What do you have in common with a pilot? More than you think (unless you actually are a pilot, then just as much as you think). Let’s take this scenario as an example:
A pilot wants to fly to Paris.
She enters the coordinates into the navigation system.
The plane takes off and the auto-pilot kicks in.
The plane's navigation system will monitor the flight pattern, make adjustments, and guide the plane based on the coordinates the pilot entered.
As the plane approaches Paris air-space, the pilot resumes control for landing.
This is a good analogy for how we achieve results in our lives.
I pick a goal (my desired destination) that I want to achieve and I enter coordinates into my brain to get me there. These coordinates are my thoughts about that goal. I then set off to reach my destination, guided by the thoughts I have programmed into my brain.
The programmed thoughts drive my feelings, actions and results.
Goal: I want to conquer my fear of public speaking and present at the next company All Hands meeting.
Thoughts:
I could totally do this public speaking thing although I probably need a lot more practice.
I could practice at the next team meeting but I don’t really have much to say.
I’ll practice when I get my confidence up which, uh, I’ll work on later.
Maybe I’m not cut out to be a speaker after all, I not getting any better.
Destination: In the audience again. Why can’t I overcome this fear?
The thoughts we program in our brains – public speaking is hard for me – guides us just like autopilot would guide a plane.
We end at the destination that matches our coordinates. We struggle to even approach a speaking opportunity because we have told our brains that it’s impossible before we even begin. The brain accepts this belief and impacts your feelings of confidence, which impact yours actions toward speaking opportunities which ultimately delivers your result – audience member once again, just like you thought.
The wrong coordinates self-fulfill as it guides our feelings, actions and results. What happens when the pilot wants to go Paris, but enters the coordinates for Amsterdam? Without even noticing, because the plane turns slowly and steadily on auto-pilot, when she eventually takes control of the plane once again, she has arrived at the wrong destination.
Similarly, our unconscious takes over and the ineffective thoughts cause us to take defeating actions, course correcting away from our desired destination because the thoughts don't support it.
Do you have a goal that continually seems out of your grasp? Take a moment to do a quick inventory of the thoughts you have about yourself and your goal. If your current thoughts aren’t driving you towards your goal, change the coordinates! Introduce a new, more empowering thought and watch the magic happen.
Leave a comment with your new empowering thought and start shifting your results today.
