I have been evaluating our life and how to change it for the better. This self evaluation has led me to this question, "Are you too negative"? WAIT A MINUTE, I am one of the most positive people you could want to meet. OR AM I?

I have an outlook that says we will make it. I hate being with people who are always complaining about this or that. I have positive, motivational tapes and CDs, I have "Think and Grow Rich" and other motivational books. I have printed motivational sayings. I am a positive person! OR AM I?

Lately I have been getting up an hour or two earlier than Sharon. This morning I was up at 5:02 a.m. I use this extra time to read, think and plan. Today's thoughts were on my attitudes. Yesterday I was reading a forum that talked about discipline to stay focused on internet marketing. . One poster said,
"My golden rule:
Waking up totally passionate about what you do.
It's not called self-discipline then.
It's called living your purpose."

This got me thinking about discipline and focus and working. I think I told you that I have a couple new sayings to live by:
"Work when I am at work" and "Discipline"

As I contemplated the post above and my new sayings, it occurred to me that both of my sayings are rather negative, not positive and motivating. WORK has its own negative connotation. I used "work" twice in my new mantra Discipline also has a negative connotation. It implies having to do something regardless of how hard, how difficult or whether you want to do it or not.

As I was doing my morning thinking today, I started writing down a number of my often repeated negative sayings.
"I have nothing worth selling." "My inventory is obsolete." " This warehouse is a millstone around my neck" "We are broke." "I procrastinate" And on an on for a list of 16 self deprecating things I say to myself and others on a regular basis. I never thought they were that negative, just an evaluation of reality.

REALITY? What is reality. Some of us are Republican and some are Democrats. Some are Catholics and some are Protestants. The reality is what you tell yourself and what you believe. What you continually tell yourself is what you become. You create a belief system that you must be true to. If you daily talk about being a Republican and how much you believe in their policies, anything else just does not make sense.

Your reality is what you believe it is. My reality is laced with a minimum of 16 negative sayings I repeat over and over. If you are told something often enough, you are going to believe it after a while.

I looked at "My Golden Rule" above and got to thinking. The more I thought, the more it made sense and my sayings did not.

So, I changed my, "Work when I am at work" to "I am passionate about what I do at the office." In reality this is closer to my belief. There was a time when I would have given anything to quit my job and be able to have a warehouse full of stuff I could make a full time living from. This was my passion and I wanted it so bad, but was afraid to try it. Now, I have it and complain about it. I call it work instead of my passion.

A few simple attitude adjustments and I could make life for Sharon and me so much better.

I said I need "discipline". Again a negative way to get things done. I already am living my dream and refused to admit it. So, if that is true, "I live my purpose when I am at the office" makes more sense than "discipline."

Next, I need to focus on, "I Enjoy living my purpose."

I hope you understand what I am saying this morning. I hope you think about how negative self talk may be affecting your life. I thought I was positive, but without breaking a sweat I came up with 16 negative sayings I use on myself on a regular basis. How many more I have, I do not know, but I plan to be on the lookout for them in a effort to eliminate them or turn them around into positive sayings.

All of this makes me think of one more saying, "Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you are right"