Mindset Impact
Are you are trying to improve your health, but not where you would like to be? One aspect that many times gets scant attention is your mindset or perspective.
How do you look at the world?
Are you focused more on what’s wrong, what is scarce or lacking in your life? Are you expecting failure?
If so, that’s what you will get. “You will act in accordance to what you believe”…. Tom Bilyeu…
Where you put your focus is where you end up.
“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer
When my daughter was six, we were on a plane to Arizona. Coming near to our destination we hit some roller-coaster-like turbulence. On the first big drop, the adults were white knuckling it, while my daughter let out a loud “weeeeee!” This broke the tension and the other passengers laughed. While we were thinking “death” she was thinking “what a fun ride!”. The way she saw the situation completely changed her reaction to it. She approached it in a much more positive way and thus her experience was a happy one. Now she’s older and unfortunately she thinks “death”. It’s a shame she couldn’t hold onto that perspective.
How does that difference in mindset relate to wellness or health challenges?
Well you can either be a source of encouragement for yourself or your worst nightmare. We all have those negative voices in our heads… “I feel old.”, “I am not good enough.”, “I will never get better.”.
The problem is if that is all you tell yourself – how successful will you be on achieving your wellness goals? In the book, Positive Psychology, it says “we need to experience roughly three times as much positive emotion as negative in order to flourish. This is not surprising when you consider that positive emotions are more fleeting, whereas negative emotions are more sticky.”
So for every bad thought you have about yourself, you need three good ones to balance it out. That means you have to be selective and choosy what thoughts you allow in.
What’s more I have many clients that are “all or nothing” folks. So when they don’t implement their new eating plan perfectly right from the start, they feel they have failed. Game over.
But what if instead – they thought about it more as a process or an experiment?
One where you have to take small steps and when you have some setbacks you review what the difficulty was and adjust. This approach takes persistence when faced with disappointment, but setbacks are expected. It’s what you do after that counts.
The difference between these two perspectives are ocean-wide. One end of the spectrum you are a failure (beat yourself up/give up) and at the other is a nurturing viewpoint (no judgement/adjust).
Which one do you think will be more useful in helping you to make a behavior change?
Of course the nurturing one! So as part of your toolbox when making a change, pay attention to your mindset.
How do you change your mindset?
First, you become aware of what you are doing to yourself and what your thoughts are. What are you telling yourself? Become aware.
Then you have to work on this type of change just you would in building a new muscle. Practice, Practice, Practice…
After all your brain is now hard wired this way and you will need change your wiring.
So instead of thinking – “I am fat. I give up = this is not working.” A different mindset might be: “yes, I do have weight to lose, but I am still able-bodied. I appreciate my body for what I am still able to do.”
Changing your mindset takes work and focus because your brain insidiously feeds you negative thoughts before you can stop them. You have to recognize them, stop them and turn them around. Those negative thoughts don’t serve you.
Click here to get some Mindset Hacks on how to counteract your negative thoughts.
The more you can get yourself to look at your current situation positively, the more you can look at your future that way too.
“What you resist, persists”
Keeping a positive mindset can make all the difference between wellness and happiness and failure and discontent.
You can start a change of mindset today!
Need help? Book a free 15 minute consult today and see how working with a health coach can give you the extra boost you need.