Don’t think about a purple elephant.

Don’t think about a red rose.

Don’t think about being sad.

By now you have thought about all three of the things I told you not to think about. Over the next few days I can bet you will either see one or all three of these things – and hopefully it will not be a real life sad purple elephant holding a red rose in his trunk! Let me know immediately if this happens!

Now let’s do this make this exercise a little differently…

Think about winning a prize.

Think about being happy.

Think about the beach.

Could you see all three? Maybe you will now win a prize vacation to a beach resort where you will be blissfully happy! Keep me posted!

The point of this little exercise is to get you to understand the power of your thoughts and how your thoughts effect your reality. Your mind will create a vision of whatever you think about (or say) and often times what we think about is the opposite of what we want. For instance, if you say, “I don’t want to be fat,” your mind will zero in on the word “fat” and will instantly create a fat picture of yourself in your head and it will get to work on making your vision a reality. Your mind doesn’t recognize the word “don’t” – I supposed that if it did, you would end up with a fat picture of yourself with the international sign of Don’t on it – you know the one, a red circle with a line through it.

The key is to create thoughts and visions and use words that support what you “do” want. If you are fed-up with being fat, you will find much greater success in reducing your weight if you say, “I want to be thin,” or better yet, “I enjoy being healthy and fit.” If you want to improve your work environment, focus on thinking about the good things about your job, your co-workers and even your boss. Want to make more money? Focus on getting a raise instead of thinking about how poor you are or complaining about how you don’t get paid enough. The key is to focus on what you want and not on what you don’t want.

Here’s some other common things we say to others that we should change:

“Don’t fall” to “Be careful”

“Don’t get sick” to “Stay healthy”

“Don’t get lost” to “Safe travels”

“Don’t be late” to “Be on time”

The old saying is true: What you say is what you get. Your thoughts create action and your actions create results. Go through your day consistently thinking about your best healthy, wealthy and happy self and set about making it a reality!