Did You Know Thoughts Impact Your Outcomes?
The impact of thoughts. You get to think anything you want. While most people would agree with this statement, it doesn’t truly resonate with them in actuality. One amazing aspect of our brain is you can shift old thought patterns into new thought patterns with the goal of driving greater results. This takes effort on your part as the brain likes it’s old patterns and habits just fine thank you, but it’s doable!
A thoughtful example. Did you have the opportunity to watch The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix? It’s an outstanding movie and there’s an scene that poignantly depicts the impact our thoughts have on us. The main character, Beth Harmon, hurries to the restroom after one of her first encounters in playing chess with other talented players. As she looks in the mirror she tells herself, “You are so ugly!” “You are stupid!” and other belittling statements. These thoughts deepen her feelings of inadequacy and don’t help to serve her. Instead, she could choose to say things like, “You are pretty.” “You are smart.” “You are talented.” “You can do this.” Those thoughts elicit far different feelings, such as confidence, power, optimism which drive a different type of behavior with greater outcomes.
What do you choose? So if you can choose ANY thought you want, why in the world would you choose thoughts that lead to feelings of inadequacy and the like, driving lower outcomes? Choose thoughts that are helpful in generating feelings that push you forward to achieving your goals.
But this thought is true! Sometimes you have thoughts that we’ve held onto for so long, they have become your truth. That’s ok as long as it’s not getting in your way to moving forward in achieving your goals. But if you come across a “truth” and you find it’s not working for you any longer, ask yourself, “Is it really true?” and if you answer yes, then answer this question, “Can you know, absolutely, that it’s true?” If you can’t measure it, like the temperature, or prove it in a court of law, you don’t have a fact, you just have a thought. Remember, you can choose to think anything you want.
Bridging to a new thought. In some instances going from an old thought to a new thought can be difficult. That’s where bridges or ladders can come in handy. They work to help your brain move from the old thought pattern to a new thought pattern that gets you what you want. For example, if your old thought is, “I don’t know how to post to social media” and that thought leads to feelings of uncertainty which causes you avoid the task, because not posting means you are not developing the followers you want to gain, you can add a bridge. “I don’t know how to post to social media, yet” or “I don’t know how to post to social media and I can learn.” The bridges of “yet” and “and” help to transition you away from the old thought to a new one.
How I can help. If upon examination, you realize you have thoughts wandering in your brain that are not allowing you to gain the outcomes you want, reach out to me. I can help you examine your thoughts, understand how they hinder or help, determine the cost/benefit of the thoughts and create bridges to new thoughts that will gain you the outcomes you richly deserve.