The Strong Within Affirmation Podcast
Education:Self-Improvement
398 I Remain Focused On What I Really Want | February 2018 Friday Week 1
Fantastic Fridays-#398 February 2nd The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast
I Remain Focused On What I Really Want
"One way to boost our will power and focus is to manage our distractions instead of letting them manage us."
~Daniel Goleman
I’ll be honest with you, this week, writing has been hard. I’ve wanted to watch Animal Planet II on Netflix, watching those lemurs fly from tree to tree is a beautiful thing, or those baby lizards escape those racer snakes. It’s amazing how my heart’s in my chest, as I’m leaning forward in my chair about to scream out, look behind you…get out of there… jump little buddy. As of late, I’ve been working on my podcast brainstorming later in the day. Which has me finalizing tomorrows podcast later and later in the night. So I put more pressure on myself, and to top it all off yesterday my laptop crapped out on me.
I have a Microsoft Surface tablet that I take notes with for students and clients, so I thought I could make it work, but there were a few things I was uncertain about. I took a deep breath, and I said in my head, “Chris, don’t freak out, stay calm it will be ok. You’ll figure out a way to make it all work out…and if you can’t, hopefully your listeners won’t turn into a raging mob with their pitchforks and flaming torches like you see in monster movies like Dracula or Frankenstein… wanting to take off my head for missing a day.”
So I pulled out my tablet computer and got to work. I downloaded all the applications I needed, and updated the ones that hadn’t been updated and set to the task of getting my podcast finished and published any way that I possibly could. It took me probably an extra two hours to get it set up before getting to the normal work of things. And while I wrote yesterdays podcast, I kept focusing on what I didn’t like. I focused on how the screen was smaller than I liked, or how the keypad wasn’t the normal size I like and I felt all cramped, and I focused on how the mouse wasn’t as responsive as I like. And so understating it slightly, you could say I was a little frustrated last night.
That frustration last night got to me today, and when I got home from training my morning personal training clients, all I wanted to do was put on some Animal Planet, or Lethal Weapon 3, or any program on Netflix and binge watch the hell out of it instead of putting my hands on that smaller tablet keypad to type out my podcast. My thoughts about what was bothering me had wiped me out mentally and physically.
And with the frustrations of the physical problem of the laptop looming over me, I began to spiral into other thoughts that kept telling me it was ok to give up and give in. As I said in the back of mind, “it’s ok if you miss a day. You’re pushing yourself too hard; everyone needs a break. You weren’t meant to create this podcast longer than a year anyways; I figured you would have given up after three months at the most. It’s ok if you miss a day, your podcasts aren’t that good anyways. Is it really going to affect anyone if you stopped recording your podcasts?” And as I said all those discouraging things, I felt many more negative thoughts bubbling up to consciousness.
Dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts when I was younger those voices were incessant in my mind. They made their home within me and became the loudest voices because I allowed them to take root. I created most of them because at the time I figured the more negatively I could say something to myself then maybe I might be moved to change because of that motivation style. And so the more I said them, the less they became suggestions and the more they became my beliefs and my truths.
The reason I’m bringing all of this up is even though I don’t think about suicide anymore, and I don’t get feeling hopeless like I used—those negative voices are still there, and they’ll always be there.
I don’t believe we ever leave anything behind. Our minds are such powerful filing cabinets that it doesn’t forget what we tell it. But don’t be upset by this idea, because those negative thoughts don’t have to control us. It really is how we decide to focus. Those negative thoughts were the loudest when I was younger because I didn’t work to practice kinder thoughts to silence the untruth of the negative voices. I just let that incessant chatter do its thing thinking it wasn’t hurting anyone.
There was a study that said to negate a negative thought or saying it would take 3 positive thoughts to equalize it, and 5 to overcome it. We say that every thought has the same amount of power, which I believe, but negative thoughts have a longer staying power when we haven’t worked to strengthen our positive resolve. Those negative thoughts are like velcro—they stick easier because they take no effort to prove. We can say them and automatically believe it. When we say, “I’m no good, or I’m stupid, or it never works out for me, "do we ever ask the question…well, is that really true?
No! We just take our word for it.
So that’s why positivity seems to take more work, because to overcome a negative thought you have to work 5 times harder. But again don’t get discouraged, it just means that with more powerful positive thoughts you’ll have to do it a little more. Which means you’ll constantly be doing it, so it becomes a part of every moment of your life.
I like to think of it like this. The American Heart Association says you should do cardio most days of the week. So, the organization is trying to make the thought of movement easier for you. They’re hoping to help you to wrap your mind around it in a way that helps you see that healthy living isn’t all that hard. They don’t say ok you have to workout 3 hours a day, eat right, get 8 hours of sleep, and whatever other things we try to do on our fitness regimen on the very first week we begin it.
They want to help you break it down and see that being healthy isn’t all that hard, or that crazy, as you can easily make it a part of your daily living. And this is what I try to do with my personal training clients, I want to make it as easy for them to wrap their mind around the idea that their fitness goals shouldn’t take over everything in their life—it should be a component of every part of their life. It’s the thought not of going to the gym 3-5 times a week, but to make movement a part of their routine every day. It’s about helping them become more active not just at the gym but to have a whole lifestyle change where it feels weird not to be moving. It’s about helping people realize their life is a gym, not just a physical place where weights are located, and screams of agony are felt, all while personal trainers laugh their maniacal laughter for causing people that pain.
So coming back to my computer problem, those small negative thoughts drained me. I wanted to quit, I wanted to take a break, I got lost in my self-pity as I told myself that this sucks and it’s just my luck and why does this always happen to me—which makes me want to give in and quit. But I know what my purpose is, as I made this my mission when I first started this podcast. It was to provide value every day by putting out a podcast for you and for me. It is the knowing that I made the commitment to follow through no matter what.
And even though it would be nice to rest during this stressful time, it’s not what I want. And I won’t let those negative voices win, because they are no longer the loudest voices—my positive voices are. The ones that say, “get back up, you got this.” The ones that say, “it might be hard now, but it will be worth it in the end.” The ones that say “every great achiever had a difficult time, we only saw them in their moments of victory.” And the ones that say, “you deserve to win..so keep fighting and moving forward…you got this…I believe in you.”
So what’s the goal you’ve been shooting for, but you feel drained, and feel like it will never happen? I want to remind you that all the obstacles in your way aren’t there to stop you, but they’re there to strengthen you. They’re there to make you more resilient; they’re there to create a path for you; and they’re there to make an example out of you so that when someone else is going through the same things, you’ll be able to say, “I was there and I made it through because I decided to stick with it...and you will too” You will be the example of what was possible, and you will help people reach their goals because you decided to have faith in yourself.
You deserve to reach your goals, but you have to remain focused on those positive voices by thinking and saying them 5 times more than those lying negative voices. The reason a voice gets louder in our head is not by volume of sound…but by volume of repetition and focus upon it.
I believe in you. And maybe it might feel hard right now for whatever is standing in your way, but that’s because you’ve been focusing on what’s going wrong…rather than seeing that you will make it right with resolve and determination to make anything work. You’ve been focusing on where your weaknesses are instead of finding ways to see your strengths and exploit those more. How we change is not remaining focused on why it will never work, but by remaining focused on why we will always find a way to make it work.
Today’s Personal Commitment:
I had to become so drained by a small problem like my laptop crashing to awaken me to all those little voices that were depleting me. So take a look at your day, look at the things that drain you during your day, and ask yourself why you think you’re feeling so drained.
Yes, we probably could take better care of ourselves by eating healthier, getting more rest, and working out, but maybe that energy drain is coming from that small incessant chatter we allow to take over. You know, those thoughts that focus on why we don’t want to be doing something, or how we would rather be doing something else
I want to be realistic here and say that, yes, there are things we have to do in life that we don’t feel like doing, but what if instead of hating why you had to do something you remembered why you enjoy doing it? We don’t like paying bills, but we pay them because they bring something good in our life; well, hopefully. That 5th fur coat layaway payment might be overdoing it.
So write down the things you find yourself wanting to avoid, and ask yourself how you can find ways to stop looking at it negatively. Ask yourself how you can see what you want and find the energy in tackling the task rather than allowing it to drain you
I Remain Focused On What I Really Want
Thanks for listening. I'm sending great energy your way as we become Strong Within together, Personal Development Life Coach- Chris O'Hearn
Contact info- email: chris@strongwithin.com phone:865-219-3247
Music by: - Zest by basematic (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. - I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Location: Knoxville, Tennessee USA but available worldwide
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free