What is your story?
As in, your story about you. You might start with your physical traits, but what about things other than your hair color or birth order. The sentences that start with ‘I have always been’ or ‘I tend to be’… You might think of them as facts, but what if they are just things you decided to believe based on an experience or something someone once said.
What if a long time ago, your observation of a situation led to a thought and since then you just have been practicing thinking it? Your brain loves to be efficient so each time you had the same thought, there was a neural pathway that grew in strength until you no longer questioned it. When you say things like ‘I am not disciplined’, or ‘I am an unorganized person’, it really is just a thought. You may feel like it is a fact, but it deserves to be questioned.
This might seem subtle, but if you have a belief that you are not disciplined, your brain will likely want to shy away from anything that requires discipline as your brain doesn’t want you to step out of your comfort zone or make mistakes or fail (because your primitive brain thinks a fail could lead to death).
Let’s say 2 people look at a task that requires what is perceived as discipline, in order to succeed. One person has a belief – I am super disciplined, and the other person believes – I am not very disciplined. Who do you think is more likely to succeed?
What are the beliefs you have been choosing to think about yourself? When did you start thinking that way? Are they true? Have you ever done something to the contrary? Are these beliefs serving you?
Maybe it is time to start wondering why.