Is this you?

We are all victims of our mind. How does yours work?

Just do it, now!

Are you the victim of your own mind?

You suddenly have a brilliant idea. Now you begin to think about the details that go into making the brilliant idea a reality. One by one, you analyze each step. As you consider each one, subtly you feel a little of the excitement you had about the idea…lessen. Why does that happen? The rush of the inspirational moment should be getting stronger. You are conquering every challenge in your mind. Ah ha! There is the answer.

Unconsciously your gut, your intuition had considered each of those challenges, long before the brilliant idea even surfaced. When it popped into your consciousness, it had already been vetted by your mind. Your gut caught the thought and it floated to the top as an exciting idea. What are you doing now as you consider each detail? You are carefully considering each and every step.

What you are doing now is called overthinking!

Here is another scenario. You have a brilliant idea. It’s a new project or a new product. There are amazing possibilities. The opportunities are endless. Your skills and your temperament alight perfectly with the project. You know it is possible to actualize this brilliant idea.

But wait, first you have to finish the project you just started. It would be a really good idea if you sat down and had a long, meaningful conversation with your spouse, or your dad, and the bank, and maybe your best friend, or even, maybe, all of them!

Clearing a space in your office would really be helpful before starting this project. Opening up space on the calendar would make starting a lot easier. Probably next month would be a better time to begin. What about the economic cycle? Things are always easier to get pushed when it is spring, or the holidays.

What is happening? Beside the fact that you are overthinking, you become dead in the water, floating face down and not breathing. You are a victim of procrastination. What is procrastination, really, except the delaying of the beginning, the middle and the accomplishment of the end. Functioning due to time and space and circumstances intervene. You can think of dozens of ideas that you have had in the past that you just never got to. You are a victim of procrastination. It has a grip on your mind and your life.

Let’s see…overthinking, ignoring intuition, procrastination, with all that going on, its no wonder more ideas don’t come to fruition. Thank goodness that’s not how YOU address life and ideas! No way! You just jump right in, use both your brain and your emotions to address challenges. And you start right away. No putting off until tomorrow what you can begin today!

Where are all those projects now? You have successfully dealt with the start up challenges, jumped into the project and addressed the mind-numbing middle. Somehow, it just never gets to the end, to the success you know it can be. What happened?

Think of your project as a river that needs to be crossed to get to success on the other bank. You see the challenges of the crossing. You’ve gathered the materials needed to get across the river. You have built the raft and carefully prepared for the journey to the other side. Now you must address the challenge of the flowing water.

This is the moment to take the plunge. Something stops you from pushing off the bank. Let’s call this fear of success. What happens after you cross the river? The chances are good that you will do it successfully. You will be there; you will have arrived. Then what? Everything on this side of the river will be left behind. Things will be different. You will have made it. There is no going back. That will be your new reality.

Rather than face this new reality, and the possibility of success, you decide to just drag your raft up the bank, loaded with all the carefully gathered materials, and then walk away and leave it there. Just walk away. There are plenty of other things to accomplish, other projects to address, other ideas to explore. Besides, what if you had been caught in the current and ended up downstream somewhere? You could even have capsized and lost all your materials and the raft. This is the fear of failure.

Let’s do an inventory: fear of failure, fear of success, procrastination, overwhelming your intuition, and just plain over thinking. What are the chances of ever reaching a successful conclusion to any project with so much against you? And all of it is internal. It is happening in your head and in your gut and packed tightly in whatever baggage you’re dragging along with you.

Actually, the chances are just as good that you will have a positive outcome as that you will run into a brick wall and have to start over.

Instead of using your inventory against yourself, use it for yourself. Fear of failure, that’s healthy. Without that, you are out of touch with reality. A little fear keeps you sharp. It keeps your eyes open and your juices flowing. Be aware of it and don’t let it cripple you. Push past the fear. Try. The worst that could happen is that you need to make a new start. Every famous and successful person you can think of has had failures and learned from them. They have all gone on and tried again!

Fear of success, now that’s an easy one. How bad can it be? Remember that your eyes are open, you can see pitfalls. Avoid them. Move forward and enjoy the good things that come your way. Drawbacks? Turn them into lemonade and throw away the peels!

Procrastination: every time you have a good—or brilliant—idea, write it down. You will have dozens, maybe hundreds of ideas. Pick one. Maybe pick a small one. Start. Just do it. Pick one you can do easily.

Visualize the beginning, middle and end of the project. Write that down. Make a plan. Now, work your plan. Even if you only work on your plan for a few hours a week, eventually it will happen. No need to clear your desk or open up your calendar. Just let them be as they are. Just work your plan and procrastination will fall away. Post your plan. Put it where you can see it. Line through each step as you accomplish it.

Overthinking and loosing that rush of gut feelings are next. You have conquered fear of failure. Fear of success is no longer a problem. You have worked on a plan and a list and procrastination has been attacked. Living in the moment will be your next success.

Use your analytic skills to plan the steps that will get you away from procrastination. Use that enthusiastic burst of ideas to drive you forward through all the pitfalls and rivers that may come along the way. Let the joy of doing overwhelm the fear of details that may come. Learn as you go, and just be!

So as Nike tells us, and as has been said throughout history by doers and thinkers and the fearful and the successful alike, just do it. And if need be, start over and do it again.

______________________________________________________________________Your ideas? and experiences? and advice? email me at Karenmac1999@hotmail.com.

Coming soon...Using meditation to access the power of your mind!

How to? Does it have to be a Zen Room?

Benefits of Meditation.

Meaning of Meditation

"Instant" Meditation

Varieties of Meditation

When are you Meditating and How Will You Know?

What to Expect

How Can I Use "A Place for the Eye to Rest" to Benefit Meditation?