How many times have we sat and said “I’m just not feeling it today” or “I need to be in the right headspace to commit to this”? I’ve been there plenty of times and not once has it served me. All those thoughts do is distract me from doing something that could push me towards my life-changing goals.
If you’re waiting for a positive mindset to kick in, you’ll be dead before it happens. We wake up each day with decisions to make: what to wear, what to think, what to do, how to feel, what to pursue. These are all choices that we control. So why do we feel like they are out of our control?
Conditioning
We are conditioned to believe that we don’t control much in this life. Don’t believe me? Turn on the news for a good hour and let me know how many times you hear “you (the viewer) have control over your world, go out and create your paradise!” Everything around us from our phones to the television tell us that decisions are made and we are at affect. This conditioning creates a thought cycle starting with “can I, should I, could I?” rather than “I can, I will, I must.” We control our thoughts more than we think.
Forfeiting our control
The decision to not do something is worse than not realizing you can do something. When you choose to not decide what you think, feel, and do, you open the door for the whole world to come in and tell you what you should think, feel, and do. In doing this, you will be pulled in a thousand different ways and none of them will feel right to you – because none of them are things that YOU want! Choose to control your world and you’ll realize just how much you can influence the reality in which you live.
Distractions
Some of the most gifted individuals don’t do anything great because they get distracted. Distractions are toxic to your performance in everything that you do. They offset the potential you’ve worked so hard to maximize towards your goals. Distractions such as: inner critics, assumptions, interpretations, limiting beliefs, fears, anxieties, stressors, and tiredness are all designed to keep you from your greatest achievements. The only way to remove distractions is to take a big spotlight and shine it right on them. When you understand, acknowledge, and embrace everything that keeps you from being great – you can do something about it. Stop ignoring the things that distract you from accomplishing big things.
Unclear goals
The best ships are good for nothing if they have no destination. If you’re wanting to get a promotion, start a business, or do anything just to get you more money then you’ll find yourself in the same place you are right now. Money is neat, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a tool for doing other things. It’s not a destination, it’s part of the ship. You have to clearly know what makes you feel aligned spiritually, mentally, emotionally, environmentally, physically, and socially in order to really ignite your soul towards a purpose. If you feel lost right now, you have to ask yourself what your real goal is that you’re working towards. If that goal is some kind of noun, it’s most likely just part of the ship. If that goal is verbs and adjectives, you’ve got the right starting point and need to get clear around exactly what those things are and why they mean so much to you. Create clear goals for yourself and the destination will be clear and the journey will be worthwhile.
When you realize that each thought, emotion, and action you have is completely under your control you must be willing to own them. You are never “in” a good headspace – you create it. You do good and therefore get good; it all starts with action. Think about it, when you’re in the dumps, what does everyone tell you? They most likely tell you to DO something that might pull you out of it. Hardly do we ever hear “well just do nothing right now and hopefully you’ll mentally feel better tomorrow!” If someone is telling that to you, please do yourself a favor and don’t listen to it.
It’s ok to leap into things before you feel ready, it’s what makes life worth living! If you knew everything that would happen in life before it happened, life would be boring as hell.
“But Keegan, if I jump into something when I’m in a bad headspace filled with negative thoughts and fears, won’t I get terrible results?”
Hell yes you will! It’s called being fearless. When you can venture into the unknown while feeling imperfect, you still learn a ton and are stronger than you would be if you didn’t do anything at all. The biggest lessons in life come from choosing faith in your ability to adapt despite what everything else around you might tell you. If someone dropped you in the amazon, you’d probably freak out and have a ton of fears. However, you’d also start thinking “holy crap, ok, I gotta find some sort of shelter and protection if I don’t find people by X time so I can survive.” We have an amazing ability to strip away the excuses and distractions when we have no other choice and simply act. You’re not going to tell yourself that you’ll wait to find shelter because you’re just not feeling it right now, you’re life is on the line! When your goals mean as much to you as your life does when stranded in a remote wilderness, you’ll create the mindset that serves you best.
I do what I do to help people understand exactly how they can achieve at a high level while removing everything that has held them back for so long. I used to be the person who would fold like a cheap chair the moment a little doubt creeped in and it was crushing to me. It wasn't until I realized how much of my life I actually control that things started to change. This is why people work with a coach, because they want to understand how they can create so much leverage between themselves and their goals that they feel like they’d die if they don’t achieve them! Stop waiting for the right mentality and start creating it.
What if I told you that conquering these challenges and creating momentum is possible and within reach right now? I’d love to have a conversation with you about what is keeping you from being great and how you can overcome them! You can either reach out to me at keegan@lamarcoaching.com or go to the contact page to set up time with me to discuss this in a powerful coaching setting. I look forward to helping you uncover your true performance capabilities.