The Power of This One Thought Can Change Everything
Have you ever felt like your own worst enemy? Have you ever been paralyzed by fear or insecurity? Have you experienced the gripping, gut-wrenching frustration of knowing that you are the only thing standing in your own way?
It’s a simple concept: control your thoughts. Humans do loads of abstract and complicated things on a daily basis—solve complex mathematical puzzles, network with people from completely different walks of life, create dynamic business strategies, learn new technical skills outside of their comfort zone. Controlling our thoughts should be simple, right?
Clearly it is not. It’s one of the greatest struggles that unites all of humanity.
Anyone who has ever dealt with anxiety knows the struggle of overthinking. Overthinkers may concentrate so long and hard on what they want to achieve that sometimes they think themselves right out of action. Guilty as charged? I must, unfortunately, confess to doing exactly that.
You see, when we overthink we have this peculiar tendency to come to a sudden halt. We fail to translate our thoughts into action. Our discussion, brainstorming, and strokes of brilliance never materialize into a concrete and strategic work plan to implement those ideas.
Researchers have said that there are a few reasons why overthinkers rarely act. All ultimately boil down to a lack of confidence.
Lack of Confidence in Ourselves
The first reason why you don’t act is that you believe deep down that you can’t succeed. There’s a little voice in your head whispering, “You’re not good enough. You can’t do this.” So you don’t do it. The voice inside our heads holds tremendous power not just on how we perceive ourselves, but on how other people perceive us as well.
I was once in a bar talking to the guy next to me. It turned out that he was a leadership professor at the local university’s business school and a top dog in many of the largest financial firms in the city. We were watching a sports game on TV, and when the national anthem came on, he stood up and said audaciously: “Let’s all get up and sing along.”
Everyone in the bar instantly stood and sang along. I was astonished. Nobody knew this man nor his important standing in the academic and business worlds. Yet they all listened immediately to his command. Why?
The answer is simple: it was the power of “I Can.” He believed that he could get everyone in the bar to stand up and sing, and so they did. I don’t doubt that anybody would have listened had he whispered to his neighbor questioning whether or not he should do it. Or if he half-heartedly or reluctantly asked the question. The reason he got everyone to listen was because he wholeheartedly believed he could, and so everyone did.
Don’t worry if you’re thinking you could never pull off something like that in a social setting. The power of “I can” manifests itself in different spaces. If you believe you can ace your test (and you put in the hours to study), you likely will. If you think you can climb the corporate ladder (and you put in the hours to prepare yourself), you likely will. Believing in yourself, deeply, is half the battle.
“I can” doesn’t just make us happier or more confident; it makes us unstoppable. Start fixing your internal dialogue to tap into that power today.
Lack of Confidence in the Team
Not believing in yourself as an individual isn’t the only way that our self-destructive thoughts can get in the way of achieving our objectives. We can be perfectly confident in ourselves on a personal level and yet fail to meet targets in the workplace. How does that happen?
In much the same way fixating on personal insecurities can prevent us from proceeding with confidence, we can also get fixated on the business “big elephants” that prevent us from taking action. When tasked with achieving a giant objective, we may fall back on “We can’t!” instead of “How can we?”
Truly great companies and leaders don’t ignore the elephants and pretend they’ve gone away. They actually focus on the elephants. They get started on work plans that break them down into sizeable chunks. They say “no” to other areas so that they can focus on the big elephants.
It can be hard to say no to other important aspects of your business, like your customers, specific revenue streams, market segments, or product lines, but you need to make space for the big elephants. Great companies know when to say yes and when to say “I can’t.” It’s only in focusing on these big elephants that you experience huge explosions in growth.
It goes without saying these two areas where we lack confidence go hand-in-hand, but believing in yourself is the first step to being a helpful team member. That so many of us lack confidence internally hurts us collectively. Especially when we’re the leader.
The world we inhabit is paramount to our success. I love the expression by Marcus Aurelius, who says that “the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.” When we believe in our potential and our ability to fulfill that potential, our psyche flourishes and shines brightly. We start to not only feel unstoppable; we become unstoppable.
If you paid deep attention to the quietest of your thoughts, what would you hear? Would it be positive? Negative? Or would you hear the following phrases echoed whenever you struggled with something?
I can believe in me.
I can do anything.
I can stay in the zone.
I can own it.
I can embrace the collective.
Just reading those phrases calms me down and focuses my energy on what really matters. That’s why I challenge you to start your day, every day, with those five sentences as your powerful mantra. It will transform you and your business from the inside out.
The post The Power of This One Thought Can Change Everything appeared first on Howard Shore.
