If you want to launch your life into the next level you must first realize that to get to where you want to go the same pattern of thinking that got you to where you are now will no longer work.
Many of you resist change because you believe that what you are currently doing is working just fine getting you the success you now enjoy.
This is great if you are satisfied with your success but reality dictates that you will need a new way of thinking if you want to experience a new level of professional and personal success.
To do this you must take control of what your mind is focusing on by breaking through the barriers of your fears. You cannot allow your mind to be affected and controlled by those momentary problems that pop up from time to time.
These patterns must be broken permanently. Once this is done you replace the old patterns with a commitment to focus on, seek out solutions and revel in the process. You need to establish patterns of excellence.
It is important that we pay attention to and notice when we are about to engage in a negative pattern and not get caught up in it, nor dwell on it, nor crucify ourselves about it.
What you must do is too simply break the pattern as quickly as it occurs or as we find it and replace it with new empowering patterns.
How then do you break these patterns when they arise? Here is a very simple plan to do just that and also help you to condition the new empowering patterns of excellence and make them permanent.
1) Decide what it is you really want.
2) Find plenty of reasons why you must change now.
3) Disrupt the limiting pattern
To disrupt the limiting patterns the most effective way to do it is to spend some time focusing on taking conscious control of your thoughts.
Call it a Mental Cleanse as it is about erasing the destructive and negative patterns of thinking and feeling that we have developed through years of reacting emotionally and in an undisciplined mental manner. So do a mental cleanse, take the Seven Day Mental Challenge.
The Seven Day Mental Challenge
Criteria 1
For the next seven days commit yourself to taking full control of all your mental and emotional faculties by deciding right now that you will not indulge in or dwell on any unresourceful thoughts or emotions for seven consecutive days.
This also applies to the words that come out of your mouth and the internal conversations you have with yourself.
Make no mistake, for most of you this will not be easy and you will be surprise to find out just how often you engage in negative thinking.
Criteria 2
Should you find yourself beginning to indulge in negative thoughts, you must immediately focus on more positive and resourceful ways of being in spite of the situation and what may be happening to you at that moment.
To help you with this I suggest that you ask yourself what I call Solution Questions like What’s good about this situation? What needs to be changed?
One thing I do when faced with negative thoughts is to think about and focus on the way I would like things to be.
I do this to the point where I would begin to see the end result I envision. I do not fool myself into thinking the situation will just disappear no, no, no, I focus on the end result I desire because it puts me in a resourceful state.
Another thing you can do is to set yourself up for an empowering and resourceful way of thinking for the day.
You do this by asking yourself certain empowering questions like What am I thankful about in my life? What makes me excited about my life? What makes me happy about my life? The questions you use should be designed to help you experience joy, happiness, gratitude, love, appreciation and excitement each day.
Do the same thing in the evenings by asking yourself about the day that has passed. Questions like What did I do today that made my life better? What did I learn today? You can come up with you own positive questions.
Criteria 3
Focus entirely on solutions and not on the problems that arise. So when a hurdle pops up seek out the solution immediately before it gets too big to handle quickly.
Criteria 4
Should you fall off the boat and find yourself indulging in negative thoughts or feelings, dont worry yourself too much.
Just make a change quickly, find the solution. If however your negative thoughts or feelings linger for too long say three minutes then you have to start the challenge all over again the following morning.
Remember this is a seven-day challenge so if you go six days without holding a negative thought and on the seventh day you have a persistent negative thought you must start the process all over again.
Criteria 5
At the end of each successful day of no negative thoughts pat yourself on the back, or get up and jump up and down and shout Hooray I did it! Trust me you will feel so good that you’ll get excited about doing it again
The criterion for the challenge is simple but it will not be easy for most, you must however persist until you nail it.
You should not at any time engage in this seven-day challenge if you are harboring any doubts about being totally committed to it.
You must be certain that you are willing to live by and stick to it for the seven days. If you do not begin with a total commitment in mind you will not make it to the seventh day.
The payoffs of sticking to the seven-day challenge are likely to be many but at least three things are like to happen to you.
Firstly you will become more aware of the way in which you consistently look at things and the mental outlook that may be hampering your growth.
Secondly it will cause you to begin to seek out much more empowering ways to deal with situations and emotions which in turn will give you a confidence boost as you become a solutions person.
Thirdly once new habits and ways of thinking are formed, you will begin to create a bigger vision of and for yourself.
When you commit and follow through with the challenge you will be breaking away from those dis-empowering habits that have imprisoned you.
Never be a slave to your emotions nor your environment. By controlling your responses to events and your emotions you will find that new ideas, solution and expectation will suddenly appear, it will be easier to be calm, creative, and engage in consistent action.
Now, bear in mind that it’s possible to do this challenge and its going to be hard for most of you so commit to it totally.
You are the one who has to make it work if you desire new patterns of excellence. In the long run this may turn out to be the catalyst that causes you to begin to consistently have a positive focus, forming a life long habit.
You should use the Seven-Day Mental Challenge as often as you can to ensure that you continually establish patterns of excellence.
