"Rewire your brain's toolbox!"
"Confidence is what turns our thoughts into action."
Good afternoon, my people. It has been a long 48 hours that I have spent travelling from the West Coast to the East. Changing time zones is NOT fun! Anyway. To keep myself occupied in that time frame, I read this great book that my mom bought me: "The Confidence Code for Girls" by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman.
The book was made to help teens and young girls develop confidence to conquer the world. The idea is that "Confidence is what turns our thoughts into action. (page 9)" It has really helped me to view confidence in a different, more positive way as opposed to the negative view from when my mom scolds me about my lack of it. :) If your negative thought patterns impede your creative and positive thoughts and ideas, you will find yourself often dissuaded from actually implementing thoughts. You might even feel disdainful towards yourself for self-doubting, which can lead to more discouragement towards oneself and low self-esteem.
I have been through that vicious path. I have had times where I had a great idea, but my negative thought patterns and low self-confidence impeded me from even announcing them aloud! Then, when I had seen someone else announcing or implementing my ideas, I felt disappointment and disdain for not speaking up. Confidence is the key to turn your thoughts into action, or even to announce your thoughts!
Here are eight tools to use to rewire your brain's toolbox:
1. New Story!
Create a new story about something that happened that sent you into a negative spiral, and start every sentence with "maybe." It helps you to look at a bugging situation differently to get you off the negative path. "Basically, you are getting perspective, and thinking flexibly, two critical confidence skills. (page 120)"
Example: Instead of thinking, "Oh, those girls are totally laughing at me! So embarrassing!" write a "maybe" story. "Maybe those girls are laughing at something else, like an inside joke or something. They totally didn't see me make a fool of myself. Maybe no one saw me. Scratch that -- definitely no one saw me! I'm overreacting." Try it; it actually works!
2. Keep a Best Book.
This is a good strategy for those down-in-the-dumps times. Kay and Shipman say:
"List past accomplishments as well as things you're looking forward to. This activates your brain's pleasure centers and keeps the brain's fear centers calm." (page 120)
I'm yet to try this one. However, when I was writing my resume of the list of things I had done my high school career, I was proud that I didn't have a blank paper. I had something! Relish in what you have done, not what you haven't done or should have done!
3. Positive Feed!
We release endorphins (natural stress-relievers) when we "look at positive images and think positive thoughts to change [our] mood." So Do It! When I am down or lacking motivation, I spend time to look at the vision wall that I created -- more in a later post -- and relish in all the beautiful quotes and images displayed there.
This post got way too long, so I decided to split it into two more posts. Please read more if you thought it was helpful! Also, create a free account to leave me comments since I cannot disable this Wix feature :(
Have an awesome day!
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