Action!

Over the last month I have managed to leave Facebook (then return sneakily), stop drinking (and return to it briefly) and be a sloth (which has sort of stopped). Leaving Facebook has reduced one of a few distractions allowing me to use my limited brain power to focus at work. I am happy to say that is has worked and my work has been much more consistent as a result. Not drinking for four weeks has certainly allowed my moods to stabilise and this goes in hand with eating more regularly. Low blood sugar has often been the simplest of enemies when it comes to my moods and depression. Being a sloth has come about because I have not had the energy or motivation to get to the gym after a days work. Our days are physical, but they are not anything compared with concreters, or tradies working on building sites.

To answer the reason why I have felt so incapable of exercise I have delved deep inside my mind and meditated many times in order to arrive at the reason for this complex issue of lethargy.
I have been lazy. Yes it took a great deal of inner discovery whilst assuming yoga positions that some would only dream of, but I reached this critical point at the weekend. At the same time I had started reading a new book called Gorilla Mindset. "Oh god Tom not another book?!" I hear you cry. But yes, cry all you like my friends because I am reading another book to help with the mind. Actually I am reading four books at the moment. What can I say, I'm a reading whore. Except nobody has paid me for reading these books, so I must be doing something wrong. Anyway I digress. This book is different from others that I have read in that it gives practical advice and worksheets to help the reader to gain a greater control over their mind and change their mindset to one of positivity and achieve success in what they put that mind to. It sounds too good to be true right? But actually like any diet, training program or change in your life you have to just commit yourself to action consistently and await the results. Nothing comes for free, you have to work at it and the brain is a devilish mistress. One that can seem to go the way you want one minute and then have you over a barrel (metaphorically of course) the next.

So this book has some great practical advice that I would like to share with you now. I don't have the permission from the author for this, so I'll let you check the book out if you are interested and ask that you don't report me to the authorities. The FBI already have me on a Blacklist for making a bomb joke at an airport...So the book Tom, the book! Yes sorry, it is by Mike Cernovic and as I said before is called Gorilla Mindset. You can usually try a sample of books on Amazon for your Kindle or just on the Kindle App on your smartphone or tablet.

On self-talk Mike offers some great advice. Now this may not be original, after all it is hard to re-create the wheel when it has been done so many time before. But Mike delivers his advice in an easy to understand way and it is stripped of fluff. The book is about action more than ideas to think over. When you experience negative self-talk such as 'I always screw this up!', 'You are useless!' or 'You are a waste of space on earth!' Ok so maybe the last was an exaggeration, but we all have something negative going on at some point in our lives, it's natural, it's normal. The key is to confront that negative talk and Mike encourages you to repeat what is in your head in front of a mirror or better yet to record it on your smartphones voice recorder and replay it to yourself. By doing this you can see how ridiculous a lot of your negative self-talk is, it's actually embarrassing. But best yet it is easier to rationalise what you are thinking when you get it out of your head. Once it is spoken or recorded and listened to you can deal with it much more effectively than bottling it up inside. Do you actually always screw things up? Are you useless? No, your mind exaggerates, your ego craves attention like a little brat. So slap it down and tell it who's boss and then you can build on the positive self talk.

Positive self-talk is hard for so many of us. We grow up in a world of negativity, control and limitations. As Mike Cernovic writes it is not surprising that so many of us suffer with the limitations of our minds and don't progress in life. Why should dreams only be just that? Part of it is people around us telling us that it won't work and the rest is our own minds. So positive self-talk starts with affirmations. You may think this is fluff that doesn't work, but it has worked for millions of people over the years and comes back to consistency. It is not a magic pill, but something that you have to believe in and repeat everyday. Believing in your affirmations are easier because you write them. They are something that you want to be written as though they are already fact. Examples might be:

• "I am confident and strong."
• "I am a bloody marvellous human being with great management skills."
• "Today is another day to show how great I can be, even if I don't win I will grow stronger for tomorrow."

Like when you verbalised your negative self-talk it helps to say these aloud, everyday to yourself. Stand up, smile, pull your shoulders back and let yourself know how bloody fantastic you are. I tell you the mind needs to know who is boss and how amazing you are.

Your affirmations can be corny, funny or serious, but above all else they are personal to you alone and specific to what you want to improve about yourself. 

Let me finish off here by saying this. These techniques are no magic pill on their own, you have to tackle the negative shit head on and accept how ridiculous it is. You are your only limitation to what you want from life. Your negative talk has been around for years and is akin to a Great White Shark. Your introduction of positive self-talk and affirmations is basically a minnow in comparison. But through consistent "feeding" through daily repetition of positive self-talk (and a little magic) your minnow can become a Blue Whale. I speak only facts, so don't doubt my metaphors. 

Anyway lets stop chatting and get on with some positive action. Bugger off and get Mike Cernovic's book and let me know how you get on. 

Are you ok?

Tom