Why Positive Thinking Doesn't Work | Robin Sharma

Hi, it's Robin Sharma and it's early in the morning. I just came out of a cold shower after running my morning ritual, which today involved sweating, so I could release bdnf, brain derived neurotrophic factor. You've heard me talk about that for a number of years. John Rady of Harvard says that bdnf, which is released in the brain, is miracle grow for the brain. It releases and it regenerates brain cells that have been damaged by stress. It promotes neurogenesis, which is, you know, new brain cells get formed. It accelerates your learning time. So I make sure first thing in the morning I sweat through intense exercise. And while I do that, I learn. You know, I was watching some YouTube videos today.

And in particular I was watching, you know, some of the training hacks of elite athletes, which I found really, really interesting, as well as what they're doing in terms of nutrition and rest and recovery rates. And then I had the cold shower because as I learned more and more, ice cold baths and cold showers release glutathione, which is an antioxidant, promotes recovery, which is really important if you're pushing yourself physically.

Cold baths actually can reduce stress. And in some cases, research has shown that cold baths or cold showers can reduce depression in people. So anyway, I just wanted to share that because I'm back from Europe and I ran the morning ritual and I feel really good. I'm very peaceful, but I'm feeling very soulful. You know, I've been evangelizing Mindset without heart set is a hall of victory. And what I really mean by that is, you know, a lot of people are promoting positive thinking. But if you're positive thinking without acknowledging the real feelings, whether it's anger or sadness or resentment or shame, whatever those are, then you're not going to have the energy to lead your field. Without dealing with the emotional component of your life, your interior life, you won't be able to bring on your game as a, as someone who really is, you know, an icon of your craft. So positive thinking is very important. Of course you want to clean out toxic beliefs because in many ways your daily behavior shows your deepest beliefs. But you want to work on mindset along with your heart set and then along with your health set. Sort of a new word I've been playing with, which is, of course, you know, you want to take care of your health. Why? Because it'll give you more energy, it'll affect your brain in positive ways, it'll reduce stress, it'll make you more Resilient, it'll give you more grit, but also it'll give you longevity. And just imagine if you had another 20 or 30 years of your life, what you could do in terms of your income, your impact, your influence and then mindset and heart set and health set and then soul set. And soul set really is another word I've been playing with and teaching. But that's the fourth element really of a world class interior life. Because if you haven't worked on your soul set, your soul, your spiritual life, then you won't know some kind of a mighty mission or cause that's bigger than your ego. And if you haven't found that, then there's no in the world way in the world you'd be able to take a bullet for that cause or that obsession that is important to you. And as I've often shared, until you're mission becomes your obsession, your business will never rise into a movement. So I wanted to offer you those ideas and I wanted to also remind you of a few things that deep within me, I believe are very true. Number one, please remember genius is less about your genetics and natural gifts and it's more about your daily routines and your daily rituals and filling your life with the right people and filling, filling your mind with the right information and your heart with the right emotions. And we all can do this. I mean, it's one of the great sadnesses of the world that we pedestal these people who are living great business lives or great humanitarians or great inventors like I just met. I was very blessed to spend some time with Steve Wozniak, the co founder of Apple Inc. Last week. And what I learned from him was quite remarkable. And I learned particular about his commitment to only release world class products, but also to be a very humble human being and to be a good person. And to. He said something when I interviewed him that I want to share with you. He said, when someone is bad to me, I'm good to them. That was a core philosophy. But again, you know, if you're, if someone's bad to you, don't just shift to the positive thinking. Acknowledge if you're angry or sad or hurt or whatever, acknowledge that so it doesn't stay toxic and repressed and suppressed in you because that'll affect your performance and your, your thinking. Feel it and let it go. And then you shift to installing the right mindset. I hope that's making sense. But I know you can play a genius in your own unique way. I know that no matter what you're going through whether it's good or not so good, it is for your good. I know that even if you're in a hard time of your life, you probably have a thousand things you could be grateful for. But, you know, the human brain has this negativity bias, and it allowed us to survive thousands of years ago when there was a lot of threats in our environment. Now in this modern age, we live like kings and queens relative to how people lived hundreds of years ago. And yet our brain still focuses on what we don't have and the negative qualities in other people and what we wish we had. And, you know, this, but it, you know, optically things on the outside look better in other people's lives, and we don't know what people are struggling with. And so I know you have things to be grateful for. And I encourage you to practice what the positive psychologists call deliberate gratitude. You know, open up a journal and just acknowledge things that usually you take for granted. Acknowledgment could be fresh water. If you have fresh water, it could be eyesight, if you are blessed to have eyesight. It could be the ability to have a hot shower even though today I took a cold shower. It could be the fact that you live in a country where there's freedom. It could be the fact that you have a library full of good books. It could be the fact that you have a roof over your head or family who loves you or work that is meaningful, even if it's not about a big title.

And also I know to be true that, you know, there are no extra people on the planet. And the fact that you're here means that you are meant to have some kind of an impact and influence. I've been sharing this brain tattoo a lot, which is stop waiting to be a hero in the world. Or, you know, we all want more heroes in the world. Why wait for them become one of them. And I've really been thinking very deeply about the heroic nature that lives inside every single child and mother and father and astronaut and poet and taxi driver and electrician and plumber and every single human being on the planet. I mean, we are all are meant to do great things. And I just wish people knew the rituals and routines and the mindsets and the heart sets to install. And I wish they knew, you know, the scientific phenomenon of epigenetics and how your environment affects the expression of your genetics. You know, that's really important to read about. You can probably Google. You can definitely Google about it. I wish people knew more about attitudinal contagion and emotional contagion, all of these scientific phenomenon that are coming to light. That explains a lot of things that the mystics and the philosophers have said for thousands of years on how to live a great life. And the great thing is science is catching up with the philosophers. A lot of people needed the science before they would actually believe it and then execute on it anyway. More than anything else, I want to just say I love you. I might not know you, but I love you. And I believe in you. And you have a lot of talent inside of you that you might not be allowing to see the light of day and potential unexpressed turns to pain. And the reason why so many people medicate themselves with too much TV or watching dancing cat videos or video games or too much entertainment or too much gossiping or too much doing is because deep inside of them, subconsciously, there's a lot of repressed pain. Because they know deep inside they haven't lived their highest potential and they haven't lived the lives they're capable of and they're not showing up in the big way as human beings that they could be doing. And I am here for you. I have your back. And I will keep on doing my Mastery Session podcasts. If you haven't seen them on YouTube or definitely subscribe on itunes, they're free. Free and they're full of value. And they're helping millions. In the past number of months, we're close to over 3 million people who are using the Mastery Sessions that I'm releasing. And we're creating a movement and I would encourage you to do that. And also I have a resource for you called the Mental Mastery Toolkit. The Mental Mastery Toolkit. You can download it and start using it. And I will just keep on releasing more videos and writing more blog posts and giving more presentations and continuing to do my live events and doing the. And writing more books. You know, I'm writing the 5am Club. It'll be out next year. And.

Just doing my part to remind you of who you're meant to be and all you truly are. And we're in this together. And I hope that you'll share this video and I hope you'll share the message. And more than anything else, I hope you'll do your part to be heroic today because the world does need more heroes. And why wait for them when you are built to be one of them? Love you a lot. I send you much respect and I'll talk to you very soon. I hope you don't mind me. Just sort of jamming and being raw and real on this early morning. But I just wanted to share my thoughts and my heart with you. I'll talk to you soon. Bye.