Gandhi: “Your beliefs become your thoughts, your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your values, your values become your destiny.”
I love that quote, but I would add a line to start: “Your attention becomes your beliefs” our destiny is driven by what we pay attention to. If you yourself don’t choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will.
I took this week to step back and I daily reflected on what I was paying attention to aka what I was thinking about during the day. It was a helpful and slightly surprising exercise. Here’s what my attention looked like during the week (the things that I was thinking about most).
- “I don’t have enough gym members”
- “I’m not getting enough done each day”
- “Channel that energy into getting more done”
- “Gym is not growing fast enough”
- “I will be successful when I’m breaking even”
I already know that I’m quite hard on myself, but it was very revealing to step back and see just how much pressure I place on myself. I quickly become consumed with focusing on shortcomings that I often have a hard time celebrating positive movement.
Even writing this now it’s easy for me to be frustrated with myself because my attention was directed in negative ways. I find it helpful to step back and think about what I would tell myself if I was talking to a friend. This creates a focus shift, to get out of my head and help redirect that attention. It’s not bad attention – the gym is new and does still need to grow, I can find ways to be more productive each day – however, when I’m viewing those focal points negatively I’m actually limiting myself and I’m unable to be present with the people around me.
Here’s how I want to shift my attention:
- Every day I have the opportunity to move the business forward
- My members are loving the gym and are feeling better and getting stronger
- The gym is growing
- I have the opportunity to learn something and try something new every day
This is going to be a slow process, good things take time. I’m reminding myself that all I have is today. I’m trying to both work hard and enjoy life.