For years, I assumed there must be something wrong with me. I had these clear goals and intentions and they were super important to me, but I kept shoving them off and making choices that ran directly counter to what I said I wanted.
It could be as simple as wanting to get up early to get a workout in or get ahead with my work. I really wanted that productive start, but as soon as my alarm went off in the morning, I’d begin storytelling.
- I’m too tired
- I’ll do it later
- I’ll start tomorrow
- It’s really not that big of a deal
That pattern showed up in many different areas of my life. I really wanted to lose weight and I knew what behaviors and habits didn’t support that goal, but I’d choose them anyway, using the same stories I’d tell myself when my alarm went off. I’d commit to a promising new plan or protocol, but would continuously talk myself out of action by arguing for each and every inconsistency.
- I’m so stressed
- This one thing won’t hurt
- I’ll get it out of my system and start fresh tomorrow
I really believed something was wrong with me. I did the hard things whether I wanted to or not in my work, so why did I have such a hard time keeping my word when it came to my health or how I used my time?
It wasn’t that I couldn’t do the work, because sometimes I would. I’d make a little progress but it never lasted. Something always got in the way – usually one of my tried and true excuses.
I hear this all the time from my clients. A lot of them even call it self-sabotage, though I don’t think that’s what it is. They really don’t understand how they can desire a goal so badly, have a clear plan to make progress and then continue to put off doing the work.
They start strong and do well for a little while, but the wheels seem to always fall off the bus. They get frustrated or life gets in the way or they end up simply convinced that nothing works for them so what’s the point.
Most importantly: there’s nothing wrong with you.
I’d love to share with you a metaphor that explains these patterns very precisely.
Let’s say you own a little boat. You love to go out on the water in your boat, but it’s hard to enjoy yourself because it always seems to fill with water! No matter what you do, the majority of your time on your beloved boat is spent bailing water.
No matter how much water you bail, it seems like your work is never done. There’s still water. You’re doing all this work but it never gets you the results you want. Not surprisingly, frustration and overwhelm soon take over.
Here’s the problem:
You’re addressing the symptom of the problem but not the problem itself.
Many are surprised to hear that the water in the boat isn’t actually the problem. We’re drawn to it because we can see it. We fee the effects of it. It stands out as an issue. And so, we don’t look for the true issue and instead we start bailing the water.
The true problem is the hole in the boat. But you’re so focused on getting rid of the water that you don’t stop to fix the hole. So, the work is never finished and progress is incredibly hard to come by.
The “water” is your overeating.
The “water” is your overspending.
The “water” is your hitting snooze.
The “water” is your skipped workouts.
These aren’t the true problem. They’re the symptom of the problem. But, because they’re so obvious on the surface, we dive into trying to fix them.
The true problem isn’t as easy to see but I’m about to make it a whole lot easier for you. It’s the way you think.
See, every single choice we make and action we take (or don’t take) is driven by how we think. When your alarm goes off in the morning, it’s less about how motivated you are or how clear your goals are than it is about what you tell yourself in that moment. That’s mindset.
When you committed to eat clean today and are standing before a tray of fresh baked cookies, your behavior doesn’t come down to how good your plan is. It comes down to how you think about your options. It’s mindset.
As a business owner, every quarter I go through a series of questions that help me make sure I’m taking my business in the right direction. One of the questions I ask myself it, “If I had a magic wand, what would bestow upon all my clients and listeners?“
About a year ago, the answer was immediately clear: I’d 10x their mindset.
I’d wave my wand and make them all 10x better thinkers because I know that means immediately better results, improved consistency and fewer excuses.
From there, I start to ask myself how I can grant that onto my listeners without a mystical wand.
So, for the last year, I’ve been working on a new program called 10x Mindset. I knew it had to meet a few important criteria:
- It had to be action-oriented. People often avoid “mindset work” because it seems too vague and hard to act on. 10x Mindset was going to have to lead with specific action steps, not theory.
- It had to be a fairly short-term container. When programs or challenges run for a long time, a couple things can become problems. Participants perceive that they have plenty of time to do the work, so they put off starting. Often, that means they never start. The other common challenge with long programs is that people start strong and then fizzle out at the 20 or 30% mark. Neither are great for results. (And yes, programs can certainly be designed to overcome those challenges, as The Consistency Course is, but those are a couple of the reasons I wanted to keep it a short container.)
- It had to be super accessible. I wanted the price to be under $200.
- It had to be something people could use as a tool over and over, an infinite number of times. Nothing one and done.
So, here with are about a year later and 10x Mindset is now live.
What is 10x Mindset?
It’s a 30-day, action based approach to upgrading your mindset.
Each day, you’ll receive one daily action item that produces a meaningful mindset upgrade. You’ll have the option to listen to the email or read it and it will include a daily image to help keep the action-item top of mind.
It starts as soon as you do. If you sign up today, you’ll immediately receive a welcome email and then within a couple hours, you’ll get another email with your first of 30 daily action items.
There’s no Facebook group, no course site to remember to login to. It all goes directly to your email. The material is yours to keep so you can return to challenges over and over again.
10x Mindset is $197 but if you start within our first week of launch, you get a special discounted price of just $147.
If you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask!