Reframe your thoughts Archives - Page 118 of 140

Prime Your Mind

Posted on May 6, 2021

Today will be amazing! So many things are going right already. I am certain more great opportunities will arise. Prime your mind for success and you may just find yourself having more.

Life can be a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you live with hope, keep a positive attitude, follow proven processes and take immediate action, you are likely to succeed.

Oh yes, there will be speed bumps-a-plenty on your trip to the ideal life. However, if you focus on the big dreams and the excitement of it all, you are more likely to make it happen.

You see, your mind is a solution-seeking, target-tracking machine. Once it understands something, it sets about trying to confirm it or find it. If you say, “Oh no, not Monday!”, you may find your brain working overtime to supply you with photos of drudgery, pain and distress.

But, if you wake up and say, “I am going to have a wonderful and productive today.”, then you are more likely to do so. Most of the time, most of us aren’t paying attention to what we say. This is a real shame, for this is where the magic is.

If you prime your mind, every morning and evening, with good thoughts, positive reinforcements and strong affirmations, you will not only enjoy your life more, but you will probably get a lot more out of it. Try it.

Action Health & Fitness Reframe your thoughts Time

Learn To Hustle

Posted on May 2, 2021

It may not be cool to hustle. And most people do not do it. But those that do often reap the rewards. Learn to hustle and you will win the minds of many.

I am talking about moving quickly. I coach U14s rugby for London Scottish and I am constantly telling the boys the value of hustling. Get to the place you are supposed to be before people expect you to be there. You can rest later. Do not rest on your way.

I grew up being well aware of Pete Rose. He was an American baseball player. His nickname was “Charlie Hustle.” My Dad liked him because he hustled. And I liked him because he seemed to make things happen because he would hustle. I liked his energy. It was inspiring.

You can make a lot of exciting things happen if you hustle. Other teams’ players make more errors when you are pushing the boundaries.

The family watched a great movie earlier and it was called “Rudy”. It was based on a true story. Rudy learned to hustle and it took him a long way. It’s a very good movie. It shows what we can do if we have a dream and hustle to make that dream come true.

It’s unfortunate that the “I am too cool to run or make an effort” traps a lot of talented kids in mediocrity. The number of kids with real talent is amazing. Sure they may not be the number one player of all time. However, if they put the heart and hustle in, they could make the league. And who knows where from there.

Do you really want to succeed? Learn to hustle.

Action Reframe your thoughts Time

Clear The Debris

Posted on May 1, 2021

Papers pile up. Books and magazines go unread. Meetings become unnecessary. Occasionally we need to clear the debris in our lives.

Many things are started which never get finished. It’s good to remove it or get someone in to resolve it. If a cupboard door needs fixing, then fix it. Otherwise, get a friend, or a professional handy person, to come in and resolve it.

If dishes have piled up, get them sorted out. Newspapers and magazines used to find their way into piles in our house. Not anymore though.

I was the main debris-maker. I liked to sift through the readables and keep them around if I didn’t make it all the way through. In addition, I would keep some with dog eared corners to read later. Later rarely came so the piles got bigger.

I had to stop bringing things in the house. So I reduced the amount of ‘interesting articles’ I would read. I also began throwing out the paper in the recycling as I walked in the house. It couldn’t add to the piles if I didn’t bring it in the house.

Then I reduced the piles by reading or simply tossing the items into the recycling. It was therapeutic. Get rid of old clothes, half done projects, papers and piles and those ‘someday’ items. Focus down on just a few key things.

Clear the debris.

Action Progress Reframe your thoughts

Performing At Your Best

Posted on April 27, 2021

Life is a competition between you today and you yesterday. Other people can inspire you to push harder. However, performing at your best is up to you.

Like many things in life, some people start ahead of you and others start behind you. Regardless of where you start in life, improving on your current position is mostly down to you.

If you were born with speedy legs, you will run faster than most, especially in your younger years. However, unless you train and develop your body and mindset, other people may overtake you in a race. You can be born with talent, but unless you build on that, people with greater desire will leave you for dust.

Of course the race is still just between you and yesterday’s you but it’s better for your mind if you improve. If you don’t put the effort in, you may regret it later. And often this involves some perceived sacrifices that need to be made.

This is true for all the areas of life. Whether it is money, scholastic achievements, sports or relationships, you should be mindful of what you are doing and how much effort you are putting in.

Performing at your best will pay off. Keep striving.

Action Progress Reframe your thoughts Time

Move Swiftly

Posted on April 26, 2021

A comfortable pace is exactly that – comfortable. Consider moving a little quicker. Become a little obsessive. Move swiftly like it’s the day before you are going on holiday for two weeks.

Add a little bit more pace to your step when you are walking. Speak a fraction of a speed more quickly. Come to the point of your comment a little quicker.

This means you might just get more done in your day. Or you might be on time for more events and appointments. It will also mean that you take up less time of others.

If you do not value your time, you are unlikely to value the time of others. Wasting your own time is one thing but wasting someone else’s time is not ideal.

I practice moving quicker by setting an alarm to ring when I should be done a piece of work. If I have some smaller admin items to complete, I set the timer and begin my ‘sprints’. I see if I can work quickly to get the item done in that time. Sometimes I can do it. Sometimes I can’t. But I keep trying and with that I build a habit of hustling through items.

Come on. Move swiftly.

Action Reframe your thoughts

Treat People Appropriately

Posted on April 24, 2021

Equality sounds good. However, does equality mean treat people the same? Possibly, but maybe not. Try to treat people appropriately rather than the same. And yes there is some nuance in there but if you thought about it, you already know what I mean.

I like the idea of appropriateness. It allows for some differences in situation. For example, I don’t treat my young children exactly the same as I do my wife. Conversation topics are a little different, expectations are a little different and the comfort around their independence is not identical.

Another thought is, if we treated everyone equally, or the same, in the toilet category, women would have urinals. Or switching it the other way, men’s rooms might have (unnecessary for them) sanitary items available. It seems more appropriate that these differences exist. Making them the same would be a stretch on resources, and they would very rarely get used.

One question I know you’re thinking about is, “who decides what appropriate means?” For what era are we defining it? And once defined for the current world, know that things will shift in a year or five too.

Perhaps we really already know what appropriate would look like. Or at least we would know our current best idea of appropriate. Many people would be happy with that and it might make them aware, or at least curious about, other best practices.

Treat people appropriately.

Action Observe Reframe your thoughts Think About It

Check Your Highest Thoughts

Posted on April 23, 2021

What filters do you use to see the world? Are you in favour of rose-tinted glasses? Or are you a hardened sceptic? Check your highest thoughts carefully as they are the ones you filter the world through. This in turn creates your reality.

Remember, it is not the reality. It is simply your interpretation of reality. If you think people are inherently good, you will see the positive in people’s actions. If you deem people to be evil, then that is how you will generally see people’s actions. And of course you can take sub-categories of people too.

For example, let’s say you think that wealthy people are evil, corrupt and morally bankrupt. Then, even when a multi-billionaire donates a billion dollars to a charity or hospital, you’ll find the negative. You might ask why they are so greedy and why didn’t they donate more? Or you could reference how they are just using it as a tax write-off and publicity stunt.

Your thoughts can betray you as you create stories in your head based on how you want to believe the world is. Though, often enough, the world is not as we create it in our heads with our preferred filter.

Check your highest thoughts. Enlightenment is closer than you think.

Gratitude Observe Reframe your thoughts

Perfection As The Starting Point

Posted on April 22, 2021

You’re going to be rattled and frustrated if this is how you start each day. It’s definitely a high bar to maintain with perfection as the starting point.

Perfection. Think about that for a minute. Is it possible for everything to be perfect at all times? Do you reach that level every day? Ever? Do tell us in the comments how you do it please, if you do.

By aiming for what many would argue is an impossible standard, you set yourself up for pain and anguish. Creating an expectation that is generally considered impossible, the trouble begins. Reality will rarely meet that lofty expectation. So rather than being grateful for the millions of things going well in your day, you may notice just the near-misses.

If you spend your time noting all of the imperfections in your day, you’re likely to find happiness somewhat elusive. The larger the distance between reality and your expectations, the ER Gap, the more stressful your life is likely to be.

One way to check if you engage in this heightened expectation, is to check your language and joy level. Your ER Gap may be too wide if you are often using words like ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’. Or, if you tend to note the things that aren’t going well. Try to notice all the good things that are going well. Those things you take for granted. Like your health, house, partner, children, car, roads, running water, heat, free schools, etc. Find joy.

Start today without perfection as the starting point.

Action Observe Reframe your thoughts Think About It Time

Creating Your Own Prison

Posted on April 19, 2021

Have you ever felt trapped? It could be because of your circumstances, your choices or your thoughts. Creating your own prison is not what most of us set out to do.

Yet, many of us do it at some point in our lives. We may get into a great relationship but then things turn and we feel trapped. We also dive into things like a job or our own business and then feel we can’t escape. Lastly, we develop a way of thinking, patterns, that are unhelpful. We set up a guard to keep us stuck where we are.

Become aware of such things before you set off down a certain path. Ask yourself what the end of this path might look like in several years. Sometimes we can see clues to our future. We need to consider these signs, clues and intuition moments.

If we don’t see these when we set off, keep an eye out for signposts and side roads. If we are paying attention, we can recognise patterns of behaviour before they negatively impact us. These can be our own or the actions of others.

If you feel trapped in a situation, consider what you are grateful for. Also, consider what the many options are that you have. Think of the easy ones and the hard ones. Don’t just swap a tough situation for another one.

Certainly don’t make creating your own prison a habit.

Action Gratitude Observe Reframe your thoughts Time

Pure Joy

Posted on April 17, 2021

Birthdays are awesome when you are young. They tend to have new elements each year. In addition you enjoy getting older. They’re pure joy to watch too. I just had that feeling again with my son turning 12.

It was great to see his enthusiasm for the day ahead. Then throughout the day, he was smiling, laughing, energised, and fully enjoying himself. Despite the lockdown limitations, and this being his second lockdown birthday, he seemed to love it. And it was pure joy to see him embrace it and enjoy the day.

We will celebrate across the weekend as he opens gifts and cards and receives lovely messages from friends and family near and far.

As you get older, the enthusiasm can switch from looking forward to a birthday to being thankful to have reached it. Either way, we should try to remember that every one is an event to cherish. In addition to every day in between them.

Looking at the smile on my sons face today reminds me how fortunate we are. Count those blessings. Enjoy even the troubling times together. But most of all, be grateful for those sounds of laughter, energy and enthusiasm. It is amazing how quickly 12 years can swoosh past.

Savour it. It’s pure joy.