OPPORTUNITY JUST AHEAD

"If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade."

-Tom Peters

A window of opportunity is a period of time, during which some action can be taken that will achieve a desired objective. Once the "window has closed", the specified outcome is no longer possible. In some cases with very brief or unpredictable windows of opportunity, automation may be used to take advantage of these windows of opportunity, as in algorithmic trading (i.e. trading bots). Real-time computing systems are capable of being able to guarantee responses within at least milliseconds. In some cases they may also be artificially imposed, such as a marketing tactic to encourage action in what is commonly known as a "limited time offer". This is what business sales schools teach to be the "impending doom close".

^{source: flickr.com - Photo by Heri West}

This statement speaks for itself. It's back to the glass being half full or half empty. It is really either having faith in the possibility of a positive outcome or fear of the possibility in something negative happening. When you think about it, both are really faith, because fear is in essence faith in a negative outcome. Even if it may appear up-side-down, the fact remains that fear in a negative outcome shows a capacity of faith. So the objective is to flip that strong faith around in the direction of the outcome you really want.

How We Can Change Negative Thoughts Into Positive

We can train our self to flip negative thoughts into positive ones by first becoming more aware of them. Awareness is a very powerful ability that we can improve on. When correctly utilized, our awareness can help us put a stop to a lot of negative thinking. Many of our negative thoughts are often conditioned into us and get generated without our being aware of them. By becoming aware of them, we can consciously choose how they will affect us and as a result free our mind from their chains.

One of the primary contributors to negative thoughts is stress. We have all experienced some sort of stressful situation. When something stressful is experienced all we can think about is what went wrong over and over again. Our mind begins to loop those thoughts over and over again. We get stuck on it and before we know it, we aren’t even thinking about the original thing that caused the stress to begin with and have moved on to some other negative thoughts. These can make us depressed and lead to all sorts of other emotional issues.

The best way to stop negative thoughts from ruining our day is to change them to positive thoughts. Whenever we experience a negative thought, we can focus our awareness on the present moment and then pinpoint the unwanted aspects. In doing so, we have more control on how they affect us. Then we can become a neutral observer and observe our own thoughts. This will help reduce any strong emotions that prevent us from thinking clearly. Once calm, try to link negative thoughts to life lessons, which help us understand them better. By understanding undesirable thoughts, our perspective of them will usually change in a way that is very empowering.

^{source: brainyquote.com}

Tips to Overcome Negative Thoughts:

1) Identify the Source of the Problem

Before we can change course and start thinking positively, it is important to identify what our point of pain actually is. By labeling the root, we can begin to reign in all of the other undesirable thoughts that are just a byproduct. For example, we probably don’t get too upset about spilling coffee on our self, but maybe we are worried about an upcoming presentation we have at work. Once we have pinpointed this, we can find ways to diminish the effects of our negative thoughts.

2) Visualize Positive Outcomes

We may have heard of famous athletes taking time out before an important competition to visualize scoring a winning goal to win the game. Many successful people, like athletes, do this to channel something that is stressful into something positive. When we find our negative thoughts consume us, we can find a quiet spot and sit down to visualize whatever we would like to experience. This can help self-correct our negative thinking and start activating the side of our brain which is best at this.

3) Surround Ourselves with Positive People

Many people have a hard time freeing up their mind from destructive negative thoughts, because they often surround themselves with negative people. If you are struggling with too much negative stinking thinking, take a deep breath, step back and observe who may be a source of negativity. Do they complain a lot or talk badly about others? Do they seem to never be able to see the good side of anything? Once aware of negative sources, we can avoid these people and/or be more conscientious not to fall into their destructive influence.

^{source: OwnThoughts}