I recently came across a quote from Theodore Roosevelt that said “If you believe you can you’re halfway there.” I love it, because it speaks to the power of one’s thoughts and mindset and how much influence they have over you.
I’m working with a client right now on her mindset and thought patterns. Ever since she was young, she has dealt with negative thinking and low self-confidence. Despite being incredibly smart and successful first at school and then in her career, she has low inner confidence and often is self-critical whenever she doesn’t meet her own high expectations.
As soon as I learned my client was caught in a pattern of negative self-talk, I knew we had to take steps together to rewire this thought pattern into a positive mindset. According to the Mayo Clinic, there are a myriad of benefits that positive thinking provides. They include:
“Increased life span
Lower rates of depression
Lower levels of distress
Greater resistance to the common cold
Better psychological and physical well-being
Better cardiovascular health and reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease
Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress
A positive mindset also puts you in the right state of mind so you are more focused on doing what needs to be done to reach your goals and don’t waste time stewing on negativity and self-doubts.
For my client, I knew we had to address this negative mindset head-on by introducing new tiny habits into her life that would help shift her mindset into a more positive one. I taught her the habit of recording small wins at night, right before bedtime, to help her reflect on what went right that day at work and at home. The small wins could be anything little that she’s proud of, like responding to her boss via email in a really thoughtful way, speaking up confidently in a meeting, or reading her daughter a book after school. It can be anything small that went right that day. This 5-minute nightly exercise puts her in a positive state of mind, and those positive feelings can continue in her subconscious brain as she sleeps at night, further reinforcing the positive affects of this practice.
Harvard Business School professor Teresa Amabile identifed the power of recording small wins in her research. After she and her research team “analyzed nearly 12,000 diary entries from 238 employees in seven companies” they found that “the efforts of tracking small achievements every day enhanced the workers’ motivation.” Amabile found that the habit of writing down small wins increases the person’s self confidence, which then can be leveraged “toward subsequent, larger successes.”
According to mental training practioner Patrik Edblad, the reason why writing down your small wins each night works is because “any accomplishment, no matter how small, activates the reward circuitry in our brains. When this pathway is opened some key chemicals are released that give us a feeling of achievement and pride.”
In particular, that reward sensation triggers the neurotransmitter dopamine, which produces a good feeling in the body that signals to the brain this event is good and should be repeated. The positive habit loop thus occurs, paving the way for this positive action to become habitual and build your confidence over time.
If you’re ready to try on this mindset habit and begin to record your small wins each night, be sure to read this article on the 3-step formula for creating a habit so you can make sure this habit sticks with you over time. This tiny habit just takes 5 minutes a day and can be a game changer in growing your inner confidence and positive mindset.
If you are ready to learn more strategies on how to build your confidence and cultivate a positive mindset, please reach out to me by filling out this form so we can discuss together your goals and how I can help.
Liz Bapasola, Ed.D. is a Life Coach for Liz Bapasola & Associates, LLC. She writes often about the power of habits, mindset, and strategies for reaching your goals. She can be reached at liz@lizbapasola.com.