as well as potentially sleeping overnight in the airport.

So right now life is really throwing a few challenges my way. In this position, I could react one of two ways:

“I just lost my Macbook!!! And my wallet!! And my Book! What the f@*k am I going to do now!!!”

….Or:

“Some lucky person in Germany has ended up with a new laptop. What’s the worst that can happen? I’ve just made an unintended charitable donation. I think I’ll write another book. I’ve already written one, so the next one is going to be better. I’ll get another laptop; they’re expensive, but I’ll find a way. And hopefully we’ll get to the plane on time, and even if we don’t, guess what, it’s “no problem!”

It’s this second type of attitude that keeps me upbeat and bouncing off the walls with positive energy.

Any time life throws a challenge your way remember this concept. Having this mentality shows your brain that you can deal with almost anything.

But going back to the story… after a really speedy taxi journey, we made it to the airport with a few minutes left on the clock. Thankfully we managed to charm our way through customs (being a charisma coach definitely has its advantages!), we dashed over to our terminal and made it by the skin of our teeth!.. only to find that there was one slight problem.. I’ll let you watch the video to find out! (Wow!)

So I guess the lesson to learn from this is that even if we had gotten stressed out about being late, it wouldn’t have made any difference really. And just to put your mind at ease, we all got home okay without having to spend the night in the airport! I hope you can see now how easy it is to stay positive. And you can do so with just a reframing of a situation without even having to do any positive thinking exercises.

So remember, No Problem! Or ‘hakuna matata’, ‘no worries’ or however else you like to phrase it!

When you’re ready, let’s move through The Vault and onto episode six…

Further Reading

“The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles Of Positive Psychology” by Shawn Achor

 

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