It’s never as hard as we make it out to be

In yesterday’s post, The remarkable thing about what you are telling yourself I shared with you how we become story tellers and make things out to be harder than they truly are.

Today I have a real life example to share with you. Last year a beloved uncle died and an out-of-state cousin asked if he had any hats and if no one else in the family wanted them he’d like to have them. Well all I had to do is send him the hats. Simple enough, yes? You would think so.

However, in my mind it was a different story. See I had made up a story about what a pain it was going to be to send the hats. I’d have to find the right size box, find packing materials, get the hats in the box and then take the box to UPS. Sheesh, that was a lot of hard work my mind was telling me.

That was until a client of mine (it’s isn’t always me teaching my clients, sometimes they teach me =) told me a story about a friend who said that she wasn’t good at sending things to other people; to which my client said to her “it’s not that hard, just go to UPS and they’ll pack it for you”.

My “hat” story changed that day when my client told me this and so off I went to UPS and said to the guy behind the counter, Steve was his name, I need some direction here, I want to send these hats do I just pick out a box and he simply said “no just put everything on the counter and you are all set.”

Quote - Mark Twain

I thought, WHOA, just like that? This couldn’t be this easy, the story I had going was it was going to be hard and viola just like that less than 5 minutes later (well, almost a year and 5 minutes later) my cousin’s package was on it’s way! And I felt an amazing sense of relief at having accomplished this task after so much time.

The lesson I learned for myself and that I’m sharing with you is that things are never as hard as we make them out to be. So the next time you think “this is going to be a pain, too hard, or take too long”, think about my hat story and how it took just 5 minutes and it was done.

I know I’m not the only one with a story such as this, please feel free to share, I’d love to hear. Or if you would rather keep it private, email me personally at kim@kimravida.com

Are You Positively Positive?

I just read one of Tony Robbins books.  This quote really got me thinking:  “The difference between acting badly or brilliantly is not based on your ability, but on the state of your mind and/or body in any given moment.”

I gave this a lot of thought.  I realized that when I’m tired, I’m cranky and things go oh so wrong.  When I’m hungry, I’m rushing and I’m very short with myself and others.  When I’m not at my optimal, I’m angry, frustrated, stressed out and nothing I do ever goes right.

Can you relate?  So then, what’s a person to do?  The obvious physical actions are: eat and sleep.  But what about our mindset around those actions?  We all know that we should take care of ourselves better, but do we?  I know of more and more people who put off taking care of themselves, eating well, exercising, sleeping, and down time all in lieu of working more, doing more, being more.

A wise woman once told me “I have to take care of my body; I take it everywhere I go.”  So true.  Also true is that our body takes us everywhere we go.  Well then, since that is the case, how can we better take care of ourselves so that we are optimally running all the time?

As business owners, what if we were to change our mindset to one that is supportive and loving of ourselves and others?  What do you suppose would happen?  The right mindset when it comes to running a business really can be the difference between a successful business and a failing or struggling business.

Think about your mindset as a business owner; would you say you have a positive or negative one?  Which is dominant?  Many clients when they first start working with me realize they have a negative attitude.  When they recognize that they are in a negative mindset they can’t believe it.  See, often they can’t even see it.  Ever heard the saying “can’t see the forest through the trees”?  Fortunately, in time they turn it around. 

Where might you be holding yourself back?  If you were to shift your mindset from negative to positive, could make a world of difference to your business?

If you are serious about making changes to your own mindset, join my Prosperous Business Mastery Group Mastermind Program where you’ll have lots of opportunities to learn how to change and master your mindset.  For more information click here.