When you want to create a result in your life, you probably do what most people do which is look to the actions that you need to take in order to achieve that result.
If you want to achieve a certain weight, for example, there are a number of actions that you might consider such as the type of food you eat, the calories in that food, the amount you eat, the number of times you eat, the type of exercise you do, and so on and so on.
There is nothing wrong with considering all of these different actions that you might take. All of them could help you achieve your result.
But if you are only focusing on the actions, you are missing the most important part of what creates your results and that is your THINKING.
Your thoughts create urges and overdesire. The feeling of desire causes you to overeat.
You can change the actions you take, but if your thoughts don’t change, your urges will continue and so will your overdesire and your overeating.
If you want to permanently change your desire to overeat, you have to become conscious of what you are thinking and then change the thoughts to ones that reduce urges and overdesire.
All the actions in the world won’t create a lasting result in any area of your life without a thought and feeling that is aligned with your long-term goal.
Your actions will only take you so far.
Your thoughts generate feelings which lead to actions that create your results.
If your thought is “It’s normal to eat dessert to celebrate”, you will create the desire to eat sweets whenever there is any celebration in your life and you will be more prone to overeating sweets at those times. Or another thought may be “I deserve to eat sweets at the end of a hard day” which will also create a greater desire for sweets on a daily basis.
You might not even realize that these thoughts are part of your greater mindset about typical eating patterns.
These thoughts are what we call “thought errors” because they create unwanted desire and unwanted actions.
Once you become aware that you have these thoughts and what they create for you, you get to decide if you want to change them or not.
You might decide to change the thoughts to something like “Many people celebrate with sweets, but many people are overweight and I want to celebrate by taking care of myself in the best way possible.” Another thought you may choose is “At the end of a hard day I would rather reward myself with a warm bath or weekly massage rather than sugar.”
You cannot change something that you’re not aware of, though. That’s why self-awareness is such a valuable tool when it comes to changing behavior.
You want to pay close attention to your thinking and identify the thought errors that lead you down an undesired path.
What are some thought errors that you believe? Here are some common examples.
“Food is a huge part of life and meant to be enjoyed often.”
“I’ll be left out if I don’t eat that (or drink that).”
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”
“I deserve this cake/cookie/ice-cream.”
“Vacations are meant to be enjoyed with lots of food.”
“Parties without food (or alcohol) are no fun.”
These are just some examples of thought errors. There are MANY other examples.
It’s not that these thoughts are inherently wrong in any way.
The only thing that makes them a thought error is if they lead you to unwanted desire and unwanted actions.
You have to know yourself and what your mind is creating in your life. Once you do, you can manage your mind in a way to direct it to the results you truly want.
It all starts with your thinking.
Need help identifying your own thought errors? Schedule a free call with me to see how I can help.
