This week's Success Principle a la Jack Canfield is Transform Your Inner Critic into Your Inner Coach. This principle also marks the halfway point through this book! This chapter deals primarily with negative self-talk. Canfield explains how this negativity can have a physical impact on our bodies. We can literally harm ourselves by living in worry and imagining bad outcomes. So how do we get past our favourite negative voices? (You know, "Who do you think you are?" "You're not good enough." "Everyone will laugh at you." "Stop being such a dreamer" etc. Pick your personal favourite)
To help change our thinking, Canfield refers to the work of psychiatrist Daniel G. Amen who calls our automatic negative thoughts ANTS. He says there are 3 steps to stomping those ants:
- Become aware of them.
- Shake them off and stomp on them by challenging them.
- Replace them with positive and affirming thoughts.
Let's try this with my current favourite limiting thought: "Jamie, you're not ready."
Step 1. I have to admit, when I was looking for a limiting thought and realized that this was the most prevalent in my mind right now, there was already a sense of freedom and relief. Now that I know it's just a repetitive negative voice, I really don't have to listen to it.
Step 2. Is it true that I'm not ready? Not really. I am well-trained and practiced in the work that I do. I love my work and get consistently great feedback from my clients. And sure, there's always more to learn and room to grow, and I'm committed to that, but there is a heck of a lot that I can do right now.
Step 3. Where I am is great. Sure, as I learn and grow, I'll be able to offer even more, and that's awesome. But right now there is a lot I can do, so I'm going to step up and do it!
What would that process look like for you?
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