3 Ultimate Ways How to Change Negative Thinking Fast

Do you know that one of the most common reasons most people are living in mediocrity, stuck at where they are, and are not producing real results in life is because of negative thinking?

Les Brown puts it nicely:

“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.”

That’s right, too many of us fail to live a good life because we are stuck with negative thinking that stops us from getting what we want.

So, in this guide, I will share with you the 3 ultimate ways how you can change negative thinking fast.

If you are struggling with negative thinking, you always feel inferior, stuck, always complain, blame, or stressed with yourself or your life, then this guide will be for you.

These are the 3 methods you can use to immediately stop/change negative thinking quickly. Try out these methods and see if they work for you…

1. Reframe the Meaning of the Negative Thoughts

Here’s what you need to understand – thoughts are neutral, except the meaning you associate and give them.

Let me give you an example…

When Richard Branson was stranded in the Puerto Rico airport because his flight was canceled, he didn’t join the rest of the passengers to complain and blame. Instead, he chartered an airplane, took a whiteboard, wrote a message on the board to sell the ticket, walked around the airport, and fully sold his tickets.

That was how he got the idea to start Virgin Airlines.

You see, when you are stranded at the airport due to flight cancellation, what would you do? You complain. And you wait.

But not billionaire Branson. He reframed the situation as an opportunity.

You have to do the same when dealing with negative thoughts. Whenever you are feeling negative, ask yourself the following questions…

• “What does this mean?”
• “How can I turn this around?”
• “Is there anything I can learn from this?”

Asking yourself these questions helps you reframe the meaning of your thoughts.

Here’s a personal experience on how changing the meaning of thoughts helps me in my journey as a blogger. I used to be afraid of publishing on YouTube. And I have this negative thinking that I can’t produce good quality videos.

But I asked myself, “How can I turn this around?” And the answer came. I discovered that I don’t have to record the video from scratch or even do it myself. I can look for transcription services or freelancers who can turn the articles on my blog into videos. Problem solved. And since then, I’m able to grow my presence on both my blog and on YouTube.

Robert Kiyosaki once said these words:

“Failure defeats losers. Failure inspires winners.”

The same circumstances, one person may look at it as a roadblock that stops him, but another chooses to look at it as a challenge that inspires him to succeed.

That’s the power of reframing the meaning of your thoughts.

Action Steps:

Here’s what you can do to change negative thinking fast. First, be conscious of your thinking. Second, once you found yourself thinking negatively, ask yourself the 3 questions to change your thinking pattern.

Rather than focusing on the negative, asking questions allow you to refocus and reframe the meaning of the situation. You’ll be able to gain back control of your thoughts by asking empowering questions.

You can also attend this free workshop and learn how to turn your negative emotions into a source of inspiration to help you succeed in life.

Read: 7 Effective Techniques How to Conquer Negative Thoughts

2. Embrace, Accept, and Allow Yourself to Be Negative… For Just 5 Minutes

The second way to overcome negative thinking is this – allow yourself to be negative, but just for 5 minutes.

That’s right, you may be thinking that I’m crazy to suggest you this method. But it works, and it works wonder.

In his best-selling book, The Miracle Equation, Hal Elrod shared what he called the 5-Minute Rule to help you overcome negative thinking.

In my previous article, You Are What You Think, these were what I wrote:

When Hal was young, he was hit by a drunk driver and was clinically pronounced dead for 6 minutes. He broke most of his bones and the doctor told him he could never walk again. However, Hal went on to prove the doctor wrong by living an amazing life. And he credited his great recovery to the 5-Minute Rule.

Like everybody, after the accident, Hal was depressed and grieved over his situation. But he did something differently – he allowed himself to feel negative, but only for 5 minutes.

This was what he did: he would get upset, angry at the drunk driver for damaging his health and life and felt totally negative. But for just 5 minutes.

And after the 5 minutes were up, he would spend his mental energies focusing on getting and living a better life.

So, here’s the rule: You can overthink, feel upset, negative, complain, moan, yell, or whatever, but for NO LONGER than 5 minutes.

Once the 5 minutes are over, accept your situation, and focus on the present. Stop overthinking and get back to work after the 5 minutes are up.

This is how the 5-Minute Rule work. You don’t have to get rid of negative thinking. Instead, learn to embrace it.

You see, we humans are wired to have emotions, including feeling negative. You don’t have to always stop feeling or thinking negatively, instead, learn to live with it, but for just 5 minutes.

When you accept the negative feeling and thinking, you will become more emotionally resilient. You will become mentally stronger. And this is why it is important to learn to live with negative emotions and thinking.

Action Steps:

Follow Hal Elrod’s advice. Allow yourself to feel negative, but only for 5 minutes. Set a timer for 5 minutes and allow yourself to blame, complain, get angry, shout, feel sad, and completely soak yourself in the negative emotion.

Once the 5 minutes are up, stop everything and start focusing on what’s most important and what you can do.

I suggest you get a copy of Hal’s book and read it immediately. It is one of the most inspirational books on living a better life…

3. Change Your Focus from Negative to Positive

The third way how to change negative thinking fast is to change your focus from negative to positive.

This is like switching your thoughts. Whenever you started to think negatively, stop and change your thoughts.

Here’s a simple example. When you caught yourself thinking, “I’m a failure”, or “I’m going to fail”, you should replace the thought with something positive, such as “I know I’m going to succeed” or “I can make it”.

Or if you think this is too difficult, try to change to a more neutral thought, like, “I’m not sure if this will work, but I’ll try my very best”.

Changing your thoughts from negative to positive requires willpower and self-awareness. Meaning, you need to be aware that you are thinking negatively, only then you can swap the thought with another.

According to this article on VerywellMind.com, replacing negative thoughts with positive ones helped people reduce negative thoughts and biases that play a role in contributing to anxiety.

Action Steps:

The key to replacing a negative thought is your awareness. When you are aware that you are thinking negatively, you can then proactively swap the thoughts.

Practice affirmations help too. When you are feeling or thinking negatively, recite positive affirmations in your head or out loud. Do it repeatedly until the negative thought holds no power on you.

Here’s something you should read: 5 Simple Rules How To Make Your Affirmations Work

Besides that, using a thought diary can work too. A thought diary helps you identify negative thinking patterns so that you gain a better understanding of how your thoughts cause your emotional reactions.

The moment you decided to write down your thoughts, you become aware of how you are thinking, which gives you an edge to overcome negative thinking before it takes control over your day.

Read: 7 Ways How to Stop Negative Thoughts from Entering Your Mind

Conclusion

These are the 3 ways how you can change negative thinking fast. What I shared here are proven methods backed by studies. You don’t have to take my words for granted, instead, I recommend you try these methods yourself.

When you started to think negative, do these:

1) Reframe and change the meaning of the thoughts,

2) Accept and allow yourself to feel negative, but for no more than 5 minutes, or

3) Replace the negative thought with a positive one.

If you still need more help on conquering negative thoughts, take this workshop from John Assaraf. John is a New York Times best-selling author, and he is also one of my favorite success mentors. In his free workshop, he will share with you how to turn your negative emotions into a powerful source of motivation instead of a source of suffering and anxiety.