You’ve heard that “You are what you eat?”. It’s the same thing for what you think.
This can be frightening, and yet exciting when you think of the potential to influence yourself for the better…
What we think about…
- The mental videos that play in our minds
- The way we describe ourselves (good and bad)
- The emotions we feel
- Everything we think about…
… creates or reinforces neural networks that make up our personality, our sense of the world, even effect how we respond to our loved ones.
You always influence who you are when you…
- Think of the future
- Think of the past
- Choose what movies to watch, music to listen to, books to read
- Gossip about others
- Describe yourself (to others and in your own head)
- Do your work
- Play
- Ruminate
Ask yourself…
- Who do I want to be?
- What can I think about, do, view and say to help be become more and more of who I want to be?
- Of these ideas, what most appeals to me now?
I’d love to hear your answers and your results!
Bob
Posted In: Influence
I definitely notice how much negative thinking about my ability or inability to do things impacts my mood and level of enjoyment in activities. Your post makes me think how much of that energy could be turned around and used for becoming who I want to be and for developing my abilities or increasing my motivation.
1. I want to feel fulfilled, excited and confident about my work every day.
2. I can think more about what kind of things in my work that I already do create these feelings and
I can say more about these things in my marketing materials.
I can focus on and envision every morning how I’d like to feel and what will help to feel that way
I can list a few things at the end of each day about what I did well and choose not to only focus on what didn’t go as well
3. I could start with a commitment of listing 3 positives about my day for a while before I note anything unsatisfactory
Any further suggestions?
Thanks, Bob, for this post! When I start to go down on the negative lane I will remember that I have a choice and I can create a new and faster lane to where and what I want to be.
This is a fantastic list, Zsuzsanna!
Another way to positively influence yourself before starting a new day is to think about how you feel during recent fulfilling moments. This helps flood your brain chemistry with dopamine, etc., helping you to start your day even more positively. As the research has shown, confidence breeds success and success breeds confidence.
Bob,
This is SO TRUE. What I talk about I think about and what I think about I bring about. Like your other commenter, an exercise to help me shift my thinking is always helpful. Hers works for me, but your reply probably does even more.
Good topic.
Thanks for your comment, Michael. It’s amazing how much we can influence our own brains to help us be happier and more successful.
Absolutely agree with this! In the past I tried so hard to make people feel more positive, when in reality I wasn’t even being positive. Now, I think positive (have my moments of Zen) and that helps me to talk more positive to people around me.
“Another way to positively influence yourself before starting a new day is to think about how you feel during recent fulfilling moments.”
^
That is what I try to do daily now and it really helps! Thank you so much Bob! You have really helped me learn more about others, by trying to learn more about me.
It has been my pleasure, Chris, to have been a help to you in your learning. You said something wise there – “…learn more about others, by trying to learn more about me.”
It is fascinating how learning more about ourselves is the most powerful way to learn about others.
And influencing our own minds towards who we most want to be and what we most want to do – is the most powerful way to influence others to help us on our path.
I don’t think the title of your article matches the content lol. Just kidding, mainly because I had some doubts after reading the article.