4 Tips to Nixing Naysayers
Life is full of negativity and naysayers telling you you’re not good enough. Especially when you’re starting or running a business. And the negativity comes from all over, both external, and internal forces.
Neuroscientist and Entrepreneur Ariel Garten helps break down negative thinking, and gives us tips on how to combat it so we can move forward positively, and successfully.
So, how do we get over the stuff that’s in our brain that’s holding us back? Those voices in our head that tell us we aren’t good enough? Or worrying about our pants looking stupid, so we don’t look good, and they won’t like us? We must train our brain.
Kill the inner critic
Your inner critic is always telling you negative things about yourself, which are rarely true. How many times have you thought “my pants look stupid, they’re not going to like me?” We think these thoughts are motivating, and they’ll help us succeed, but they’re the opposite. They don’t do anything but make us worry more.
One technique to stopping your inner critic in its tracks is to actively communicate with them. Visualize yourself taking your critic and throwing them against a wall. Throw them out of your head. Tell them they have no right to tell you those things, and to get lost.
Meditation
Meditation is a practice that has been around for years. It helps you identify the thoughts that don’t serve us and cause suffering. It makes you observe the process of your thinking, and allows you to make choices about the contents of your own mind. For example: “I can see I’m having that thought, but it’s not useful for me.” Then you can move your mind away from those thoughts, and replace with something positive. Meditation has also been found to calm your physical body. Together, it will help you identify your negative thought cycle and break it.
This practice can be very helpful in combating negativity placed on you by family and friends. We, as human beings, have a want to please others. But sometimes pleasing others isn’t useful for us and our path to success. Meditation helps you recognize this, and change the way you interpret things people say.
Remember, meditation is a practice. Do a little bit everyday., the same way you may go to the gym. By going to the gym a little bit every day, eventually, you’ll be able to lift the couch up by yourself and vacuum underneath it. By meditating a bit each day, eventually you will be able to recognize negative thoughts and stop them in their tracks.
Do not the take the ‘NO’ personally
When starting a business, you will hear a lot of ‘no’. No, they don’t want to your clothing designs, no they don’t want your products. It can be incredibly discouraging. Do not take it personally. It’s business after all. Every no is leading you to a yes. And that yes will be the right fit for you and your business.
Have honest conversations
If you feel comfortable, have real conversations with the important naysayers in your life. Show them your perspective and why you feel what you are doing is important to you, or to the success of your business. They may not agree with your approach, they will understand why you’re doing it, and it can help them stop their own reactivity that causes them to automatically say “no!”
Entrepreneurship is not a straight trajectory. Jump in, and don’t be afraid to do what you have to do to move the business forward. Be willing to put yourself out there. Don’t listen to the no. Find the yes. You are on the right path, and know that you have the skills, knowledge and capabilities to achieve what you want.