This career drains the life out of you

“Stop worrying about what other people think. They’re probably too busy worrying about what other people think too.”
— Cheryl Richardson

I love Cheryl. She’s a straight-up Jersey girl who cuts to the chase. And of course, she’s right.

Do you worry about what other people think? Have you ever sat down to add up how much literal time it takes up in your day? Week? Month?

For me it was like having two full-time careers: One in the real world and one in my mind. My mind ‘what do people think’ career sucked all the life out of me.

In addition to thinking about what I thought people thought (it sounds ridiculous because it IS ridiculous), I would also spend hours predicting how conversations were going to go and stayed constantly stuck from taking action on my goals. My mind was continuously feeding me with negative thoughts on why my goals were’t good, how I didn’t know enough to accomplish them, and so much more blah, blah, blah.

My internal ‘mind’ career was sucking energy, focus, and tons of fun away from my real career and life!

I was rarely present and embracing what was happening ‘now’. I was too busy worrying what other people thought, predicting the future, and dwelling on the past.

That’s cra-cra.

HERE’S SOMETHING TO PONDER:

We all have 60,000+ thoughts per day so how in the HELL can we possibly know what anyone else is thinking! It’s challenging enough to keep track of our own 60,000 crazy ones ;0

Is that comforting in some way? I hope so. At least it’s a start and helps you bring awareness to what’s going on up there.

I promise you have the power to move away from your mind career and it’s one of the smartest and best investments you will ever make, especially when you do the math and add up how much of your precious and finite time and energy you’re expending on the wrong stuff. 

CHALLENGE:

  • Do the math this week! At the end of each day write down the estimated time you spent not taking action in your real life because of your mind life
  • What is something you can do when you catch yourself getting caught up in what you think people are thinking?
    • A suggestion is to say, “Hey! You can’t possibly know what they’re thinking so stop it!”
    • Another good one, “I am quite certain they are thinking that I am smart and talented, because I am!”

SOMETHING ELSE TO PONDER: 

If we can’t possibly know what someone is thinking why do we insist that it has to be something negative? 

 

Kelly Summersett