Research is showing that many people feel that they are disconnected from their purpose in life and lack passion for what they are doing. These people accept the middle road so that they can fit in and get by.

 

No wonder we see so many signs of apathy, dissatisfaction, discouragement, negativity and even rudeness.

 

Why is this so? On the surface it seems to be because people have allowed circumstances to squash their motivation. This is a piece of the truth, however it runs deeper than that.

 

When we dig down to the source and explore what is going on, we see that we are products of a society that favours negative language.

 

Although the negative language is probably meant with good intentions to warn us and keep us safe from harm, the outcome is us, a society of people who show up in a negative way.

 

We can all come up with our own examples of limiting things we have heard since we were children such as:

 

Don’t talk to strangers!

Don’t bite off more than you can chew!

You can’t have your cake and eat it too!

Better safe than sorry!

 

These limiting statements cause us to create limiting beliefs about ourselves. Limiting beliefs lead to more negative statements.

 

What we believe to be true about ourselves dictates our actions and contributions in this world.

 

One of the first challenges that I give to my participants in leadership workshops is to choose positive language to express themselves. It sounds easy however people always come back to me to tell me that they often had to think hard to express themselves in terms of the outcome they wanted instead of what they did not want. Give it a try for yourself.