Quote Day 2: The Worst Probably Won't Happen

In a similar vein to yesterday’s post – the worst will probably never happen.

99.9% of the things I worry about never come true. Good reminder!

Quote Day 1: It's Always Worse in My Mind

“Having cancer hasn’t been nearly as bad as worrying about getting it.”

For the next seven days, I’m going to publish a series of my favourite quotes and what they mean to me.

Today, I’m choosing one that has recurringly relieved anxiety and stress.

This photo was published on the Humans of New York Facebook Page, along with a single sentence caption from the subject:

“Having cancer hasn’t been nearly as bad as worrying about getting it.”

While cancer specifically hasn’t been something I’ve frequently worried about, I find this quote helps a lot with other things I’ve worried about. When I read it, it reminds me that whatever I’m worried about is always worse in my imagination than it will be in real life.

Shawna's Podcast

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I was recently featured on Shawna Patruno’s podcast, where I broke down step by step the mindset I had to be in to achieve my goal of blogging daily for two years in a row. Listen on Shawna’s Instagram!

Tennis Mind

Sometimes the mind plays a tennis match with itself.

I can do this/No I can’t.

Money comes easily/Money is hard.

It’s already done/I should give up.

Back and forth again and again.

That’s normal. That’s human.

But if you practice the helpful thoughts more, they’ll get stronger and louder.

The tennis player who practices the most will win.

Music Shifts Everything

I had one of those days today where no matter how hard you try, things just don’t seem to go smoothly.

And then I put on a song.

And it was like everything changed. Suddenly I could focus, suddenly I could create again.

It was the quickest identity shift ever.

Current favourites:

Maneater by Nelly Furtado
Not Many by Scribe
On My Mind by Ellie Goulding

Brain Power

Every once in a while I realise how potent my mind actually is.

I mean I know it controls everything. But then there are those days when I know it controls everything.

It sinks in deeper.

Like, oh wait. I can actually control my world by changing how I think about it.

What a spectacular brain we get to live in.

My Self Concept is My #1 Priority

I’m the most hyped person you’ll ever meet.

I have got NO chill.

My inner world is an action movie packed with aviator sunglasses and slow-mo explosions.

I spend hours upon hours every week just BEING the future me.

Sometimes instead of working, I just dance in my kitchen like I’m Britney’s backup dancer. Okay, who am I kidding? Like I AM Britney.

My self-concept is my #1 priority.

Because the way we see ourselves is EVERYTHING.

When I think I'm a boss, I can hit any goal I set myself. Thousands of group members. A full list of clients. 50 push ups. 600 days of blogging.

When I think I suck (which I never let myself think for more than a fleeting accidental moment) everything turns pear-shaped.

I used to think I was just wasting time daydreaming about my future self.

Now I know it’s THE most important part of my day.

Because acting as if you're already the future you brings them closer.

Until you're so good at acting like them, one day you realize that you ARE them.

Some of the ways I step into being her:

• Listening to high vibe music (Have you listened to the DJ Impossible Girls Playlist yet?! Y’all are adding SO many bangers!)

• Journaling on what I believe and do now that I am her.

• Doing everyday tasks with her energy. How does she eat breakfast? How does she do the dishes?

• Wearing items that make me feel like her. Nothing gives me that “I run an empire” feeling like putting on matching underwear.

Your future self is already within you.

Your only job is to create space for them to come alive.

The Most Powerful Belief

The most powerful belief you can hold for your goal is this: It’s working.

When you’re in “IT’S WORKING” energy, your brain will look for all the ways that it's totally true.

Finding evidence for why it's working reinforces to your brain, “Hey, I can actually do this.”

And from there, you'll feel pumped up to take even more action, and you'll find more ways for it to work.

It’s an upward spiral.

It’s working for my client Madison who just celebrated signing 7 clients and hitting $2605 in 6 weeks as a graphic designer.

It’s working for my client Daphne who just signed her second client as a coach for dog parents. (Yes, you read that right.)

It’s working for my client Julia who received another paid freelance writing offer today.

It’s working for my client Danja who signed $1000 of work as a copywriter and her first paid speaking gig today.

It’s working for my client Sharon who just closed 4 collaborations on her Instagram this month.

It's working for my client Rosalind who just got the opportunity to submit her book directly to one of the biggest publishers in the world.

They all know I've been obsessively reminding them:

It’s working.

Why is your goal is TOTALLY working, even if it hasn't happened yet?

My Favourite Books

I reread the same books all the time. Here are my top favourites, in no particular order:

1. The 9 Secrets of Women Who Get What They Want by Kate White

2. How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

3. Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin

4. Essentialism by Greg McKeown

5. The Third Door by Alex Banayan

6. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

What are your favourites? Let me know in the comments!

Calendar Hacking

Since I was about eight years old, I’ve been the queen of to do lists.

I have shopping lists, work lists, packing lists, general lists, specific lists, and best of all, the master list, the list where I keep a list of EVERYTHING. 

Time management is something I’ve been tackling for a few years, and recently I realised that to do lists are actually terrible for time management.

I have no idea how long a task is going to take, when I’m going to finish it, and how many I can *actually* fit into my day.

So instead, I’ve been working on calendar hacking.

A while ago I wrote a post about how I was going to start putting every to do list item into my calendar, and throw away my to do list.

I tried it, but I felt overwhelmed with everything being so tightly scheduled.

So these last two weeks, I’ve tried it again, but this time I’m being ruthless about what actually needs to be done, and what doesn’t.

Now my to do list is gone, my calendar is manageable and I actually feel like there’s room to breathe.

I LOVE it.

Goodbye to do list.