3 Simple Steps to Focus on Business and Stop the Drama

photocredit:jonnygoldstein via Flickr

I told myself,“Don’t spill the soup. Don’t spill the soup. Don’t spill the soup.”  What do you think happened? I spilled the soup!

Does that ever happen to you? You tell yourself something you don’t want happen and WHAM exactly what you didn’t want to happen happens.

The Public Speaker

A friend of mine was scheduled to speak in front of a group.  She hates public speaking.  She tells me all the time how much she hates public speaking.  She tells everyone on Facebook how much she hates public speaking.  I don’t think she slept the entire week before!

The day of the event she was a mess.  She almost cancelled last minute.  Some how she stumbled through the event,but afterward beat herself up.  I heard about everything that in her mind went wrong (nothing that went right).  She swore she would never do that again.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

You think about 60,000 thoughts per day which equates to about 42 thoughts per minute. When you repeat those thoughts over and over,you create a picture of the event.  Your left brain creates the words and your right brain creates the picture. You’re fully engaging your brain which makes the thoughts even more powerful.  Ultimately focus on something like this long enough,it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Many of us unconsciously create dramas in our minds,expecting the worst from a situation only to have our expectations become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Inadvertently we become authors of our own misfortune. ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach,Simple Abundance

Stop the Drama

It’s easy to get caught up in the drama. Once you do,it feeds on itself. What you need to do is interrupt the cycle. What if you could take something you’re dreading and turn it into something you’re excited for? Doesn’t that sound like a better plan?

Here’s the Deal

When you replace the negative pictures with positive images,your brain automatically starts to change your perspective of the situation. You must be as committed to this new picture as you were to the drama.  Believe it down to your toes.  No doubt.

Tips to Get Started

This takes a bit of practice.  Here’s some tips to get started.

• Start small. Don’t tackle saving the world. Focus on a small drama that repeats itself.
• Keep it simple. The brain likes simple commands.
• Watch out for negative positives. This would be something like,“I’m not smoking on break.”What the brain hears is I’m smoking. You are still bringing up smoking. A better replacement would be,“I’m taking a walk on break.”Do you see how that changes the picture.

Back to Our Speaker

What if she replaced,“I hate public speaking”with “I enjoy public speaking?”As she continued to think about the event she saw the audience loving her speech,if she skips a slide there are people there to help her,and she feels calm before the event. I can guarantee her performance,and her post evaluation would be 180 degrees different. Now instead of her brain being full of negative pictures it’s full of positive pictures and that’s what it will focus on during the event.

Sow a thought and you reap an action;sow an act and you reap a habit;sow a habit and you reap a character;sow a character and you reap a destiny. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

What drama will you stop today?

photo credit:jonnygoldsteinvia flickr

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