Daily Inspiration: “Avoid negativity vibes!”

“Avoid negativity vibes!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Here’s a simple life lesson – you can’t do great golf with a bad attitude!

I golfed with a good friend yesterday, and we were both of a mindset that we had to do better than turning in the miserable performance of our previous day. After we both had a fantastic opening hole, I suggested we adopt a word for the day – “Recovery!” My thinking was that so much of the game is a mental game and that we should try to shake off a bad hole or bad shot and quickly move back into prime fighting form. It worked – after a few setbacks along the way, I found that he was looking at me, smiling, and saying “Recovery!” We both turned in great scores.

Recovery. Optimism. Avoiding negativity. Dodging bad vibes.

Each and every day, I battle to keep my optimism intact. Occasionally, I fail, and I end up writing something like this.

But then I remind myself that in the grand scheme of things, it’s a great time to be alive! Accelerating science, rapid advances in healthcare, increasing longevity for those who put in the physical and mental effort to achieve it, technological connectivity, rapid knowledge growth, and much more always remind me that mankind has never seen such a promise of potential. Part of the art of keeping positive is to avoid being surrounded by the swirl of potential negativity around you – it’s all in the company you keep! Avoid those who might batter your optimism with their negative vibe – they walk around with thought bubbles overhead that tell you they are always focused on the downside, not the upside.

But there’s more you can do to avoid falling down into doom and gloom:

• avoid rabbit holes – you won’t get out
• focus on what you can do to change – rather than worrying about the impact of change
• always try to find an upside in the downside
• remind yourself that every negative situation can often have a positive outcome
• don’t think about the setback – focus on getting back up
• don’t worry about what comes next, but engage with it when it arrives
• don’t fear the future – create your future
• don’t pause – act
• seek facts, not fallacies
• remind yourself that things could be worse than they are
• remember that you are in control of much of what can happen to you
• surround yourself with like-minded optimists
• when confronted by negativity, shift gears faster!

I fight hard to share my optimism with people whole on stage: here’s how:

• when talking about future trends, I’m implicitly encouraging people to position themselves to take advantage of the opportunities that exist, rather than coiling away in fear of the potential threats they represent
• every talk about innovation and future trends includes powerful challenges to people to align themselves to the future with a sense of optimism — I usually close every talk with my 10 Great Words, which many people have said provides them with a powerful motivation to adapt quickly to the future — a future that is unfolding around them faster than ever before.
• as of late, many of my talks have involved a specific motivational theme – such as The Lessons of Powerful Optimism – Rethinking the Future Right Now

The Lessons of Powerful Optimism: Rethinking the Future Right Now

We have seen more change in the last 5 years than we have seen in the last 100. With economic, political, career, and business model volatility all around us, it’s all too easy to fall prey to a swirl of negative thinking — with the result that you lose sight of the fascinating opportunities from what comes next.

The best antidote? An uplifting, hopeful and motivational view into the future with futurist Jim Carroll. In this engaging, humorous, and yet powerfully refreshing keynote, he takes you on a tour of the trends which are reshaping our world in a great way. A renaissance in manufacturing is enabled by 3D printing, advanced robotics, massive digitization, self-driving cars, space tourism, asteroid mining, vertical farming, and other fascinating fast-paced trends. Opportunities for the transformation of entire industries such as healthcare, sports, and transportation through unprecedented levels of hyper-connectivity. The acceleration of ideas with science that are allowing us to solve some of the biggest challenges of our time in the world of education, healthcare, the environment, and education. A generation of millennials who know that it is a great time to think big ideas and do great things with their boundless enthusiasm and global awareness.

It’s time to turn your mind to the future once again, restore a sense of hope and optimism, and link yourself to the fast-paced trends which energize your outlook on the opportunity!

Does a focus on optimism work?

Hell yes! My golf game has improved! And I know from feedback that my stage presence matters. Through the years, I’ve had thousands of folks contact me, Tweet, post to Facebook, or in the best possible compliment — book me for their own event. Some of these folks tell me I’ve changed their view of the world in a very major way: such as this comment which came after I spoke to over 3,000 people in Salt Lake City at the National Recreation and Parks Association annual conference:

Dear Jim,

I just wanted to let you know that in my 20 years of attending the NRPA Congress, no one has captivated me more than your keynote address. And, all during the week, when we talked about the Keynote, everyone agreed!

In fact, I presented a seminar “Creating the Wow—New Marketing Trends for Everyone”, and mentioned a few of your insightful comments. It was amazing to see how everyone was captivated with your session. In fact, it is the only time I can remember, that people were upset that we were running late and you had to wrap up your talk rather quickly.

In addition, Vendors raved about you pressing attendees to visit the trade show, talk to peers, and see how technology is changing our profession. It was quite a Home Run!

We have a saying in our department, the 2008 NRPA Gold Medal Winner (Class II—100,001 to 250,000), which is, “Engage. Inspire. Change a Life Today!” I wanted to leave you with this… YOU Engaged. YOU Inspired. YOU changed lives that day! Thanks again for sharing your keen insight and talents with all of us!

Respectfully,
Rick Herold, Director of Parks and Recreation
City of Grand Prairie, Texas
www.GrandFunGP.com

There’s a quote I use to close many of my keynotes. “Some people see a trend and see a threat. Real innovators see the same trend, and see an opportunity.”

You want to be the latter type of person. And if somehow through the years I’ve inspired you to think that way, then I’m doing my job as a motivator – and help you keep away the negativity vibes!