5 Reasons Why Vision Boards and Positive Thinking Are Killing Your Business
“Just think positive!” You might have heard these words over and over again from friends, family, and colleagues every time you are confronted with a new venture, project or problem where you really have no idea what’s about to happen next.
As an entrepreneur, you might have been taught to just “think positively,” whenever you need to start a new business or make a difficult business decision. Your loved ones might have also encouraged you to come up with a “vision board” where you can cut and paste pictures/words of your dream destinations, cars, clothes, properties, and other goals.
Many articles online, and even the popular book, “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne, would tell you that you can get whatever you want as long as you think positively and envision yourself strongly about achieving all those goals. But the truth is, in reality, you have to do better than that.
A psychological study by Gabrielle Oettingen and Doris Mayer from New York University found that positive thinking and vision boards may even cause a negative impact on a business – and can even kill it! Below are 5 reasons why:
1. Loss of Motivation
In Oettingen and Mayer’s study, they did a test on two different groups of college students – those who are very positive about their life after college, and those who are not very optimistic about it. They asked the students to visualize the moment they graduate from college and getting their dream job. That includes envisioning themselves working in Fortune 500 companies or non-profit organizations (whatever success meant to them). They also asked students to envision possible failures – like being rejected for a job and being told that they are not qualified enough for it.
Surprisingly, those who are more positive about getting their dream job had low success rates (by two to one). On the contrary, those who weren’t too positive turned out to be more prepared for the real world. This is because they have anticipated the possible challenges and obstacles that they could face during job hunting, and have prepared themselves to overcome such.
In business, especially in network marketing, being simply positive that your venture will be successful won’t cut it. Anticipating challenges and failures along the way can make you more prepared and motivated to carefully plan out your steps towards success.
2. Lack of Concrete Plans
Vision boards are great for people who are clinically depressed. These people are usually wrapped up in a negative cycle (of thoughts and emotions), that’s why a vision board could work as a visual reminder that there are still better things to look forward to. Vision boards are also great for people who have very low self-confidence and esteem, and for those who have a hard time envisioning what their goals really are.
Vision boards aren’t that bad, but you have to remember that when it comes to business, you need more than just drawings and writings on a wall. These boards can only serve as your visual reminders and motivators, but what really gets you there are your action plans.
3. They Impede Action
Sure, you can get yourself a vision board, but here’s a thought – instead of posting pictures that represent your actual goals, why not add pictures of people who actually take action? Like if you’re trying to lose weight, don’t just place a picture of your favorite model or fitness guru, paste a picture of someone who’s DOING something to lose weight. This includes photos of people who are jogging, lifting weights, exercising and the like.
If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, for example, don’t just put a photo of your favorite billionaire on that board, paste photos of yourself and other people who took steps towards becoming rich – getting a degree, attending seminars/meetings, talking to people, reinventing a product, etc.
The thing is, a vision board usually just represents the end goal and not the actual work and effort that are required to get there. The glitz and glamour of your goals can distract you from actually making concrete plans and taking action. Avoid this as much as possible and focus on actual work.
4. Creates Self-Doubt
Since vision boards usually just represent the end goal, you might eventually beat yourself up when you haven’t bought that dream house/car yet. Worse, you may feel like a failure if your company hasn’t grown into that multi-floor office that you’ve always wanted.
When we start seeing that most goals were not reached yet, we have a tendency to doubt ourselves and eventually think about giving up.
5. Believing That You’re Wrong
Once you start doubting yourself, your mind will reinforce the belief that maybe you are not meant to be an entrepreneur, or that maybe you are not meant to be successful. Such kind of thinking will blind you from the possible actions that you can still take to save your business.
Maybe you just need more time to refine your products and processes, or maybe you just need to backtrack and rethink your marketing strategy? Giving up may be an option, but there are still numerous paths to take and tweak before finally resorting to it.
The bottom line of Oettingen and Mayer’s study is that our brains are better prepared for success if it keeps thinking about all the things that could go wrong on a certain path or venture. Some people might say that a negative mind attracts more negative vibes. But in reality, it only means that your brain has mentally prepared for such negativities and that when it comes, you are more than ready to go through the challenges (especially in business!).
Watch this video and find out what mentality an entrepreneur needs to have in order to be successful.
Check out this list of amazing tools you can use to make it easier for you to run your network marketing business.
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