4 Steps To Unthinking Limiting Career Thoughts
When you are born you have awareness and consciousness of your surroundings. You can sense things. Language and articulated language comes later โฆ and these thoughts, ideas, doubts, fears, and limitations are taught to you by others.
By your family.
By your teachers.
By your peers.
By books and movies.
By the media.
Thoughts get planted in your brain and inform your feelings, actions, and results.
๐Newsflash: Your Limiting Career Thoughts Were Taught To You!
But how often do you stop and think, “Does this thought I’ve been taught serve me?”
Not often enough!
Trying to unthink the thoughts we’ve been taught can seem like an overwhelming task.
According to the National Science Foundation, it is estimated that we think approximately 50,000 thoughts per day!
The Good News โฆ 95% of our thoughts are repetitive. The number of unique thoughts we have is much smaller, which means we can figure out what thoughts we are thinking and unthink the ones that do not serve us and our careers.
How to unthink your limiting career thoughts
To unthink thoughts you have been taught, you will have to spend time with your thoughts to determine which thoughts you want to claim as your own and which ones you want to discard for good.
Hint:
ยท Thoughts that leave you feeling guilty, ashamed, hopeless, or doubting yourself need to be unthunk and replaced with more productive thoughts!
ยท Thoughts that have you feeling confident about yourself and your capabilities are thoughts to keep.
ยท Thoughts that inspiHER positive and productive actions, and deliver the results you want in your career are also keepers.
4 Steps to Unthinking Limiting Career Thoughts
Step 1: Grab a journal/pad of paper and commit to writing down your thoughts in the journal about your career for the next week. I suggest you brainstorm with yourself in the morning, at lunch, and in the evening. Once you are on a roll you will begin to notice thoughts all day long and you can add as you go. These thoughts could be about:
ยท What your parents told you about your career path
ยท What other people suggested you should be doing in your career
ยท What you โshouldโ be doing even though you donโt wanna
ยท The work you’re doing – what you like, what you donโt like
ยท The company you work for
ยท The people you report to
ยท The people you work with
ยท The people you manage
ยท The logistics of your job
ยท Where you work and how you get there
ยท The tools you use at work
ยท The support you feel at work or about your work
ยท The confidence you feel about your career
Step 2: To the right of each sentence decide if this is a thought that serves you and your career at this time. A simple yes or no will do.
Step 3: On the right side of the page, for all the Noโs you listed, write down an alternate thought that serves you better and helps you to feel more enthusiastic and expansive about your career situation today. Sometimes simply choosing an opposite thought works wonders.
Step 4: Keep noticing your thoughts. At some point, you will be on to your brain and will automatically challenge all thoughts that make you feel bad about yourself and your career path. You will change them into more productive thoughts of your choosing.
You will know you chose your thoughts, not anyone else.
All the thoughts that we thinkโฆ Can be unthunk!
Have you been having thoughts about coaching? Thoughts like:
ยท I’m not really sure how coaching works.
ยท I’m not sure if coaching would work for me.
ยท I don’t have time for coaching.
ยท Coaching is too expensive.
ยท I’m not clear on the value the coaching would provide for me.
ยท What would I possibly talk about in my sessions?
If you want to explore your thoughts about coaching and if your thoughts are stopping you from getting the phenomenal support coaching can provide then let’s get on a call.