How do you start your day?
Lying in bed, eyes closed, blissful warmth from winter covers still enveloping you, what’s the first thought that runs through your mind?
For me it’s usually, “Oh god, what day is today? What do I have to do?”
I’m trying to change that. It’s much more fun to wake up and say. “What do I WANT to do today?”
It shifts the focus from should to could, right? It focuses on the positive and enjoyable aspects of the day.
Shifting Your Mindset – Focus on What YOU Want
There are of course many paths or tactics that you can employ to shift your mindset. I’ve probably tried them all including hypnosis. Only one of them has been consistently and powerfully effective – the affirmation.
For example, I used to get stuck with tremendous anxiety when I neared the end of writing/revising a book. It took me a while to figure out why this happened. Essentially, because I have the mindset that I have to do something with each thing that I write, the decision or process of “doing something” or making that decision is just uncomfortable for me. I’d much rather not finish the book and start working on a new one. I just loved beginning a project! Ending them…not so much.
I resolved the problem with an affirmation.
An affirmation is a positive statement that helps you focus on the situation or reality you’d like to create or experience. I wanted to be able to sit down at my computer and enjoy writing the last chapter. So every day before I began the writing process I’d say
“Finishing the book is enough. I embrace and enjoy seeing my story come to a satisfying conclusion.”
I had to repeat it for days, weeks even, before it began to sink in and become a part of my natural thought process and have an impact on my behavior. But it worked. I even printed it out and hung the words over my desk.
Affirmations are powerful.
They help you become the writer that you want to be and they do so by gently shifting your own thoughts from what they are to what you want them to be. And that’s what makes them work. You choose the affirmation. You choose the thoughts or habits that you want to embrace. This choice is part of what makes an affirmation an effective tool.
Whether you want to bust through writer’s block, have more courage to submit your work for feedback, or you want to improve your dialogue skills, confidence, or writing goals an affirmation can help turn that desire into a reality.
So what kind of writer do you want to be and what positive phrases can help you shift your thoughts and actions in that direction?