Controlling your thoughts to change your actions

That is a BIG title to follow up, but it’s something that’s been on my mind. When I was driving back to Ohio a few weeks ago I listened to a few episodes of The Life Coach School Podcast by Brooke Castillo. I’ve been hearing about it for years, but just listened for the first time last month. I decided to start from the beginning, with the first three episodes she ever shared. (Which I would highly recommend) 

I’ve been struggling lately to juggle everything on my plate (and yes, I know I did it to myself). It’s been a busy year so far of me busting my ass to make sure I’m ready for my next move. Moral of the story, these few episodes were what I needed to hear. My biggest takeaway, and what I started applying to my own life immediately, was that our thoughts control our actions.

To paraphrase the episode, our thoughts control our feelings, and our actions are all based off our feelings. Therefore our thoughts control our actions.
And that is POWERFUL.
How you feel about something directly impacts your actions (which makes complete sense when I stop to think about it.) One example she gave in the episode was how a client of hers would plan for the gym, prepare for the gym, but then never make it there even though she knew she needed to. To find the root of the issue she talked to the client about what she feels directly before deciding to skip the gym. What they discovered was that her client felt apathy right before she decided to skip her workout because making it to the gym had never worked for her previously, so she thought “why should it work now?”

Apathy isn’t exactly the emotion you want pumping yourself up for a workout, just like self-doubt isn’t the emotion you want to feel walking into a big exam…
You control your thoughts.
The good, the bad and everything in between. This does not mean every day has to be full of all positive, joyous thoughts, but it does mean that you need to be aware of your thoughts.

If you want to change your actions, you must start by changing the way you think.

I’ve been putting this into practice for the past 5 days. No joke I have been talking to myself on my drive to work. I tell myself I’m going to pass my CPT exam, I tell myself I’m going to reach my personal goals and I list what I’m grateful for.

Cheesy? Absolutely.
Effective? I’d argue absolutely.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments below!
Thanks for sticking with me friends.
xo,
Maddy

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