Audit Your Thinking
Leaders, we are asleep at the wheel.
There is no AI (artificial intelligence) guiding our minds, yet we allow our thoughts to cruise on autopilot everyday. When it comes to self-love and drawing healthy boundaries, this is no way to live. Sure, this would be great if a majority of our thoughts were filled with machinations of our hopes and dreams, joyful memories, and mental design sprints guiding us toward our purpose and our “why”. However, this is not the case.
According to the National Science Institute, 80% of our waking thoughts are negative (known as ANTs - Automatic Negative Thoughts) and 95% of those negative thoughts play on autoloop. On its surface, these stats imply that we experience defeat before we start each day. Thankfully, armed with what we’ve discovered this month about boundaries, we are, as Dr. Henry Cloud stated, “ridiculously in charge” of our thoughts.
To be in charge requires shutting off the autopilot function and placing our hands firmly on the figurative steering wheel of our thoughts. We have the capacity to create sustainable and healthy boundaries in our thinking. We have control over the ‘tapes’ that play in our minds and the inputs we tolerate from others. By auditing our thinking, we will naturally be compelled to audit our actions, our relationships, our environments, and our habits. The philosopher, Seneca, challenges us to “keep constant watch over [ourselves]” and “balance life’s books each day.” Our daily audits will provide a sense of reality and an assessment of congruence in our lives.
So, leaders...are you willing to accept the responsibility of CTO (Chief Thought Officer) in your own life or allow your ego, excuses, pain, and ANTs to control your thoughts? Consider what life would be like, sound like, and feel like if 80% of your thoughts were positive (or at least controlled) and 95% of the repetitive thoughts were driving you toward your goals vs. toward destructive patterns and habits. Every healthy boundary you create yields stronger relationships and productive self talk.
Quote for Growth
“You always get what you create and what you tolerate.”
Video of the Week
The Most Difficult Boundary You Set