yep!

by Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson has been a technical manager on and off for nearly two dec-ades. At AT&T, he's best known for writing Yacc, Lint, and the Portable Compiler.

<scj@transmeta.com>

and Dusty White

Dusty White works as a management consultant in Silicon Valley, where she acts as a trainer, coach, and trouble-shooter for technical companies.

<dustywhite@earthlink.net>

The human mind cannot directly remember a negative. Some ingenious research involving reaction times has demonstrated that when we remember a negative concept, we first remember the positive concept, and then associate with it a one-bit NOT tag. This is easy to demonstrate to yourself — if I say "Don't think of an elephant," what's the first thing you think of? An elephant!

So consider what happens when you express an intention or a goal as a negative, something you want to move "away from." Suppose, for example, that you want to earn money so you will not be in poverty. Every time you think "Not Poverty," your brain first brings up the concept "Poverty," complete with all its associations of filth, disease, powerlessness, hunger, ignorance, debt, and desperation. And while these associations are being lit up in your brain, there is one little bit saying "not! not! not!"

Is this the kind of stuff you want your brain reinforcing?

On the other hand, suppose you can visualize wealth, or, if that's too extreme, comfort. A warm room in a cozy house, furnished with taste, a good meal before you, bills all paid, and some savings in the bank. What lights up in your brain with this image?

Not only is this image more energizing to think about, it also puts you in a more receptive frame of mind in which you recognize and can act on pieces of your vision as they become possible.

When you become more aware of the power of positive thinking (to quote an old book title), you'll find it really amazing how many ways we reinforce our old negative patterns through "away-from" thinking.

At work, we raise our anxiety trying not to fail, rather than trying to succeed.

At the store, we worry so much about being cheated or making a bad purchase that the joy of ownership is blunted.

In relationships, we say, "I'm never going to do that again!" over and over. If we focus on, for example, our fears that our partner is unfaithful, think what circuits light up in our brain. Is it any wonder then that romance dies?

You can carry positivity one step further, not just thinking the thought, but walking the walk. You can act as if your positive desires are already obtained. You are a success at work, a savvy shopper, and your partner loves you beyond measure.

Dreamland? Not really. Realize that bad things do happen, and what you desire may not always come true. But by acting as if you have the positive things you desire, when good things happen you are in an ideal position to take advantage of them, and when bad things happen, you are also in an ideal position to find the greatest possible good in them.

So spend some time on your goals. Get rid of the "away froms." Make your goals vivid, see them, smell them, taste them, touch them. And then live as if you have them. One day you will realize that you do.