“Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.” – Michael Jordan
When Michael Jordan said, “Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation,” what did he mean, exactly? If you’ve just lost the most important game in your entire career, that’s a pretty negative situation, so how is it even possible to turn that into a positive? If you’ve just false started and been disqualified from the race, that’s a negative situation that surely can’t be turned into a positive; and if you’ve just broken your leg in training three days before competing in your first Olympics, how can you possibly find anything positive in that situation?
Being able to think positively is not about being positively upbeat about every situation you find yourself in. Let’s face it, stuff happens, and not everything in sport or life is going to go to plan all the time. With the best will in the world, “bad” stuff is going to happen, whether it’s injuries, competition losses, or any other negative event, so being able to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and carry on is an essential element of making it to the top of your game.
“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something, but I can’t accept not trying.” – Michael Jordan
When things don’t go to plan, you have a choice to make – give up or try again. Clearly, if you choose to give up, that’s it, game over, but if you choose to try again, that’s when being able to turn a negative situation into a positive situation becomes crucial.
When you learn to adopt a positive mental attitude and develop a growth mindset, you have what it takes to pick yourself up and try again. Yes, things went wrong, but what can you learn from the experience that will help you to do better next time? Yes, you gave it your all and it wasn’t enough, but what did you do well, and what can you build on to come back even stronger next time?
A positive internal vibe is the invisible architecture of success.
What Michael Jordan means is that positives can always be found if you’re willing to look for them. Remaining positive in your mind creates an energy, an internal vibe, that picks you up from a crushing defeat, or a long-term injury, and keeps you believing that things can get better and that improvements can be made if you learn from the experience and take what you learn forwards with you. That’s turning a negative situation into a positive situation.
Positive energy – focused actions – positive results.
Unless you believe that positive changes can be made, you’re unlikely to commit to doing what needs to be done to make those changes happen. Positive thoughts drive focused actions, and focused actions lead to positive results.
“Bad” things will happen, no amount of positive thinking will keep your journey to success free of roadblocks and setbacks, but what positive thinking will do for you is keep you moving forward.
Don MacNaughton is a High Performance Coach and has worked tirelessly to help clients achieve success in the world of sport and business over the past 15 years. To find out more about the latest courses and programmes please email donald@zonedinperformance.com