It’s not what you say to everyone else that determines your life; it’s what you whisper to yourself that has the greatest power.
The best lessons we learn in life are the lessons we learn over and over again. The human mind needs lots of reminders — lots of practice — to operate effectively. For example, deep down we know it’s OK to…
- Say “no”
- Speak up
- Tell the truth
- Believe differently
- Change our mind
- Prioritize our needs
- Learn from our mistakes
- Embrace our imperfections
- Forgive and seek forgiveness
- Begin again, with grace and gratitude
Yet, we often do the exact opposite when life gets stressful and we’re under pressure.
We do the wrong things even when we know better.
Because the human mind has weaknesses. It becomes forgetful and insensible when it’s stressed. And the only way to conquer these weaknesses is to practice conquering them. Yes, the mind is like a muscle, and just like every muscle in the human body it needs to be exercised to gain and maintain strength. It needs to be trained daily to grow and develop gradually over time.
The easiest strategy to practice strengthening the mind?
Empowering Reminders on Sticky Notes
It’s all about keeping the right thoughts front and center every day, so they’re readily available in those moments when you need them most. For Marc and me, that means pausing as often as necessary and reflecting on precisely what we need to remember. To make this practice seamless we write ourselves important reminders on sticky notes, like the ones digitally represented below, and then we put them up where we can quickly see and read them throughout the day (most of my sticky notes are up on the wall in my home office, and then I have a couple on my bathroom mirror and refrigerator too).
These sticky notes keep us on track by keeping our minds empowered with the right perspective. Through this daily practice Marc and I have ultimately learned that while you can’t always control your outer world, you can always choose to fill your inner world with strength, faith, gratitude, and love.
And I’m sure you’ve learned something similar over the years from your own life experiences. But just like us, you often forget. Which is precisely why we have our sticky notes up where we can see them. So my challenge to YOU is to start practicing alongside us.
To get started, use our notes below — perhaps just the ones that resonate most — and rewrite them on physical sticky notes, so you can then stick them up where you can see and read them. Whenever you catch yourself feeling overwhelmed or off-center throughout the day, pause for a moment and quietly read them to yourself. See how doing so gradually changes the way you respond to life…
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(Note: Most of the sticky notes above are included in “The Good Morning Journal: Powerful Prompts & Reflections to Start Every Day”.)
You can use different forms of visual notes too.
Written sticky notes like the ones we’re encouraging you to create are powerful, but they merely scratch the surface of possibilities for beneficial visual reminders. For instance, my phone, tablet, and laptop all have their backgrounds set to photos of my family, both because I love looking at them and because, when work gets really tough, these photos remind me of the people I am ultimately working for and the fact that I am grateful to have them in my life. It’s simple but it helps (you could even set one of the sticky note images above as your background).
I also know dozens of other people who successfully use similar visual reminders on a daily basis. A coaching client of ours who has paid off over $100K of debt in the past five years has a copy of her credit card balance taped to her work computer’s monitor; it serves as a daily reminder of both the progress she is grateful to have made, and debt she still wants to pay off. Another one keeps a photo of herself when she was 90 pounds heavier on her refrigerator as a reminder of the unhealthy lifestyle she never wants to go back to, and the gratitude she has for the changes she has made in her life.
Think of moments when you are most likely to give in to impulses that keep you stuck or take you farther away from your best intentions. Then use written sticky notes and empowering visual reminders to interrupt those negative impulses, so you can keep yourself on track in a positive state of mind.
Now, it’s your turn…
Yes, it’s your turn to get some empowering notes up in your living and working spaces, so you can easily read them when you need to this year. But before you go, please leave Marc and me a comment below and let us know what you think of this post. Your feedback is important to us. 🙂
Which sticky note or idea above resonates with you the most today?
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