For the past 5 years, I’ve coached some astronomically successful salespeople in the solar business. These individuals can go to any neighborhood and within a year be making $500,000 or more in commissions, just by selling solar energy. Their success is even more impressive when you consider that 99% of their peers in the field, quit or struggle to make a living. These super successes come from different backgrounds, but all have one thing in common; they have won the battle of their brain. They control their thinking, their thinking doesn’t control them. Long hours, constant rejection and inevitable disappointments meant nothing to them. They were singularly focused, always confident, never deterred, and are masters of conscious thinking.
If you are not attracting what you desire, the following techniques to win the battle over your brain will transform you. Your current circumstances are perfect feedback, which tell you exactly how you are thinking and how to fix it. You just need to be aware of it.
This article will discuss the importance of thought, followed by three transformative thinking principles:
- Limiting and advancing self-talk
- Changing disempowering questions into empowering questions
- Creating a new context for your beliefs
- The challenge in changing mental habits, unlike physical habits, is they have no lag phase. They are instantaneous. To transform your life, you must be proactive with your thoughts.
Thinking is the most important topic of study. Thoughts are your fiercest foe or your greatest ally; this is accurate for individuals as well as in society. So much can be gained in the study of thought. Why aren’t there courses on how to think more efficiently? It is time we study thought.
The study of thought is impossible to do scientifically. In a scientific study, we isolate the object we are studying. Thought cannot be understood objectively in the typical way subjects are studied. Thought is a ubiquitous, living, growing, evolving thing that cannot be distilled into a bottle, dissected in a laboratory or looked at under a microscope. There is only one way to study thought, and that is to observe it. Einstein said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.” Think about this for a moment; how then, is it possible to study thought in a scientific way? It’s not.
The standard scientific method is to use tools. You employ a microscope to study bacteria, a magnifying glass to examine a bug, and a telescope to study the stars. Unlike a standard scientific study which utilizes these tools, the only way to study thought is with thought. Observing your thoughts changes them. This makes thought a moving target, and therefore difficult to observe. Is there a solution? Can we achieve a higher level of thinking? The answer is yes, and the solution is simple. You must begin to watch your thoughts to notice the inherent conflicts and contradictions.
Limiting and Advancing Self-Talk
If your relationships/life are filled with conflict, or if you are not attracting the circumstances you desire, it means your thoughts are not serving you. They are not consistent with what you desire. You must master your thoughts and make them obey you. The first step to conscious thinking and controlling your thoughts is to observe them, and the best way to do this is by monitoring your self-talk.
Self-talk is your internal dialogue; it is what you say to yourself in the process of thinking. It is the voice in your head that tells you who you are and what you are capable of. When you adopt a new vision that takes your life in a different direction, your mind is stimulated. Your new path requires new and advanced patterns of thinking. A multitude of different thoughts will enter your consciousness, and resistance can build between an old way and new way of thinking. Your current level of thinking is the perfect creator of your circumstances. When your new vision meets your current way of thinking, your self-talk dramatically increases. This creates an avalanche of new thoughts and feelings. To transform your life, you must recognize and confront what is now your old level of thinking.
It is imperative to recognize that your self-talk is the level of your current beliefs, and not your potential. What has your self-talk prevented you from doing in the past? Did you not take that job? Did you miss that opportunity? Did you not apply for that position you wanted? Did you not approach that attractive man or woman? When an opportunity presents itself, what do you say to yourself? Yes I can, or no I cannot? You choose which is true.
Self-talk is your teacher, not your friend. It illuminates the level of your current beliefs−it has nothing to do with your potential. Most people misinterpret their self-talk as the level of their potential. They think their self-talk is protecting them by keeping them from the pain and hurt of another disappointment, rejection, or disastrous business failure. Your self-talk is identifying the level of your current beliefs, not your potential, which is unlimited. It is important you monitor your self-talk around your relationships, money, and health. Ask yourself− is my self-talk moving me towards my vision, or keeping me stuck in my present reality?
Your new goal is to cultivate advancing self-talk. This keeps you in compliance with the law of attraction. Advancing self-talk will help you align your thinking with what you desire. You attract what you want naturally and quickly. You can and will be aligned with any new vision you create. When faced with something new, you will say things such as: “I can do it” or “I am fun! How can anyone resist?” How do you imagine people were able to summit Mount Everest, put a man on the Moon, or break the four-minute mile? They did not sit around saying “We can’t do it, that’s a tough one,” or “It’s impossible.” These amazing accomplishments were the direct result of advancing self-talk. These people knew beforehand their goals would be accomplished, and they transformed how we see the world.
Changing disempowering questions into empowering questions
The second important distinction in conscious thinking is to monitor the questions you ask yourself. Most internal questions are rooted in “what’s wrong.” Your mind functions by a process of asking and answering questions. You must be vigilant to only ask yourself empowering questions, ones that lead you towards your desire and don’t keep you stuck in your present reality. For instance, if you ask “Why can’t I meet the right person?” or “Why is life so difficult?” your obedient brain will give you an answer. These responses perpetuate the problem the question is trying to solve. A better question would be “How do I easily and quickly harmonize with the perfect person?”
Never ask questions like “Why is my life such a struggle?” or “Why am I so fat?” These questions will prolong the reality you do not want. They perpetuate an unhealthy level of thinking. Make a list of all the harmful questions you ask yourself, and turn them into empowering ones. Creating a new context for your beliefs.
The third insight in conscious thinking is to create a new context for your beliefs. Beliefs are a complex mix of past conditioning, dramas, and references drawn from your life experiences. Beliefs should be your friends, not your enemies. Beliefs are never intrinsically right or wrong, good or bad. Beliefs can only be judged in the context of your vision. Your beliefs are either consistent or inconsistent with your vision.
For instance, the belief that you cannot speak in public is irrelevant until you create a new vision to run for Congress. To be consistent with this new vision, you must discard this old inconsistent, disempowering belief. With your new understanding and a compelling vision, this is not difficult.
What are your current, inconsistent, disempowering beliefs about life and relationships? Monitor your self-talk to become acutely aware of what you say to yourself. Choose your beliefs, and make certain they serve you – this is the new context for your beliefs. When you adopt a new vision, take inventory of your current beliefs and make sure they are consistent with that vision. Adopt new, empowering beliefs. You can transform your beliefs.
Disempowering self-talk, “what’s wrong” questions and inconsistent beliefs are mental habits, just like overeating or smoking. The challenge with mental habits is that there is no lag phase like there is with physical habits. When you want to have a smoke, you have to get up go to the store, get a pack of cigarettes, get the lighter, light it and then smoke it. The time between the idea of smoking a cigarette and smoking one is the lag phase.
Mental habits, in contrast, are instantaneous; there is no lag phase. That is why mental habits are a greater challenge; you must learn to be vigilant in advance. Practice conscious thinking be proactive with your thoughts and questions, observe them while they are happening. This is how you take control of your life. This is what it means to “pray continually” 1 Thess. 5:17. You must take control of your thinking and use these tools continually.
When you consciously create your thoughts and feelings, no circumstance will be bigger than you are. Most people live in fear because they want what they don’t expect and expect what they don’t want. Conscious thinking aligns your thoughts with your vision. You will expect what you want and want what you expect.
You will revolutionize your life by controlling your thoughts, feelings, and emotions; you can create them in advance of any situation. When you are a conscious thinker, you will never hurt yourself or anyone else ever again. You will create the life you have imagined.