What If... (Up And Down)

If you want to change the quality of your life you need to change the quality of the questions you ask yourself. Your thinking is simply the process of asking and answering questions to yourself, and when you ask better questions, you live a better life. With this core understanding, we can introduce an intervention that gives you a real way to stop your mind from spiraling into negative self-talk and instead find ways to empower you and support you in a constructive way.

The negative self-talk and limiting beliefs come as a response to the questions you’re unconsciously asking yourself. Something happens and you start playing the ‘what if’ game… What if I run out of money? What if I fail? What if I make a fool of myself? What if I hurt myself or someone else? This is called “What-If Down” and it represents all of the questions you ask yourself that make you consider worst case scenarios. This is the brains natural process, by the way, because the brain’s core objective is to keep you safe, and pointing out the negative is a survival mechanism.

But instead, how about you choose the script you want to play in your head. Just like you unconsciously go through a line of negative self-questioning, you can prompt yourself to engage in a line of positive self-questioning. This is called “What-If Up”, and the questions you’d ask yourself are: What if this works out how I hope it would? What if I beat expectations? What if this is exactly where I’m supposed to be? These positive questions cause you to reflect in positive ways and generate a more empowering narrative. This causes you to feel more positive emotions, which then leads you to take positive actions, that lead to positive results.

The “What-If Up” approach plays in even seemingly negative scenarios. Let’s say that you notice yourself falling behind on a goal, you can ask yourself more supportive questions. What if I made up a ton of ground today on my goal? You’d be inspired to find ways to bridge the gap. What if I asked for help to achieve this goal? You start to think about who you might reach out to. What if I comeback and succeed? You start getting in the energy of achievement and it will motivate you. All of this helps you arrive in the emotional state that will carry you to take action toward your goal!

Another way of putting it - You get what you focus on. Start using “What-If Up” questioning to focus on the positive elements and create positive change in your life.

Now you have an extra tool in your tool belt to take control of your life. If you want to really transform your life, and become more disciplined than ever so that you can pursue your dreams with confidence and self-belief, check out the new program I put together called The Better Habits Playbook. Do it right now before you forget and miss this opportunity to change your life.