In this YouTube video Brendon Burchard challenges the common advice to simply avoid negative people. He argues that many of us cannot eliminate negativity from our lives because it often comes from close relationships—spouses, family, coworkers. Instead, he proposes a four‑step approach: (1) Use the negative energy as a test of personal mastery, asking whether you can stay calm, centered, and in control of your emotions; (2) Empathize by considering the unseen struggles that may be driving the other person’s pessimism, which cultivates compassion and prevents you from taking on their blame; (3) Shift the energy by deliberately injecting humor, gratitude, or light‑heartedness into the situation, turning the mood upward without confronting the negativity directly; and (4) Make a constructive request that frames the desired change as a favor rather than an accusation, inviting the other person to help raise the collective atmosphere. Burchard emphasizes that these steps develop character, leadership, and the ability to influence others positively. He concludes with a call to subscribe and an offer of a free “10‑step guide to achieving anything 10× faster,” positioning the video as part of his broader personal‑development platform.
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How do you deal with negative people? Now wait a second. Don't jump anywhere because maybe you think you know the answer to this, but I have a different take on it. Because you know what? Today it's very popular for people to tell you, well, just get rid of negative people. Never be around them. Just be around positive people all the time. But what happens when the negative person is your spouse or your brother or your sister or that guy at work you have to sit next to every day? Dude, what do you do when real life is here and we're not in some la la land of personal development where everybody's positive and perfect? Because you and I both know there are people out there who are very critical, who will be harsh with you, who will try to find every little thing they can to comment about you, or they're always complaining about the weather or the news. And just their energy makes you want to just like repel. That's real. And sometimes you can't get more rid of those people. And sometimes, in my personal opinion, I don't know, somehow the advice of just get rid of everything in life that you don't like seems a little weak willed, if you know what I mean. You know, it's just like, gosh, yes, it's wonderful that we have this new modern age of ease and convenience and there are lots of options for us, but, you know, we also have to develop our character. So let me tell you my thoughts about number one thing you should do when you got to deal with negative people. Use it. Use their energy. Use that energy they put out there. Use that challenge for your own character development. Really? See, when I have someone's negative around me, I don't sit there and I don't become a victim. Oh gosh, they're such negative. I don't go home and assume their energy and now I'm negative. And instead I go, you know what? This is a moment to test. Am I really in command of my emotions and how I think, or are they? Am I giving my power over to the world so that they can just take my energy and turn it to what they want, or am I in charge? So I use it as a challenge, not as something I don't have to challenge or change them immediately. I'll get to that point, but I get to the point where I say, you know what? Huh? Here's a little challenge the world's throwing at me right now. Can I stay on my game? Can I stay centered? Can I stay peaceful? Can I stay calm? Can I stay present Right here, right now, and not have to run away from it, not have to pretend it's not there, but use it. And I encourage you to do that. Because if it's just something that you immediately complain about, well, then in your complaint, you. You just let them win. Their negativity has turned you into noticing what is negative, and you lost. You're not winning. Even if you can critically, you know, throw a barb at it, make fun of it, you're still losing. You're being sucked into their pools of pessimism. You're drowning. So I say use it. Recognize it and use it second. I say this. Empathize. You know, a lot of people who are being in a negative mood or negative energy, you don't know why. You know, you've had a bad day, too. You've been rude. Yes, I know. You're amazing, and you watch the show and you're really into personal development. But at the end of the day, you've been rude to people, too. You've had a bad day. You snapped. You've been impatient, you've hollered. You've been a jerk when you shouldn't have been. You know it. Well, other people do, too. So when somebody is negative, always wonder, I wonder what happened today that led to that. You know, maybe the kids got out of the wrong side of bed and they were just horrible that morning. And they. That person didn't sleep last night. Maybe something happened with their family. Maybe on the way to the work, they just thought of something very depressing in their past. Maybe the truth is, right now, they're so unclear about who they are and what they want in life that they're taking out on other people. Maybe their own failures, their own struggles, their own disappointments have ravaged them and led them to, you know, depression, led them to mental disorder. The reality is, we never know someone's story. And once you can teach yourself that, I really believe you become a better human. You become more compassionate. You're better at listening. You're better able to understand because you have the intention to sympathize. Say, oh, that person's really in a bad place right now. You don't take ownership of that. Say, well, I didn't cause it. You just say simply, ah, they're in a bad place. I hope they're okay. You know, I think it's a real, true personal power to be able to walk by negative people and still say, I wish you nothing but joy and health and strength and love in your life, to have that hope for People, even when they're in a bad place, that's humanity. I would say number three, go for it, shift it. It's one of my favorite games I play in my entire life. When there's a group of people around me and they're in a negative energy, I love to try and shift it. Not by telling them they're in a bad energy, but by trying to introduce humor, trying to introduce something, you know, pointing out something that I'm grateful for, that I appreciate, making fun of the situation, teasing, making fun of myself. Whatever I need to do. I take it as a challenge to, how can I say something stupid that makes them kind of shift their energy? I call it leveling up. So it's like when you're around a group of people and their energy is down here, can you level up? Not by accosting them and saying, your energy sucks, I hate you, but instead by introducing the positive into that negative situation. Because you'll find that. That if you'll do those first couple steps, you know, you really focus on using that situation to test yourself and that you're still empathetic. Then when you come in and you try to shift it, it's just like, wow, you'll really develop people skills. You'll really develop the ability to lead. You'll really develop the ability to start movements, to make a difference. Because nothing shifts the world more than you shifting your energy to complement or to serve the world. So give it a try. Try to shift that energy. And last piece, which I think is really, really important, is do not fear making the request saying to somebody straightforward, you know, especially if they're negative all the time around you, don't blame them. Don't be mean to them, don't belittle them. Don't hit them with negative energy. Instead, make a request. Say this, say, you know what? I've just been having a hard time lately with my energy. And I know sometimes, you know, you're in that place too, and, you know, there's a lot going on that's negative and everything, but can I ask you a favor? Could you just play a game with me and just try to be like, you know, attentive to your energy and be positive with me, just for me. I know you're good and you got your own stuff, wondering, could you help kind of just increase the energy around here for a little while? I've noticed the team needs it. I've noticed the kids need it. I've noticed that I'm having a tough time. And I know you can help me out. And, you know, I just feel like the energy around here is too negative. Sometimes I contribute to that. And I know you have your tough times, but I wonder if together we could just say, you know what, let's be a little bit more positive. Could we try and just enroll them? Don't blame them. Don't minimize them. Enroll them. Try these ideas. I know it's difficult when somebody who's in your family or somebody who you work with every day or somebody who you care about isn't as positive as you. But you don't have to throw them out like yesterday's garbage. There's always going to be negative people. So the question isn't, can you get rid of all of them? There's 7 billion people on the planet that'd be getting rid of a lot of people. Instead, learn to use it as something that develops your strengths as a human and allows you to serve people and for you to inject more positive energy into the world. Do that more often. You'll experience what we call the charge. Hey, my friend, it's Brendan. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Do me two favors. Number one, subscribe to this channel so that you continue to get updates every time I release new training for you. And number two, if you would like to get ahead a little faster in life, what I'd like to do is give you my 10 steps to achieving anything 10 times faster. So if you have a big goal, a big dream, a big mission in life and you just like to achieve it faster, what would you need to do? You know, this is exactly what I keep next to my computer or next to my bed. And every time I have a big dream, a big goal, I open it up and I kind of use this as my checklist to get ahead faster. Because you and I both know if you're going to be more effective or more productive or you are going to achieve your goals and your dreams faster, you're going to have to switch your perspective a little bit on achievement itself. You have to adopt new thinking patterns and habits. You're going to have to have new daily rituals and habits. And your entire approach to learning and skill development must be better. So in order to help you do that, just go ahead and click the link in this post or go to brendon.com 10x that's Brendan B-R E N D O n.com 10x and you can download this guy guide for free. Just tell me your name and email. I'm happy to email that to you for free. The same guide I use to achieve any goal or dream faster. Thanks for tuning in. Until I see you next time, go out there every single day of your life. Live fully, love openly and make your difference today.
