Why do we get stuck inside our heads at times, especially when it's negative thoughts? And why does our mind generally steer towards unproductive things that don't really serve our overall vision, our productivity, and the life that we really want to create? More importantly, why do we continue to have the same thoughts over and over again that just cause us stress, anxiety, depression, and other negative stuff. Especially today with COVID and all the restrictions and quarantines going on, it's more important than ever that you start to take control of your life and your thoughts especially. And it's just as important to figure out how to break that cycle, right? Get unstuck and get back to positive thoughts and productivity. So today on the Daily Mastermind Podcast, I'm going to talk about that as well as some ideas and strategies that I've used to get back on track when things kind of go off the rails, so to speak. So we have lots to talk about, so let's get right down to it. But first of all, let's start with the Daily Mastermind mobile app quote of the day. It's from Les Brown, and his quote is, I love Les Brown, by the way. I love him. I've had a lot of experience with him speaking and partnering and doing things. But this quote's great. It says, just decide that you're going to push yourself. Decide that you're going to push yourself by Les Brown. And he's a great motivator. So if you listen to any of his talks and things on YouTube, it's something that will definitely help you to push yourself. So, okay, let's talk about your mindset. Let's talk about that for a minute. Why are we stuck inside our heads sometimes? You know, well, let's break it down. Your thoughts create your life, right? The thoughts that you have will create your life. And, you know, the average person has like 50,000 thoughts a day, they say. It's probably more like 100,000 thoughts nowadays. But the problem is, if those thoughts are the same, 50,000 thoughts a day, you're really not going to be going anywhere. And that's the problem a lot of us have. That's why you look back on life and you see that you've kind of been thinking about the same things and dealing with the same problems over and over and over. So why is this the case? How do we actually change this? And more importantly, how do we change this long term, you know, permanently? So I found, you know, by talking to people in the mastermind community and individuals that I know, that this is a very common problem. A lot of people, especially now, anxiety, depression, stress, you know, endless cycles of bad days just happening over and over. Many of you know exactly what I'm talking about. So today, I want to really talk about this for a minute. And I want to talk about some ways that you can get unstuck and out of your head. I want to talk about ways that you can become more productive and less distracted. I think a key to understand this is how you change your thoughts, but more importantly, how you direct your thoughts. Because I think sometimes it's easier to direct our thoughts than to change our thoughts. So there's lots of ways that I'm sure you've found to deal with a bad day or a series of bad thoughts. Finding ways to just break that cycle of thinking that you might be getting stuck in once in a while Or maybe you like me and you just you know continue to you know struggle with it and you know try different things all the time and experiment with different techniques But let me suggest the number one way that I found that I've learned to get out of this cycle and to sort of break the, you know, the cycle of bad thoughts and things that you might have getting stuck inside your head, right? The key for me is it's always been find a way to take the focus off yourself. Let me just repeat that again, because this is something that a lot of times is hard for people to get. You've got to redirect your thoughts away from you. You have to redirect your thoughts away from you and get them away from your problems, because usually when we're in a cycle of bad thoughts, it's because we're upset about our problems. We're upset about our past, or we're anxious and stressed about the future, right? So we're focused on our own problems, You know, our concerns, our circumstances, the bad stuff that happened, some thing that, you know, happened when you got up or on the way to work or something like that. And this causes us to be taken out of this present moment that we live in and into a world that really doesn't exist. You know, one more time, it takes us into a world that doesn't exist, the past or the future. And yet these thoughts really impact the world that does exist. It makes your current day bad. It makes it, you know, or bad experiences or it makes things even worse because you're having all of these negative perceptions and filters and things that you're dealing with. So it causes us to create, in a sense, more of a bad thing. And that's what we have to change, right? We have to learn that experiencing, you know, what we do in our minds is not real. But we have to make sure that it's not going to affect everything that really is happening in our life. So here's the thing you have to remember, and I want you to remind yourself of this, but you also have to, at some point in time, you've got to sort of accept it and believe it. And that is that the past is not real. It's over. And although it can help us to learn some lessons, it's not productive or healthy for us to stay fixated on that thought from the past. You know, more often than not, it just keeps us, you know, trapped inside our minds and in a cycle of stuff that doesn't serve us because we keep reliving it. And the other part to understand is that the future doesn't exist either. And it's also not productive for us to stay stressed or fixated on things that haven't even happened or things that quote unquote might or might not happen in the future because we haven't created it yet. Hopefully you're following me here and hopefully you've learned that even if it's tough to do that, you believe and accept this to be true. You can't do anything about the past and the future just has not been created yet. So, you know, whether you believe it or not, it is true, and you have to accept that. There really is, there's only one reality, and that's the present moment. And that's the only place, by the way, that you can actually create a life. It the only place you going to really be able to sort of architect and create a life So I always continue to remind myself I kind of have a quote that I put on my desk that says don let the past experiences or even your future vision rob you of the joy of the present. Because even though the positive part of that can hurt you as well, there's so many people chasing down a dream that they lose all of the benefits of the joy in the present moment. So the key, and I want to point this out to you again, is that usually the negative past or the stressful future moments that we're thinking about revolve around us. And this is why we need to take the focus off ourselves and onto something bigger, more positive outside of ourselves. Now, this really causes a real catch-22 scenario, a dichotomy, because I realize that when we're working on personal development and working on ourselves, we're constantly told to focus internally. You know, we're told to learn to create self-esteem and self-confidence from within because you can't get that from things outside of you. And this is totally true. But today, I want to talk to you about ways that we can specifically get unstuck when that internal, you know, development we're working on is just not happening. And when you're feeling depressed or negative or anxious about things, when you're feeling stuck. So, now believe me, you know, believe me when I say I realize this is easier said than done. I get stuck often, but I've learned to break the cycle quicker over the last few years by actually being aware of it and learning to break the cycle by directing my thoughts better. So how do you go about taking the focus off yourself and redirecting your thoughts? That's what I want to kind of throw out to you. Well, my partner Robert Stuburg would say that your thoughts are created by the questions you ask yourself. So you have to ask better questions. Now I can go into a whole series of reasons and explanations why these questions that we keep asking ourselves create our thoughts. But we'll, for the sake of time today, I just want to give you some practical, specific ways that you can redirect your thoughts outside of yourself. And then maybe another time here in the next couple of weeks, I'll have Robert on to break down that other stuff for us. So here are some specific ways. There's six or seven, eight ways that I'd kind of written down that can help you. Number one, find someone in your life that you want to inspire or support, whether it's a parent or a child or a friend or somebody that you have other people that are struggling that you can help. Because when you focus on other people, it takes that focus off you and your own problems. Number two, find a purpose or cause or mission that's greater than yourself. There may be a cause that you or a passion that you have that's outside of you that you can put your attention towards. Because when you move your attention off of your problems, it'll help you to get unstuck. The third area is one that you hear all the time, practice gratitude. It's really, really difficult for our minds to stay focused on anything negative when you're trying to write down a list or structure out of list of things that you're grateful for. and if you're struggling to find things that are grateful for, even more reason to try to do that So practicing or writing down or coming up with things that you grateful for A fourth reason I wrote down or a fourth way I wrote down is to engage in a service project or cause. I mean the doing and the act of doing service or service projects or causes. This is something that will get you distracted, get your mind redirected. Another way is to find a mentor or a coach or even a counselor that can help give you objective feedback so that you can close that chapter, put it to rest, and move on in a new direction. And mentors and coaches and counselors, someone outside of you sometimes can help you to do that better than yourself. So many of us think we're just going to work it out on our own minds, and that's where you get stuck. Number six, get active physically. Because as you know from listening to a lot of people like Tony Robbins and many others I've mentioned before, there's a direct mind and body connection. When you start moving, sometimes it's just get up, move around, go for a walk, go do something. That body starts moving and it'll help to affect your mind. Neurochemically, it'll actually help you to change the way you're thinking. Number seven, ultimately, you've just got to distract yourself. But make sure that your distraction is objective and it has some positive meaning because a lot of people distract themselves with negative things like their mobile device or Netflix or social media. It's got to be a distraction, even if it's random, that has a positive tone behind it. And that'll help you to steer you in the right direction, not steer you in the wrong direction. The eighth technique I've found is just to overwhelm your mind with positive things. That's why having certain kind of music or podcasts or friends, that's another one, is surround yourself with positive people. Those are all ways that you can redirect and break the cycle. So when you do this and you take the focus off of yourself, then you will be able to get yourself out of that thought pattern. And so thinking about how to do that is the key for you. So remember this, and this is so important. You're not your mind. Your mind is just a tool and you have to learn to direct focus and train it or it's just going to take you in all kinds of directions you don't want to go. And if you do this, you're going to live a happier, healthier and more successful life. That's my goal for you. That's the goal of the Daily Mastermind podcast with daily doses of inspiration, motivation and education. So that's our message for today. I hope that's something that will help you. I'd love for you to share this podcast. Please refer it to a friend. Help us to be able to spread the message and get more feedback. And also send us some of your feedback. Hit us up on our Instagram channel at The Daily Mastermind and DM me with any of your thoughts or anything that you feel like we could share with you and help you with your day. Thanks for listening. And once again, I really do want to do what we can to help you create the life that you were meant to live. My name is George Wright III, and this has been The Daily Mastermind. Have a great day. Thank you.
