Have you ever noticed the crazy stories you sometimes tell yourself? Have you ever noticed when you’re feeling fear that there’s a doomsday story running through your mind? It might go something like this…”This project is too much. There aren’t enough hours in the day. I don’t know what I’m doing or where to even begin. I’m totally unorganized. I’m never going to get it done. My client will fire me. I won’t have enough revenue this month. I won’t be able to pay all my bills. My business will never be a success. I’ll have to file bankruptcy. The kids will starve. We’ll lose the house and wind up living in a cardboard box.”
Our ability to tell ourselves wildly negative stories is truly astounding and doing so, far from shifting us out of fear, serves only to increase it to epic proportions. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be that way, and with a bit of practice it is possible to apply that remarkable storytelling ability to shift out of fear instead.
The next time you become aware of a doomsday story running through your head, stop, take a few deep breaths, and apply that powerful storytelling skill in quite the opposite way. The new story might go something like this, “I’m so excited about this great new project. I’m going to easily and effortlessly work through this project one step at a time. It’s going to flow. It’s going to be fabulous. My client is going to love it and I’ll get a big bonus for finishing early and a bunch of new referrals for work with more great clients. My business will be wildly successful. I’ll pay off all my debt, including the mortgage. I’ll take the family on that great vacation we’ve been dreaming of and in a few years I’ll have so much passive revenue I’ll be able to retire and travel the world.”
While that story may sound like a fairytale, it’s just as likely to come true as the first, much more negative story. The fact is, most of what we lose precious time and energy fearing and worrying about never comes to pass, so why is it that we have a tendency to believe the negative stories are more likely to actually happen than the positive ones? If we’re going to spin stories, and we all do, we may as well spin positive stories that will empower and uplift us and keep us moving forward proactively.
Even if this sounds silly to you, I urge you to give it a try the next time you find yourself feeling fear and spinning a dark and negative tale the likes of which could rival those of the Brothers Grimm. Doing so will shift you out of fear, and you just may find yourself laughing at the absurdity of the original fear-based tale, and feeling excited at even the possibility of the fairytale version coming true.
Posted on Nov 30th 06 by Lisa Wilder.
Lisa is passionate about helping others to create lives and businesses they're passionate about and which bring them joy. Through her small business coaching and consulting she helps service professionals boldly step out of their comfort zone into The Wilder Zone to build successful businesses doing what they love. http://www.thewilderzone.com http://www.thewilderzone.com
Other posts on Coachamatic by Lisa Wilder.
Ms. Lisa Wilder — I’ve seen this exercise so many times in creative writing and self-improvement circles, but somehow I’ve never seen it — and never thought to apply it! — in the business realm. Of course! What a fab idea. I loved it so much, I put out a call to “Write Your Own Heroic Myth in 2007!” on my own blog today. (http://www.epiphaniesinc.com/blog/2006/12/13/write-your-own-heroic-myth-for-2007/)
Thanks for the inspiration! You’re a rad & righteous babe.
-Lani Voivod
www.EpiphaniesInc.com
“A-Ha Yourself!”
Hi Lani,
You wrote: “You’re a rad & righteous babe.” Well, darlin’….it takes one to know one. I love your “Write Your Own Heroic Myth in 2007!” post. To create your ideal life and a wildly succesful biz you have to have a vision of just what that is, and then you have to be able to envision actually living it. It’s that clarity of vision that ellicits inspired action, and it’s the inspired action which sparks some of the most amazing synchronicities to occur.
“The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. - Attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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