In this motivational micro‑talk, the speaker highlights that roughly 80% of our daily thoughts are negative and 95% of those are repetitive, occurring within an estimated 40,000‑60,000 thoughts per day. He argues that without a deliberate plan, this negativity dominates our mindset. To counteract it, he proposes a structured routine: (1) a journaling document that defines an "I am" identity statement, outlining personal qualities, roles, and responsibilities to remind oneself of the positive 20% of thoughts; (2) setting daily intentions that project optimism and specify how to respond to inevitable negative events with patience and flexibility; (3) a gratitude exercise that lists things to appreciate, further shifting focus toward constructive thinking. He uses the metaphor of a car driver, urging listeners to place the negative 80% in the back seat or trunk while they take the wheel with intentional, positive focus. The talk ends with a call to action for the audience to adopt a habit that resets their mindset for the day.
Chapters
Good morning everyone. Here is your moment of yes for Wednesday, December 8th. All right, so you have heard me share the stat many times that 80% of our thoughts are negative, 95% of those same thoughts are repetitive. Same thoughts, repetitive. 80% negative, 95% repetitive. So it's— we're recycling the same junk, the same stinking thinking. And on average, when we have between 40,000 to 60,000 thoughts a day, do the math. That is the odds stacked against us that unless we have a plan to how we're going to focus, what we're going to focus on, what we're going to set our intentions on, unless we have a plan, we are setting ourselves up to be at the mercy of this 80% of negativity. And it's not your thoughts. Yeah, they're happening inside your head, but it's just negative thoughts. And so we tend to think that, oh, it's— there must be something wrong with me because they're my thoughts. It's just humanity. It's what it means to be human. 80% of your thoughts are negative. Most of them are fear-based because they're trying to protect you from getting eaten by the saber-toothed tiger outside your cave. Right. So there's a reason for that. It's not healthy for us to go through our life with that level of negativity, right? It releases all those unhealthy chemicals into our body, and when most of our lives are not life or death on a moment-to-moment basis. So if we are— unless we are intentional about how we're going to combat This 80%, it's not about eliminating the 80%. It's about having a routine or habits, ways to just not listen to the 80% of those thoughts. Some of them are helpful in scary, unsafe situations, but we need to make sure that they are not driving the car, that we are. We can hear them, but they're not dominating us. So I even find when, when I've gone a series of days or even weeks And I start to feel like I'm listening to those negative thoughts more often, it's always a little red flag. It's a little reminder that, okay, I think I've gotten away from some routines. One of those routines— I just did it again yesterday morning— is I have a document, and part of that document is, it's basically a journaling document where I spend time identifying who I am, identifying My qualities, who I am as a person, my roles, my responsibilities, but really me at my best, right? Me at my best, my I am identity statement, right? Reminding, because if I just listen to the 80%, I'm going to wake up and it's going to say, hey, you're nobody. So, I need to remind myself, I need to tap into that 20%, which is, hey, remind yourself who you are. And then, the second part is kind of setting some intentions Um, slash sort of goals, slash, um, uh, kind of, uh, you know, some— I don't— what's the word I'm looking for? Kind of like that law of attraction, but just projecting a little bit into the day, um, expecting good, anticipating good, but also specifically, um, talking about the behavior, how you're going to behave. Today, regardless of what happens. If something negative happens, boom, I'm going to respond this way because I'm patient, I'm flexible. I am, and I'm going to go out there, I'm going to expect good things, I'm going to see the good in others. I know the others are going to see the good in me. So it becomes like a paragraph of really establishing, establishing your day in a really positive way where you're expecting good. But I'm also talking about how I'm going to behave if If and when sort of the unexpected negative things happen. And then part of that document is to express some gratitude, to go through kind of a list of things. And what I'm doing is I'm combating that 80%, combating that 80% by choosing to tap into that 20% and being really specific, reminding myself, having a plan, giving myself something to focus on that is positive and productive to who I am. Instead of just going, you know, I'm just going to go through the day and I'll figure it out, we give that 80% a better chance of being the driver of the car. So, I don't want that 80% driving. I'm not getting rid of it. I can't get rid of it because it's who I am. But maybe I can put it in the back seat, or maybe I can put it in the trunk where it's still doing its thing, but I'm choosing what I'm going to focus on, therefore becoming the driver. So, What are you going to do for yourself today? What routine or habit can you do to reset, set your intentions on something specific that's helpful, and allow that to be the driver today? A little bit longer today, I know, but, but it's a bigger concept to dive into. Have a great day, everyone. That's your Moment of Yes.
