Tag: success

Power of the Sticky Note

Sometimes motivation comes in a little reminder you have posted around the house.

Daily Affirmations

I’ve taken to writing some daily affirmations on sticky notes and placing them wherever seems beneficial. After a while the conscious mind starts to ignore them (“that’s nothing new,” or “been there, read that!”), but the subconscious mind takes it all in – and that is key to giving the affirmation some traction. The other important factor is not letting your conscious mind disbelieve it. It’s okay for it to ignore or feel nonchalant about the affirmation. Better still if the conscious mind just believes it to be true and moves on. You don’t want the conscious mind contemplating how the affirmation is going to come true; details get worked out in the subconscious.

Post It Where You Can See It

So if the affirmation is “I choose to eat healthy,” then posting that on the fridge (or the snack cabinet or the dashboard of your car) creates a scenario something like this: at first your conscious mind is all over it – you contemplate choosing between the apple and the bag of chips (choose the apple). Eventually (and the amount of time varies by person and affirmation), you stop consciously reading the note, the the subconscious mind “sees” it and starts the process of encouraging a healthy food choice. You go for the cucumber slices before even considering the handful of chocolate candy. You crave the healthier choice because your subconscious is at work.

Put your daily affirmations to work for you! Use the sticky note.

Why Self-Worth Leads to Success

Self-Worth and Self-Care

Yesterday I treated myself to a foot massage. It was fabulous! The room was low lit with soothing music playing softly. I climbed up on the table and was instantly enveloped in warmth from the heated blanket beneath me. A few deep breaths later and I was completely relaxed; Jamie hadn’t even touched my feet yet. And then the massage began. Ahhhh. I hadn’t realized I could become even more relaxed than I was. It was heaven; pure heaven.

This was the first time in 11 years that I’d had a professional massage. Why did it take me so long to do it again? The previous (hot stone!) massage had been a gift from my sister as part of a spa weekend. I loved it. Why not treat myself at least once a year or so?

As I gave that some thought, I thought there might be several factors that contributed:

  • cost
  • time
  • self-worth

While a weekly massage probably wasn’t in the budget (or was it?), I realized that I easily spend the cost of a massage each month on things far less satisfying or necessary. So while I tried to use cost as an excuse, it really wasn’t true.

Lack of time was probably only a little bit more true than the cost excuse. Certainly if getting a massage was a priority, then I could find an hour or so in my schedule once a month to fit it in.

And now we come to the self-worth issue. Here’s where the buck stopped. Apparently I thought I was only worth a massage once every decade; scheduling that kind of treat for myself was only for a super special occasion. And in my mind, when I really took the time to analyze my feelings about this, I saw a connection between very powerful and successful people and those who got frequent (say, every month or so) massages. Certainly they had money and time, but most importantly they were worth it. My conclusion was that when I saw myself as powerful and successful, THEN I too would be worth getting monthly massages.

Well, that notion seems a bit ridiculous. Furthermore, what if the “reward” for getting more frequent massages (or any other “treat” of that nature) was BECOMING powerful and successful? What if I had things in the wrong order the whole time?

This notion did not seem as ridiculous, although it may to you. I know from changing my morning routine these last few months into a very focused first hour early in the morning, I’m able to get a lot more done throughout my day. The first part of that routine is meditating – entering a very relaxed state. I felt even more relaxed at my foot massage. What if each month I had that additional deep relaxation through massage? Could my productivity increase even more? More productivity means more is accomplished which means I’m helping people change their lives to be happier and more successful which, in turn, makes me happier and feel more successful.

I’m scheduling a hot stone massage for mid-August!