Swap These Habitual Thinking Patterns

About 60% of the population wants to be more productive. About 50% of the population wants to lose weight. (May or may not be the same people.)

Wanting to be more productive typically makes people focus on the things they didn’t get get done. “I was busy all day and didn’t accomplish near enough.”

Desiring to eat healthier often makes people focus on food they consumed but wish they hadn’t. “Why did I eat that giant bowl of ice cream before bed last night?”

In both cases, focus is on the behaviors that don’t support reaching their goals and desires. Worse, that focus is counterproductive to success. Beating ourselves up doesn’t work. Science says so.

Flip the script. If you habitually focus on the things you didn’t do, then think that way when you make good choices about what you didn’t eat. And if you habitually focus on things you did do, then think that way about the tasks you did get done.

We all have unhelpful ways of thinking (Biases) and helpful ways of thinking (Assets). Both are habitual but you can proactively choose to think in one of your helpful ways whenever you like.

Being aware of your thinking is the first step and it’s why practicing meditation or mindfulness is so important. It’s not about clearing your head of all thought. (Good luck with that.) It’s about being aware of your thinking as quickly as possible.

The sooner we’re aware of how we’re thinking, the sooner we can decide if a change is needed to a more helpful perspective.