One of James Allen's simple principles was that nothing but negativity can come out of negativity, just as nothing but positivity can come out of positivity. Here is one of countless real-life examples of how this vital principle functions.
Have you ever had a day when for some reason, you just didn't feel like doing anything? Not because you didn't have anything you do, because there were things that had to be done, but because you just didn't feel like doing them. Of course you have! A lazy day.
I had one today, presumably because i was out drinking and partying on the weekend, and another day of doing nothing productive just seemed to naturally fall in place with the previous two. But today, i had things to do. One of them was cardio. I had to sprint, but i sure as hell didn't want to.
My mind presented me a myriad of perfectly valid excuses to choose from so that i could justify doing nothing and not feel bad about it afterwards. Somehow, i forced myself to put on my shorts and get on the treadmill. I've done this before, and it gets easier every time. This time, its almost as if my brain's automatic reaction was to tell that lazy voice to fvck off because i'm gonna do what i have to do anyway.
So i did my sprinting, and even beat my previous record by 2 minutes. This on a day when i kept telling myself that because of all the drinking, fvcking and lack of rest, i wouldn't be able to sprint nearly as well as i did on Friday. Surprising outcome to say the least.
Now, remember the principle? Positivity from positivity; negativity from negativity. What do you think would have happened to the rest of my day if i allowed that lazy, excuse-making voice inside my head to win the battle? The day would have been wasted. I would have lost the war. It wouldn't have ended with cardio - i would have slacked off on other things too and ended up feeling like sh!t as a result.
Tomorrow, I would wake up, remember what a waste the previous day was, and use that as an excuse to miss or “take it easy” during the next workout. After all, “if I already missed one, the whole week’s a mess anyway and there’s no point working too hard.” There’s that voice again! It has no business living, so we better kill it before it kills us. But its powerful because the negative edge of the sword that is Allen’s principle is on its side.
So from a single negative action, countless more would follow. A giant snowball would be created, one that could go one forever if nothing was done to destroy it. But because i forced myself to do the positive thing, the moment i got off that treadmill, any negative thoughts that may have been in my mind earlier have simply vanished. Its as if someone went through my head with an industrial vacuum, sucking up all negativity and leaving only the good stuff.
By making one step, doing one thing, i created a snowball that allowed me to accomplish so much more later on, and with much ease. Use this principle to benefit yourself: create artificial snowball effects by doing the right things at the right time. The formula is this: the seemingly harder something is to do, the better you'll feel after having done it.
The worst, dullest, laziest, most negative day ever will instantly become the brightest, happiest, most cheerful day of your life when you do something that's "out of phase" with the negativity. Likewise, the best day can be ruined when you don't do something that needs to be done.
I once went out to sarge, feeling great and fully intending to game every girl i see. But when i saw the first girl, something happened to create somewhat difficult circumstances, and i allowed myself to use that as an excuse not to approach. With the next girl, the drive to approach lessened and the drive to make excuses skyrocketed.
The next girl would have been an absolute breeze had i approached the first one: had i started out with a difficult approach, every other would seem effortless in comparison. But instead, it seemed a thousand times harder than it actually was and i missed out on it too. Then the third girl came along, but by then i had already missed two and felt like i was just gonna screw up if i said anything.
Looking back now, this seems absolutely ridiculous, but it made perfect sense in the moment because i allowed the negativity to snowball and it clouded my vision. This still happens to me from time to time, as sometimes the first potential approach seems ridiculously difficult and i end up missing out on it.
But now i know how to put my foot down. When i feel the negativity build up, i do what i did today when i felt too lazy to do anything: kick my own ass! I do this by forcing myself to do something really far-out like come up to a random girl, smile and go "i love your pants... they really bring out the CURVES!" At that point, i look at her ass with a nod of knowing admiration and lick my lips.
Regardless of what happens, the snowball of negativity will be shattered, and i'll be back on track, ready to make the most out of every minute left in my day! So this is a brief outline of one of the applications of Allen's principle: creating positive snowballs and destroying negative ones.
Have you ever had a day when for some reason, you just didn't feel like doing anything? Not because you didn't have anything you do, because there were things that had to be done, but because you just didn't feel like doing them. Of course you have! A lazy day.
I had one today, presumably because i was out drinking and partying on the weekend, and another day of doing nothing productive just seemed to naturally fall in place with the previous two. But today, i had things to do. One of them was cardio. I had to sprint, but i sure as hell didn't want to.
My mind presented me a myriad of perfectly valid excuses to choose from so that i could justify doing nothing and not feel bad about it afterwards. Somehow, i forced myself to put on my shorts and get on the treadmill. I've done this before, and it gets easier every time. This time, its almost as if my brain's automatic reaction was to tell that lazy voice to fvck off because i'm gonna do what i have to do anyway.
So i did my sprinting, and even beat my previous record by 2 minutes. This on a day when i kept telling myself that because of all the drinking, fvcking and lack of rest, i wouldn't be able to sprint nearly as well as i did on Friday. Surprising outcome to say the least.
Now, remember the principle? Positivity from positivity; negativity from negativity. What do you think would have happened to the rest of my day if i allowed that lazy, excuse-making voice inside my head to win the battle? The day would have been wasted. I would have lost the war. It wouldn't have ended with cardio - i would have slacked off on other things too and ended up feeling like sh!t as a result.
Tomorrow, I would wake up, remember what a waste the previous day was, and use that as an excuse to miss or “take it easy” during the next workout. After all, “if I already missed one, the whole week’s a mess anyway and there’s no point working too hard.” There’s that voice again! It has no business living, so we better kill it before it kills us. But its powerful because the negative edge of the sword that is Allen’s principle is on its side.
So from a single negative action, countless more would follow. A giant snowball would be created, one that could go one forever if nothing was done to destroy it. But because i forced myself to do the positive thing, the moment i got off that treadmill, any negative thoughts that may have been in my mind earlier have simply vanished. Its as if someone went through my head with an industrial vacuum, sucking up all negativity and leaving only the good stuff.
By making one step, doing one thing, i created a snowball that allowed me to accomplish so much more later on, and with much ease. Use this principle to benefit yourself: create artificial snowball effects by doing the right things at the right time. The formula is this: the seemingly harder something is to do, the better you'll feel after having done it.
The worst, dullest, laziest, most negative day ever will instantly become the brightest, happiest, most cheerful day of your life when you do something that's "out of phase" with the negativity. Likewise, the best day can be ruined when you don't do something that needs to be done.
I once went out to sarge, feeling great and fully intending to game every girl i see. But when i saw the first girl, something happened to create somewhat difficult circumstances, and i allowed myself to use that as an excuse not to approach. With the next girl, the drive to approach lessened and the drive to make excuses skyrocketed.
The next girl would have been an absolute breeze had i approached the first one: had i started out with a difficult approach, every other would seem effortless in comparison. But instead, it seemed a thousand times harder than it actually was and i missed out on it too. Then the third girl came along, but by then i had already missed two and felt like i was just gonna screw up if i said anything.
Looking back now, this seems absolutely ridiculous, but it made perfect sense in the moment because i allowed the negativity to snowball and it clouded my vision. This still happens to me from time to time, as sometimes the first potential approach seems ridiculously difficult and i end up missing out on it.
But now i know how to put my foot down. When i feel the negativity build up, i do what i did today when i felt too lazy to do anything: kick my own ass! I do this by forcing myself to do something really far-out like come up to a random girl, smile and go "i love your pants... they really bring out the CURVES!" At that point, i look at her ass with a nod of knowing admiration and lick my lips.
Regardless of what happens, the snowball of negativity will be shattered, and i'll be back on track, ready to make the most out of every minute left in my day! So this is a brief outline of one of the applications of Allen's principle: creating positive snowballs and destroying negative ones.
