Week Two Challenge

Hello.

I am doing the week 2 post a bit early just because I have some time today. If you are still working on your Week One Challenge then stay with it and when you are ready go ahead and get started.

Before we move forward I think it is important to clarify my intention. When I say positive thought can profoundly change your world I mean it. However I understand there are real hardships and struggles we all face and they require time to digest, process and assimilate. Yes positive thought can make a difference with the real struggles but my intention is to stop bad habits. Many of us have a genuine situation that causes us to be fearful, angry, sad, etc. But there comes a point when you should be able to move on. Life doesn't need to harden you. You may do this because you think you are protecting yourself but in fact you are hurting yourself by eliminating the opportunity to bring joy back into your life.

Week Two Challenge - Practice Right Thinking

Now that you have your goals from last week have you hit any hurdles like negative self-talk or judgements (from yourself or others)? Do you feel the need to settle and make your goals smaller? If so please take a moment to re-evaluate your goal(s) and make them bigger. Please don't settle.

Next think about what you consider to be failures in your past and see if you can uncover some self-defeating practices like self-sabotage. It's easy to blame your failures on others or complain but this is how you undermine yourself so stop it. Learn from the past and move forward in a fresh new way. Don't repeat the same mistakes.

Here's a common example - Your goal is to lose weight (FYI - We'll talk another week about good goal wording which this is not however it is a common phrase). You start to be successful and you start to look and feel better. You begin to get positive attention. And then you revert back to your old ways and gain the weight back. There are many reasons this can happen but for this example I want to talk about self-sabotage. When you look better (or are more successful in some way) your identity changes and you need to be clear about who you want to be. Don't worry about what people may be saying about you (good or bad). Lead by creating a good example and know if people are jealous it's because they want what you have. Be kind to them and to yourself. Stay on track with your goals and tell them to join our challenge.

To keep it simple for now this is all I ask. Think about the past failures so you will not repeat them and instead create a new image right now. See your beauty and be comfortable and happy with it now. Imagine how you will move through your day. Role playing in your minds eye will help you navigate more easily in reality. This is how you can use the concept of right thinking to help align with your goal(s) before we move any further. If you want more information on right thinking you can go to my other blog at http://gallaghersolutions.blogspot.com/.

What I'm working on:

A common way I can create failure with my goals is by what is known by runners as "hitting the wall". I start the race (my goal) too strong and simply run out of steam. For me my right-thinking shift is from total excitement to one of feeling grounded. I need to remind myself to take time out to rest and regroup. I need to pace myself. So right when I feel like going full throttle I take a deep breath and slow down. I find it helps to strategize. If you want my Strategizing Worksheet you can purchase my first book Four Steps to a Better Life for $9.95 http://www.gallaghersolutions.com/book.html.

Okay have a great week and be sure to share your ideas, goals, successes...

Live Well.