How to Tame Your Negative Thoughts

Summary

• When you have a stressful thought, your first instinct might be to act right away. Instead, don't do anything. My favorite solution is to do nothing.

• A great way to handle these thoughts is to observe them. Picture your thoughts like fish in a pond. Some are pretty goldfish, but some might be like a poisoned fish, floating and green with x's on its eyes.

• Thoughts are always changing, just like the fish in the pond. A thought you have now doesn’t mean you'll have it in two hours or in a few days.

• Even if you have the same thought later, it doesn’t define who you are. Doing nothing about it doesn't change anything about you.

Video

How To Take Action

I would suggest implementing a practice of observing your thoughts. Picture them like fish in a pond—some are beautiful goldfish, while others might be rotten and unpleasant. Spend a few minutes each day just watching these thoughts come and go. This helps you realize they change all the time, and they might not be as significant as they feel in the moment.

A good way of doing this is setting aside a few moments each morning or evening to reflect. During this time, don't act on your thoughts; just notice them. You can even draw your pond and the fish to make this more engaging. This simple exercise is cost-free and takes little time but can have a big impact on reducing stress and unfounded worries.

Remember, just because a thought is present now doesn't mean it will stay. And even if it reappears, it doesn’t define you. If you feel a strong urge to act on a stressful thought, pause. Remind yourself that doing nothing is also a choice and can be very powerful. This gives you space to assess whether any action is truly necessary.

By practicing this regularly, you'll become more adept at managing stress and gain clarity, both in your personal growth and your business decisions. It's low effort but high value, bringing calm to your life.

Full Transcript

we have a thought and then immediately we go into an action I had this stressful thought therefore I need to do this thing don't do anything in fact my favorite solution is we do nothing right but the second favorite solution is we observe the thoughts right and so how do you observe thoughts there's a visual that's always worked really well for me which is I think of thoughts almost like fish in a pond and when I'm looking at that pond I see all these really pretty goldfish cuz I like goldfish and then I see like one poisoned one he's like dead floating in the pond he's like green he's like with like x's on his eyes and that's the thought that I'm not too happy with and what I look at is I just see that the fish are always moving and changing when I look at it in one moment it's not the same as the next moment which is similar to thoughts which is I could have a thought this moment it doesn't mean I'm going to have it in two hours and even if I do probably going to have it in a few days and even if I did what does that mean about me if I don't do anything about it nothing