How Freelancers Can Overcome Negative Thinking

In this world, people think and act differently. That difference could even affect you and might influence how you think and act too. Well, that is okay if the influence is good but if not, that would be a different story. Some people tend to give negative vibes because of how they view certain things in life. They look at the worst of things and would also think of failure and other negative stuff. These people are pessimists. Pessimists are like ending their success without even trying to get one because they already think of failure even before taking the first step.

Anyone can become pessimistic that is why you have to make sure that every time you think negative thoughts, you know how to stop them and convert them into positive ones. It is important to be at the positive side no matter how negative things may appear because it will help you succeed. This too is important when you are into freelancing. There could be people who are stopping you to do freelance which might make you hesitant to do it. You might also think that you cannot do it which hinders you to try it. Or if you are already in freelancing, you might also think negatively about applying to a certain job or even with the work you are doing. Hence, we are here to help you stop all those thoughts so you can be in the right track again.

Pessimistic vs. Optimistic

Before we proceed to our main topic, allow us to give you a brief comparison of pessimistic people and optimistic people. Let us start with optimistic people. Optimists are those who look at things positively no matter how bad it appears. They know how to spot a certain light in a dark cave. They will look at a small good thing as something that will turn out great. People who are optimistic focus more on success and in achieving their goals. They have better dispositions and are happy people. They can even shrug stress and worries away which helps them to deal with it in a good way.

On the other hand, pessimistic people are negative thinkers. They will always see the negative side of things. Instead of seeing a light in the cave, they will see complete darkness or if they see a small light, they will look at it as too small. A single mistake will affect his entire work and he will tend to generalize that he will never be able to do things rightly anymore. Whenever they do something, they will think they will fail and would expect the worse to happen. Pessimistic people are always stressed and they worry about just anything.

To make it clearer, we have here an infographic for you from Mindjet.

Why Some People are Pessimists

We might wonder why some people are negative thinkers. There are different reasons behind that. It could be because of their experiences in life. They might experience failure a lot of times and are finding it hard to believe that they will still succeed. Most of the time, they will look at success as luck and not as a result of hard work. It is said that pessimism begins in childhood. Well, children are normally and usually optimistic but once their environment gives them a negative turn, they will start travelling that wrong turn. There could be certain childhood experiences that made them start to think negatively. Their parents might have criticized them most of the time. When kids are constantly reminded that they are failures, they would think that they really are failures until they grow up because they have lost their self-worth. In some cases, parents might also be pessimistic people which influence the children. Now that includes influence.

Experience and influence can make some pessimistic which could affect his work and his entire life. Aside from childhood roots, the things that we get through when we grow up will also affect our thoughts. That even includes our choice of friends and the type of activities we do. But not all people think negative all the time. There are just instances that make one think negatively for two reasons: failure to accept reality and fear of failure. These two things are the common reasons why even optimistic people can sometimes think negatively.

But whatever our experiences are and whatever beliefs we have in life, it is important that we are able to control our thoughts. Make it a point to always look at the light at the end of the tunnel. Always think that no matter how hard things are there will always be a sweeter twist. So instead of thinking negatively and griping about your hard experiences, just go try, go on and you will reap the fruits in the end. But if you will keep on dwelling with negatives thoughts, you won’t get your sweet fruit and you will have no other way to go but down.

How to Overcome Negative Thinking

We know you do not want to go down. Freelancers are people who take risks but would take the road going up even if you know that you might also go down. But instead of worrying about the road leading down, it would be a lot better if you think of the road going up. Hence, if you caught yourself worrying and thinking negatively, you can stop yourself. Or if you have noticed that you are becoming a pessimist, help yourself by taking note of the tips below:

1. Avoid overthinking.

Sometimes, we tend to overthink. These are situations when we think so much about one thing and then we end up pondering on so many things that ends up in a negative way. Overthinking is like making snowballs. They become bigger and bigger as it rolls in the snow. For example you woke up late and you thought “OMG. It’s late! I still need to finish a design. If I won’t finish it, I won’t be able to give it in before deadline. The client will be so mad and disappointed that he won’t work with me anymore. Worse, he might not pay me with the rest of the bill! He would surely give a negative feedback on my work. My freelance career is a disaster. How can I live without earnings? It would certainly be hard to look for a day job. I’m a failure.” That is how you can think like a snowball. You just woke up late and then you ended up thinking that you are a complete failure as a freelance designer. Stop thinking that way because if not, your work will be affected and you will no longer be productive.

2. Convert negative thoughts to positive ones.

Make it a practice to convert your negative thoughts into positive ones. It won’t really be hard to do that if you try. Let us go back to the example in the first entry. You woke up late. Instead of thinking that way, you can be thankful that you had a good sleep which means you can work well on your project. Yes, you are starting late but at least you will be able to perform better because you had a good rest and you are fully charged. For sure, you could finish your project with better quality and impress your client not just by the good quality of your output but also because you could also turn it over on time.

3. Do not scare yourself.

If you keep on thinking negatively, you would be scaring yourself. Avoid doing that because if you scare yourself, you will be discouraged to reach your goals. You would be afraid to even try it. So, instead of scaring yourself, encourage yourself. No one else can help you up but yourself.

4. Don’t minimize the positive.

There are always positive points in every situation and in every individual. Learn to spot those positive points. Magnify success and minimize setbacks for this is the best way to drive your attention to positive thoughts. If you do otherwise, you would miss the positive and just focus on the negative. Make it a habit to look for the good side instead of always considering the bad side.

5. Don’t generalize the negatives.

When negative things happen, they are just temporary and specific. These are not permanent and general. So do not generalize them. For example, if you were not hired for a certain job, do not say “I’m a complete failure. ” Instead, you should think, “The job is not meant for me. I’ll look for other jobs and I’ll do better next time.”

6. Don’t jump into conclusions.

Avoid making up stories and concluding at once. You might think of something even without getting enough evidence. You call this mind reading. You are trying to read someone’s mind and end up reading it wrongly. For example you have a client and he appears grumpy. You might immediately think that he doesn’t like you and that you won’t be able to get the project. You haven’t even talked to your client yet!

7. Visualize success, not failure.

Instead of thinking of failure, think of success- it is that simple. The law of attraction by Rhonda Byrne tells us that if what we think of is what would happen to us. We should remember that thoughts become things. Hence, if you want success, think success and do not doubt it.

8. Avoid stress.

Stress is one of the reasons why people would think negatively. So no matter how stressful a situation is, you should not worry. Instead, stay calm and composed. Deal with it well. If you do this, you will be able to think well and you can also find solutions to problems and you can handle different situations well. With this, you can do away with negative thoughts because you are having a positive disposition. You can also read 12 Ways to Stay Away from Stress for Graphic Designers.

9. Go with positive people.

People could influence you on how you talk and act like what we have mentioned in the introduction. That is why it is important that you go with positive people so that you will also be able to think positively. Negative people tend to have contagious negative thoughts.

10. Smile.

Smiling is a simple way to stop thinking negatively. When you smile, you could divert your thoughts to positive ones. It would also feel good to smile. Simply smiling can fill you with a different kind of joy no matter how hard a situation is. So, instead of frowning, worrying and getting stressed out, smile for it can do wonders for you.

Effects of Negative Thinking

You would be more encouraged to stop thinking negatively if you get to know the effects of negative thinking. Since we have already given you tips on how you can overcome it, we will now give you – things that could be the result of being a pessimist.

1. You’ll feel down. Feeling down includes being angry, irritated, sad, worried and other negative emotions. Do you think that would be helpful in your career? The answer is no. You won’t be able to work well if you feel down. Also, you will find it hard to deal with different situations and even communicating with other people.

2. Bad effects on health. You may not be aware of this but negative thinking has a bad effect on your health. You might be able to sleep well because of these thoughts, thus, affecting your memory. Your emotional upsets can affect your immune system’s function. People who think negative tends to get sick too and are susceptible to colds and flu.

3. You’ll feel ugly. You might laugh at this one but yes it is true. With negative thoughts, you might also look at yourself physically less attractive. That would lower your self-esteem. As a result, you might have eating disorders like eating too much thinking that you are too thin and eating less in order to get slim.

4. You’ll attract negativities. Like what we have mentioned about the law of attraction, when you think negative things, you will be attracting negative emotions and events. You will notice that things will always seem to appear wrong for you because you look at them that way. You might even fail for your freelance career.

5. Negative influence on others.People who are pessimist could not notice that their negative thoughts are contagious. It means that they are influencing other people to look at things negatively too. A friend might ask for advice from you about something and you will give a negative thought on it. So instead of pursuing, your friend might not continue with his plans anymore.

We are sure you do not want any of the above things to happen to you especially if you are eyeing for success in your freelance career. Remember that the number one thing that you need in order to succeed is self-confidence. If you do not have self-trust, you won’t be able to do other things related to your career and you will find it hard to go through the challenges of freelancing. So, be sure that you do away with your negative thoughts and thing positively now. Thinking positively will increase self-esteem and self-confidence which will lead your way to success. And always remember that what you think and how you think will affect you and your actions because “thoughts become things”.