What can you say to yourself when you feel that you are failing... whether in the moment, in a relationship, at work, during a project, or with life in general? How can you pull your mindset out from the pits of potential despair, or from the perceived precipice of defeat? The answer is simple.
What if...
When the odds are stacked against you and you can't see a way to win, ask yourself: "What if I just keep doing the next right thing and I manage to pull this off?"
When you are overwhelmed and want to jack it all in and quit... "What if I just press pause for a while, take a beat, breathe and review the situation again soon? " (e.g.: later in the day, once you've slept on it, gathered more facts, or simply calmed down)
When your confidence is shot but you are attending a job interview, almost certain people like you don't get jobs like that... "What if I do get it? What if they think I am great, and my skills and experience are just what they are looking for?"
When you are nervous about a medical procedure, concerned that it might not be successful, or the results might become worrisome... "What if it all works out to be fine?"
When you're held hostage by vicious old limiting beliefs, installed into you as a child, leaving you convinced you are going to fail... "But what if I prove them all wrong and succeed?"
I could go on, but you get the gist.
The thing with your mindset is, you become and attract what you repeatedly think about. Sure, there is a Law of Attraction element to this, but I am coming from a purely cognitive mindset direction on this.
Your subconscious mind will find what you have told it to look for, so your job is to consciously, deliberately and mindfully tell it to look for what you want, rather than what you don't want. You have all the power and control to do this, but you perhaps forget to use it from time-to-time. This results in you clinging to the whiplashing coat tails of your wayward thoughts, as they hurtle you away to all sorts of unhelpful places, that you just do not want to go. Sound familiar?
Now is the time for you to reclaim your mental power and decide what to think, when to think it and - just as importantly - when not to think. Yes, you heard me. It is really important you take time out of every day to deliberately not think. Why? Because it is within the pause between your thoughts where your ideas, solutions, and inspiration creep in, but you are never going to hear them unless you shush it for a bit, and they are never going to cross the threshold into your consciousness unless you graciously invite them in.
Did you ever try to hop onto a fast-spinning playground roundabout as a child? Was it an easy goal to accomplish? The chances of success were slim to middling, right? Well, now imagine ideas, solutions and inspiration as you in this metaphor, trying to hop onboard, but all the whizzing makes it difficult. It would be so much easier, safer and effective to slow things down a little, yes? Which is why meditation, or simply gazing off into the distance for a moment or two, works wonders. My own personal favourite is watching bed linen billowing on the washing line, it really soothes the ole alpha brainwaves, and brings them back into alignment for me.
The thing is, we are all so digitally overstimulated all the time, which only heightens and perpetuates our sense of overwhelm. If we do not press pause and allow our minds to coast and drift, we exhaust ourselves... and for what? You charge your phone at the end of every day, so why not recharge yourself too? And it'll be within that oasis of silence where you will be offered the answers to your What If? questions, from the deepest recesses of your subconscious mind.
You really do have everything you need to achieve everything you want, but you are nevertheless welcome to call me to discuss this in a more personalised way, if you could use a little extra support. For now however, go and practise your What Ifs and learn what a paradigm shifting improvement they will make to your life and mindset, eventually allowing you to overcome anything.
Let's make that shift happen!
All the best.
Karan x
