How to Protect Yourself from Negative Thinking

In my bedroom there’s a piece of paper taped to my wall that says “Think like a winner.” (And yes, I’m a single guy, I tape stuff to my walls without a woman yelling at me for it.)

Every morning when I get up I see the paper, and I see it every night before I go to bed. I think it’s one of my favorite phrases because for one reason or another, our mind easily turns negative.

In fact, just the other day I was on the phone with a seller.

This seller was what I call a ‘high maintenance’ seller. They were motivated (which was the only reason I stayed on the phone) but they were also very skeptical and asking a million questions about me and my company. I found myself getting negative and thinking “this guy’s a pain in the butt, this deal will never end up closing.” Then, I looked up at the paper on my wall as I happened to stroll into my bedroom and quickly said to myself, “I’m a great real estate investor, of course this deal is going to close.”

It hasn’t closed yet, but so far so good.

You see, one of the challenges of being an entrepreneur is all of the ‘problems’ that will pop up as you progress on your path as a successful investor. People who don’t move forward don’t make any money and don’t become successful. And people who do move forward become successful, but obviously encounter challenges as they forge ahead.

It doesn’t matter what these challenges are. It could be a difficult seller. Or a tenant who doesn’t pay rent. Or a partner you’re having trouble with. Whatever situation arises, always try to think like a winner and find the opportunity that lies within these difficult situations.

Here’s the story of a non-paying tenant…

Awhile back I had a tenant who called me one day and told me that she couldn’t pay rent anymore and had her hours at work reduced. She was very honest about it, and I had her immediately move out. This had been a good tenant and I hated to lose her, but I can’t have someone live in my houses for free. Instead of thinking negative, I thought to myself “I’ll probably get an even better tenant in there who will stay with me for a long time.” And that’s exactly what’s happened. They’ve never been late on a rent payment yet.

I understand that you might be reading this and not taking it seriously, but I promise it helps. The next time you find yourself going down a negative path of thought, try and stop yourself and turn it around to thinking positive.

The successful people in life learn how to control their minds and “Think like a winner.”

Photo: tourist_on_earth

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.