Have you ever heard someone say, “Once she puts her mind to it, she can do anything!” As simple as it sounds, this little phrase speaks to the real power that our thoughts (both deep-seeded and fleeting) have over the actions we take and therefore, the results we achieve out in the world. They really are that powerful!
So, I love hearing people give tribute to their mindset and thoughts when they achieve amazing things. Rock on! Acknowledging those thoughts are a great way to bring more awareness to your mindset so you can keep applying it to bigger, more impactful goals!
But wait… (~cue record scratch~)
What about when things aren’t going well? Or even down-right crappy? Interestingly, when we aren’t kicking butt and taking names, our minds rarely get the credit. When things don’t go our way, we quickly identify alternative reasons (bad luck, poor situational circumstances, conflicting priorities). Things, seemingly, out of our control.
But here’s the deal. Your thoughts create your feelings and actions and this ultimately gives you your result. This statement is very much neutral. This means that you create ALL of your results – the good, the bad and ugly!
Wait, what??
Yes, ALL.
And this is excellent news! This means that if you are unhappy with your progress on a particular goal or feel like you have hit a dead end, you have full control to change that. Let me give you a personal example.
I wear a couple of hats right now, working in both corporate and as an entrepreneur. Over the past year I achieved some pretty big professional wins in my corporate gig which I fully attribute to the conscious thought work I put into those goals. My belief that I would achieve them was rock solid and this guided my efforts in getting my project launched.
To my dismay, I hadn’t seen the same success in my entrepreneurial efforts so I decided to do a little investigative work. What thoughts were driving my actions when it came to my own business? This is what I found when I conducted a short thought-download exercise:
"You can’t be successful in a full-time corporate role and as an entrepreneur at the same time. One will always have to take a hit."
When this thought came out, it felt SO much like a fact, I almost ignored it. I believed that the circumstance of me having a corporate job was dictating my ability to be successful in my own business. That left me feeling powerless and resigned to the fact that my own business would always suffer as long as I continued with my corporate gig.
How do you think those feelings and thoughts affected the actions I took towards my own business? Yeah, it wasn’t pretty. Nothing ensures you will give up at the slightest whiff of inconvenience like feeling powerless. And true to form, this affected my results. Just like that, my mind created my own results once again but this time, I wasn't really digging the outcome.
This little discovery was powerful for me. It was a fundamental shift. As I said to my mastermind group immediately upon discovering it, “I see you now, Thought, and your ass is grass!”.
My next step was to formulate a new thought. One that created positive, productive feelings which would drive my actions forward for my own business. It was there and available to me the whole time. The results followed immediately as if I had a new-found sense of permission to take massive action in my business. Now that's what I'm talking about!
I encourage you to take a moment and run this exercise for yourself. Do you have a goal that has stalled or seems to be continually out of reach? Write down your thoughts about that goal and be honest. Make sure you write down the first thoughts that come to your head with no editing because they are always more truthful!
Now go back and challenge the validity of those thoughts. Are they helping or hurting your ability to achieve your goals? Ask yourself, how does this thought make me feel and what kind of action does that feeling inspire? Will that action get me to my goal?
If they don’t help you grow, they got's to go!
Have a question about how this works or want to workshop a thought together? Contact me at bridget@bridgetcobbcoaching.com for a free Discovery Session and let’s make it happen!
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