Stop Being a Reckless Driver

Stop Being a Reckless Driver

Navigating Your Life
Moss Jackson, PhD
Psychologist and Success Coach

ARE YOU A LIFE NAVIGATOR?

Glad to have you back for another session on Navigating Life, one of a series of posts on living a great life of success, accomplishment and satisfaction. Continued success and health do not seem to come naturally to most people. In fact, from my studies and coaching work, I estimate that only about 10% of people are able to sustain consistent success and happiness as Life Navigators, while 50% struggle as Survivors and experience intermittent and unpredictable success. That leaves almost 40% of people in what I call Victim mode, in which they are overwhelmed, perplexed and feel powerless to create lives worth living. My mission is simple: to teach people to become Life Navigators who understand the key principles of living lives of passion, who know what actions to take and who are able to bounce back immediately with resilience when things break down. To check out how you are going through your life, click here to take my “Are You a Life Navigator?” questionnaire.

RECKLESS DRIVING

When you come to a busy intersection in your car, it would be reckless and dangerous to just hit the accelerator and barrel into the oncoming traffic. The chances for a collision are high and the risk of injury or death would make such a move foolish. Ideally, you brake slowly, assess the traffic flow, follow the traffic signals, and proceed with caution in your desired direction. “Better safe than sorry” as the saying goes.

YOUR MIND IS A DANGEROUS INTERSECTION

Every day you have about 2,500 thoughts, 2,000 (80%) of which are negative. “It’s too hard,” “It won’t work,” “What if I fail?” “People will think I’m stupid” or “Why should I be the one to stick my neck out?” are examples of the thoughts we attempt to drive through on our roadways to success. Fears about lack of safety, or losing control and facing disapproval are all driving every which way in our minds and create massive obstacles to success.

SUCCESSFUL MIND CONTROL

To drive toward your goals successfully, you first have to quiet the mind and slow down all the chatter and negativity of reckless thinking. As a Life Navigator, you are responsible for seeing and recognizing these mind obstacles and doing some “road control” before you drive into the 2,500 random thoughts that threaten to interfere with your success. Once you slow down and control your thinking, worries, concerns and fears, then you can step on your accelerator and drive safely through the mental traffic.

HOW TO POLICE YOUR MENTAL TRAFFIC

Before you launch an action plan for success, try the following:

  1. Pause and check out your thinking; you can even write down your thoughts and feelings.
  2. Take several deep breaths and pay attention to any negative thoughts that you do not want to smash into during your goal pursuit. Have the courage to recognize your stupid, self-destructive and dangerous thoughts!
  3. Thank your negative thoughts for being there. After all, they are just trying to protect you from failing. Tell them they can stay there as passengers if they so desire, but you are the driver. They can take a back seat but have to shut up when you are the driver!
  4. Remind yourself of your purpose or intention. Say it aloud several times, each time a little louder to yourself. Your intention is the direction you need to be driving your life!
  5. Picture a successful outcome and feel the pleasure of success.
  6. Ask yourself what action or actions will propel you forward into effective goal-striving.
  7. Take action.
  8. Let your worrisome and negative thoughts know that you recognize their presence and you will check in with them later when you have logged some good mileage toward your goals. While they require some attention, good timing is essential. I will talk more about this in a later post.

LIFE NAVIGATION

Life Navigation requires certain skills and tools to keep you on the roadway toward success. It is too easy to collide into one of your 2,000 negative thoughts whose mission it is to halt your progress. Do you want to know the secret to continual success and happiness? Do you want to know why these negative thoughts never stop on their own? Do you want to know how to get them buckled into the back seat and far away from your steering wheel of life? Click here to order my book “Navigating For Success: Passion, Goals and Action”. Learn how to map your success ride, create a GPS to keep you on track and learn the ten critical success skills you will need in your toolkit to make sure you are not smashed along the way. Learn to drive with safety and arrive at your Success destination feeling great and in one piece.

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Thanks,

Moss Jackson, PhD