by Laura Camacho, PhD
Marketing, sales, operations, finances, picking up the children….so many responsibilities for today’s business owner. It often feels overwhelming, which is why we need mentors and coaches to help us make successful choices. One thing that helps you make better choices and be more productive is your thoughtwork.
Thoughts shape your feelings. Feelings shape your actions. Actions determine results. Results cause thoughts.
Thoughtwork is monitoring your thoughts and replacing falsehoods with positive truths.
Don’t let your thoughts slow you down.
Let’s look at one common falsehood, also known as a Limiting Thought.
Limiting Thought: I shouldn’t make a mistake.
Well, actually you can and you will. The faster you make mistakes, learn from them and move on, the better off you’ll be.
Mistakes are inevitable. Top performers know this and have the confidence to know they will live through them.
Being comfortable with imperfection, accepting of one’s mistakes gives others the impression you are charismatic, comfortable and approachable.
Thoughtwork exercise:
Many times we don’t even articulate that false thought, we just feel low energy, anxious or stressed. Ask yourself, “What is the thought that makes me feel this way?”
Yesterday a client shared that he felt his business (employee benefits) was not interesting or important compared to say, being a physician.
I asked him, “Where would we be without people to help employers get the best benefits for their employees?”
Spelled out clearly, he saw that this thought was foolish.
Thoughtwork process:
What is the thought that Is driving your feeling bad?
Is this thought actually 100% true all the time?
What is a thought that is MORE true, or true more often?
In the case of this client, he realized that it was not true that his business offered no value. He replaced that silly negative false thought with this one: My business adds value to business owners. They need help navigating employee benefits.
So with everything on your plate, don’t forget to do your thoughtwork.
Laura Camacho, MBA, PhD, PMP, is an executive coach, trainer and speaker who opened Mixonian Institute in 2009 to rid the world of boring business communication. She has created innovative training programs for local and international companies, related to leadership effectiveness, excellent feedback, growth mindset and emotional intelligence. Multilingual, Dr. Camacho’s career highlights include facilitating The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (in Spanish,) being editor of the leading management newsletter in Venezuela. For 10 years she taught communication classes at ECU and College of Charleston. www.mixonian.com
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