Discover how a powerful negativity fast transformed my life and can do the same for you.
I published The Negativity Fast: Proven Techniques to Increase Positivity, Reduce Fear, and Boost Success in October 2023. Here is the story behind this book.
The Start of My Journey: A Life-Changing Diagnosis
In 1992, I was walking up the steps to my Brentwood apartment, then I found myself in a van. I tried to escape from the two men who were strapping me down. I was unable to release myself, and I tried to argue my way out of this predicament. I told my captors that I had done nothing wrong and that I knew the laws in California, and that they had no right to take me.
The one thing about having a grand mal seizure is that you are the only one who doesn’t know you had a grand mal seizure. Eventually, these two men explained that I was right, that they couldn’t take me against my will. I climbed out of the van and walked up to my apartment, with the paramedics following me. My neighbor walked by and said if I wouldn’t go with them, he would drive me to UCLA Medical in his 1980 Chevy Chevette.
CAT scan. MRI. Waiting. Waiting. Diagnosis. Cancer on the right lobe of my brain. I protested. I asked the neurosurgeon if there was a possibility of “not cancer.” He said I might have a knot of arteries and veins that were pushing against my brain. He also said it would be the largest they had seen.
I flew back to Ohio and had a nine-hour surgery, followed by an 11-hour surgery that included removing the bruised part of my brain. If you think I am missing something upstairs, you are not wrong. Between the trauma and the phenobarbital, I grew increasingly angry.
Overcoming Anger and Negativity: A Scholar's Transformation
I earned a BA in political science and English literature, followed by a scholarship to law school. One of my professors noted that I was angry. He counseled me to let go of the anger and negativity. He told me to take care of my three children.
Six months later, I took my professor’s advice. I decided to do what I called a negativity fast. I removed anything political, including the news. I avoided people who were as negative as I was. My first attempt was to eliminate the sources of negativity for 30 days. I felt better, so I continued my negativity fast for 30 more days.
After the second 30 days, I noticed I had made a mistake. I had removed the negativity without replacing it with anything positive. So, I read and listened to anything and everything that was designed to improve my outlook on life: Stephen Covey, Anthony Robbins, Les Brown, Zig Ziglar, and anything that I thought might add to my positivity.
Writing The Negativity Fast: The Science of Positivity
When Wiley acquired me, I asked to write a book called The Negativity Fast: Proven Techniques to Increase Positivity, Reduce Fear, and Boost Success. After writing four books on modern sales and one book for sales managers to help them generate net new revenue, I thought it time to write something different that might help a lot more people.
Covid. Political divisiveness. Inflation. Hot war in Europe. Hot war in the Middle East.
In the books about selling, I wrote what I knew worked, with some comment on the current crisis in B2B sales. As I sat down to write this book, my editor suggested that I cite the research I had read while writing the book. We wanted to include the science to support claims about the benefits of gratitude, which is a giant list of all kinds of goodness, like better cognitive functioning, lower blood pressure, lower inflammation, and reduced risk of heart issues, among others.
Embracing Positivity: The Success of The Negativity Fast
With the help of my community, The Negativity Fast: Proven Techniques to Increase Positivity, Reduce Fear, and Boost Success was my second USA Today bestseller. If you want to reduce your negativity and increase the amount of time you are positive, each chapter will help you focus on a different factor. It covers why people are negative, including a discussion of how you talk to yourself, which is often a source of negativity. Another chapter that will help you become more empathetic using a specific strategy. You may not know this, but if you are a constant complainer, you risk shrinking your hippocampus, the part of the brain that helps your memory and thinking.
Most of us have had trauma, but you will find a way to reframe these negative events, live happily with political divisiveness, and avoid the perils of social media. Instead of wanting what others have, you will be able to change your mental state using mindfulness. The techniques in that chapter will eliminate negativity faster than you might believe possible.
If you pick up The Negativity Fast, send me a receipt, and I will send you the workbook.
https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/eat-their-lunch-proven-strategies-and-real-life-examples
