Doing Something Different...

You have to do what you've never done before to get what you've never had before.

I can't remember the exact quote because the original does some horrific things to the English language, but that's the basic idea. Then there's the celebrated Einstein quote "Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that caused them."

That doesn't just apply to problems, it also applies to feeling stuck or needing to get to a new level in a venture. The thing is, we get stuck in our habits and those habits either build us or destroy us. As Jeff Olsen teaches in The Slight Edge (which looks to have been re-released...), either your habits take you up the success curve or down the failure curve... and for a long time these two curves look a lot alike, but there comes a point where your curve either jumps UP dramatically, or jumps DOWN dramatically, and the thing that determines that is not luck, or God (or Dog for that matter), or the lottery but your habits.

So this week I will be discussing some habits that I have taken on that have helped other people jump up onto the success curve. Here's the first:

NEGATIVE THOUGHTS WILL KILL YOU - I've talked about this before, but the bottom line is, your brain does certain things with certain patterns of thinking. Positive thought patterns open you up to new possibilities, clear your thinking, and make living a little easier; negative thought patterns put you into a state of protection, and it becomes hard to process objectively because everything is viewed as a threat. It's the same thing with "playing to win" versus "playing not to lose". Playing-not-to-lose is not playing to win. These two things are VERY different and use different chemicals in your brain in creating the mentality. You are not your brain, you control your brain (to a certain extent) and therefore have the ability to choose which of these mindsets you want to have. It takes practice, and you have to be aware of your thinking, otherwise you'll just settle into your old patterns.

Tony Robbins taught me to ask myself these three questions in order to make myself be mindful of my thoughts:

1. What am I focused on? (What thought pattern am I using?)
2. How do I feel about it? (Is that good or bad?)
3. What am I going to do now? (Keep it or throw it out?)

Awareness, analysis, action. By following those steps (and doing other things to keep your brain and body healthy) you will be able to control your thinking and negativity won't creep in and KILL YOU.