Become an Inverse Paranoid

"I've always been the opposite of a paranoid. I operate as if everyone is part of a plot to enhance my well-being." -Stan Dale

Principle 6 of Jack Canfield's The Success Principles is Become an Inverse Paranoid, or in other words act as if everyone in the world believes in you, likes you, wants to help you and thinks you can do it. Most of the time we imagine that people are thinking these crazy things about us, but that's not true. Most people are self-centered meaning they're trying to do what's best for them and they don't take time to think about what you're doing.

This morning I did mile repeats at the park. It was a little chilly so I had my black spandex running tights on and my New Balance Under-Armor-like black top on and I probably looked weird. There was this other guy running and I saw him look at me. My first thought was, 'He's probably thinking What a weird guy wearing a weird outfit' but then I thought, 'No, he's thinking You can do it! You're the best runner in the world.' Today I had one of my best workouts so far this year.

Canfield talks about when he lost his job, but as a result of that he found something better. Captain Jerry Coffee took this to heart as he spent 7 years as a prisoner of war, but he turned that negative into a positive and spent many hours reviewing in his mind every interaction he had ever had with anyone. He is now a deeply spiritual man, a happy family man, a successful author and a moving motivational speaker.

We need to ask ourselves, "How can I use this experience to my advantage?"

"Every negative event contains within it the seed of an equal or greater benefit." -Napoleon Hill

Whether it's a positive or negative experience, there's always something to learn. In the Fall of 2007 I crashed hard-core on my bike. My helmet saved my life, but I was wearing a short-sleeve shirt and my arms and hands were torn up. I was told that I couldn't swim or do anything that required water on my body because they bandaged me up and I wasn't supposed to get the bandages wet. I looked like a mummy. I remember getting weird looks at church that Sunday (Except they were probably thinking Man that guy is so hard-core! He's awesome!). It was very frustrating. I had been approached by a triathlon training company for a potential sponsorship and now I couldn't, nor did I want to train. I realized that I had been neglecting important things in my life and it was a wonderful cue from above to stop, slow down and take some time to breath. I did and it was wonderful.

I encourage all of us to take time and become inverse paranoids, believing that everyone we come in contact with and everyone one that sees us really is there to help, support and encourage us. As we do more positive energy will flow into our lives and because of that attitude we will be able to be more successful ourselves and better help those around us. Have a great weekend and run fearless!