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Getting Back on the Horse

January 12, 2008 · Written by Heather Juma

woman money cartoon For Christmas, I received “Guitar Hero II - 80’s Rock.” For those of you who have never played Guitar Hero for PlayStation II, you strum notes on a guitar while pressing different color buttons on the guitar that represent notes. In a sort of conveyor belt fashion, the notes fall down from the screen, and you are forced to keep up, pressing the colored keys while strumming the button in the center.

Tonight, while my daughter and I were playing, there were many times that I lost my place in the beat of the music. I stumbled again and again to try and regain my cadence so that my guitar would not squalk at me, and I would not receive jeers from the crowd.

I found it hard if I listened to the crowd, which roared more and I continued to lose my place. My mind stumbled to catch up and I found it hard to ignore the growing criticism from my make-believe PlayStation crowd. After making a concerted effort to tune them out, I focused a spot coming down in the future and regained my spot and was able to finish the song victorious.

So many times in business, we mess up. We didn’t handle a situation with a team member the right way. We did not exceed the expectations of our customer. We struggle with cash flow. It may be that the business is in severe financial crisis. In these times, the imaginary audience in our head can become pretty strong. “You are a failure.” “You always mess things up.” “You always say the wrong thing.” Sometimes, our audience is our family, friends, or long time customers whose comments can cut our confidence in our abilities to be truly successful. In times in which you are struggling, only you can know what you truly want and desire.

In all probability, the reason you failed stemmed from the fact that you were not clear with what you really wanted, you had no plan, and you had failed to take the action required to execute it. Knowing what you truly want only comes from dedicating time to listening to your inner voice. How do you get in touch with that voice? Take time every morning, before the kids wake, before your spouse comes downstairs and sit quietly in a room. Take a piece of paper and ask yourself, “What would my life look like if I knew I could not fail?” Dream big! This is not the time to listen to the gremlins of negative self talk hop into your dream. After you have that list, ask yourself, “Who would I have to be in order to have that life that I desire?” After you have the above information, chunk it down. What steps do you need to accomplish that goal? Step by step. Make specific goals that have deadlines that you want to accomplish. Chunk it down. Next, schedule yourself with those deadlines, to ACT on the things that you need to do in order to have the life that you want.

Remember this caveat that you must have a positive attitude when doing it. Replace your negative self-talk with affirmations. Remind and revisit your goals everyday like looking at a map of where you are going. If you are visual, cut pictures out of the life you desire. Remember, Maxwell Maltz, M.D. wrote in his book Psycho-Cybernetics, “Our minds cannot tell the difference between an actual experience and one imagined vividly and in exact detail.”

Your mind is a powerful machine. You are the only one who truly creates your success and failure. It is all up to you. Have a clear vision and go for it - and leave the negative talk behind for your success in the future, if you don’t give up. When you “fail”–and you will, get back on the horse quickly and start again. Tune out negativity from yourself and from those around you. You are unstoppable. Now that you have a plan, you are on your way to the life you desire.

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One Response to “Getting Back on the Horse”

  1. Heather Juma on January 13th, 2008 2:23 am

    Brandie-great post! Those gremlins are in everyone’s head, thanks for pointing that out! You are right on with your advice, you provided great success habits that we should all implement. And thanks for sharing about Psycho-Cybernetics, this is a must read!

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