I am so excited you are here and ready to take these first crucial steps necessary to begin to improve yourself and to start living your best life. You’ve come to the right place if you’re ready to let go of those limiting beliefs that have been holding you back for so long. You deserve to live your best life. That’s it. Plain and simple. Don’t let something as silly as your own thoughts be the roadblock that prevents you from getting there.
You’ve heard the cliché, Mindset is Everything? Well it’s a cliché for a reason. Because it’s actually true! Mindset is the key to going from feeling stuck to crushing goals. If you want to change where you are in life you need to start by taking some time to actually listen to yourself. And what I mean by this is listen to the thoughts you tell yourself everyday. Listening to your thoughts will help unlock a whole treasure chest of information about yourself that you might not have known otherwise. Are they thoughts of positivity and motivation or do they come from a place of self-doubt and fear? We can’t move into a life we truly want if we don’t actually believe we deserve it. It just doesn’t work that way. So today we’re going to focus on improving your mindset so you can improve yourself and ultimately your life! Let’s get started!
Our Thoughts Determine the Outcome
Think of the millions of thoughts that come into your head every single day. If a majority of those thoughts are filled with negativity and self doubt, it’s going to be really hard to push past these mental barriers. These thoughts tell your brain how you see yourself. They are also responsible for telling your brain what it is you feel you deserve and what you don’t. Your thoughts act as little pins on a map that help guide you in different directions in life. If you are constantly telling your brain you don’t deserve something your brain will use that to move you left when maybe you should have gone right. It’s what fuels the decisions you make in life and is what ultimately guides you along on your journey.
If you think about it, you talk to yourself more than any one else. Would you constantly tell someone they aren’t capable of reaching their goals or that they need to dream a little smaller? No way! We would never squash someone else’s dreams. We would motivate, encourage and cheer them on. So don’t you deserve the same?
Right now you might be saying, ok I get it. It all starts with my thoughts. But HOW exactly do I change them from negative to positive ones? Don’t worry. I got you covered. The next time these thoughts pop into your head just follow these steps to squash them right in their tracks.
Step 1) Be Mindful
We have hundreds of thousands, if not millions of thoughts per day. Of course we can’t always be paying 100% attention to them. We’d never get anything else done. But the key is being mindful of the negative ones that pop in there telling you can’t do something. Once you hear that little voice begin to chatter, take a pause. Pay close attention to what it’s saying. What are you telling yourself? Notice when those thoughts of self doubt begin to arise and just take a second or two to listen and acknowledge that they have come up.
For Example
Let’s say you have always dreamed of starting a blog. But when that thought pops into your head it is quickly replaced with “But no one is going to want to read what I write.” When this thought shows up just take a minute and be mindfully aware of the thought itself.
Step 2) Identify
Once you’ve taken a minute to acknowledge the negative thought, then ask yourself, do I really believe this? Or is this something I’m telling myself because I’m scared? Maybe you’re scared of putting yourself out there or nervous of what others might think of you. Your ego doesn’t want to admit you’re scared so it makes up the story of “I can’t” instead. Once you’ve identified the real reason behind the thought you can move on to step 3.
Step 3) Replace
Now that you’ve identified the real cause behind the negative thought, acknowledge the negative thought isn’t actually true and begin to replace it with a positive one.
Example
I want to start my own blog, but no one is going to read what I write.
Pause. Acknowledge. Identify.
Then replace with:
But I am an amazing writer and I know my experiences and ideas will help others dealing with something similar.
Do this every time a limiting belief pops in your head and soon you’ll start to alter your thoughts into more positive and motivating ones.
Getting too Comfortable will Hold You Back
One thing I do want to add is that not all negative thoughts show themselves in a negative light. Some can disguise themselves a bit and will require you to a pay little extra attention to them.
Let’s say you’ve always thought about starting your own business, but any time this thought shows up you quickly begin thinking that starting your own business is too hard. Staying at your 9-5 is comfortable and works for now.
If your dream is to run your own business then thoughts like these aren’t going to help you make the decisions necessary to take those first steps towards creating that dream job. You’ll need to begin setting goals and timelines for yourself so you can eventually quit that 9-5 and move into your amazing, new dream career. But thoughts like these will prevent you from setting aside that time required to start planning and getting started.
When you start feeling these thoughts coming on go through the three steps above. And really focus on step 2. Do you really believe this thought to be true? If the answer is no then I encourage you to really think about where you see yourself going and what it is you truly want. Then go through the steps to break through any mental barriers that may come up along the way. And trust me, they will come up. They always do. But now you’re armed with the tools to work through them and move past them.
Final Thoughts
With time these steps will help you break those mental road blocks so you can begin to feel more empowered and more motivated to go after whatever it is you want. Because you are so completely capable of accomplishing your goals and your dreams. You just have to believe it yourself. And once you begin believing in yourself and believing in the idea you’ll start to feel an entire mindset shift start to happen. Where limiting thoughts are now being replaced by ones of encouragement and determination. You can live the dream life you’ve always wanted. You can do the hard work necessary to make it all happen. If you’re ready to improve yourself, start by believing in yourself. And that’s when the doors will start to open.
Mark
Thanks for your blog, nice to read. Do not stop.