How's You Inner Critic These Days?
Giving you bad mojo?
We all carry a huge neural processor around with us - our big jelly brains. Everyday, this brain gets bombarded by streams of data from our senses; touch, smell, sight, sound and taste.
All these senses make up our perception of the world. And these perceptions form the stories we tell ourselves about the world we are operating in.
They become the inner stories, the private stories we never reveal in public. But boy, do they dictate how we run our lives and careers.
Science has started to raise the curtain on the two core types of inner stories our mind plays back to us; those that are limiting, and those that are empowering.
Unfortunately, for most of us, these stories are often the limiting ones. They take hold like corrosive weeds. Research is now proving that these inner voices, and these inner stories, do in fact determine our destiny and the futures we are crafting. To me, that’s one heck of a Jolt!
So how do we make our inner stories help us?
A few years ago, I was deeply fortunate to be trained by Dr Jim Loehr, performance psychologist, and his Full Engagement Academy. He was masterful then.
He has gone on to train 16 Tennis World No.1’s, Navy Seals, Olympic Athletes, NFL players…and complete regular folk like you and me. All in the art of using the big jelly in our noggins to create the futures we want.
Recently, I stumbled across his podcast (link below). My inner voice was going off the rails; the monkey mind that weaves these ugly stories that say, you’re going to lose at this, you can’t do this, you’re not qualified, other people are better.
In an odd moment of serendipity, I picked up my phone, opened my podcast app, and an interview with Dr Jim was right there in front of me. I had 4 hours in my car. An open road. And sunglasses.
The question he fundamentally answers is potentially life changing for anyone with a monkey mind -
How do we edit and change the stories we tell ourselves?
The conclusion was eye-opening.
It’s all in our hands. Literally.
In his research, Jim discovered that the physical act of writing has the power to entirely change our neural network. It has the power to change how it processes all of our senses and the inner stories we tell.
Dr Loehr discovered - to his complete surprise - that creating the story that you want for you, that supports you, lifts you - using your hand - is the single biggest tool we all have to change our destiny.
Let’s say, your monkey mind says you never get picked for projects. They always go to someone else. You’re dumb. You don’t have the abilities others do. And never will. No point even trying.
Yep, you won’t get projects with that story. It’s entirely limiting, a vicious spiral that reinforces everything your inner voice is telling you. It’s like being in a cage and not even noticing the doors are wide open.
Here’s a different story to tell.
If I look at my past experience, I know I’ve done lots of really good projects. I’m very capable. But I never raise my hand. I’m going to change that. Every time a project opportunity comes up, I’m going to raise my hand first and have a crack at it. I’m going to give myself a chance to learn, one project at a time, and build a reputation as the go-to on the team.
The only thing that has changed, is the story we told. This fundamental act of physically re-writing our story holds the power to light up our neural processors so they develop a running narrative that moves us forward.
It’s not done on a computer, or on a phone, or an app. It’s done by hand. With a pen. And paper. The act of writing switches the screen to show new movies in our minds.
You have a choice in life. To apply your energy to the stories you want to hear, or to let your monkey mind create them for you.
Here’s the podcast if you want to hear Jim speak. It’s well worth the investment of time.