I was recently in London to receive the Mahatma Gandhi Award at the British Parliament. It was one of those moments in your career that force you to celebrate your accomplishments. I've always been the entrepreneur who's running from one win to the next, never stopping to see what I've actually accomplished. Not a great habit but life brings you experiences that make you pause.
Which is why when I saw this very British phone booth I had to stop and read the message. Believe.
When you BELIEVE, anything is possible. Truly. No joke. So how do you get yourself to a place of believing?
It's about creating a mindful practice to tune out the negative self talk, the naysayers, the haters, the gossips, the pessimists etc and focus on telling yourself a good story. A positive story. A winning story. Everyday. No matter how hard life may seem or feel.
It's funny, I recently had someone reach out to me to tell me they were proud to see how I had "turned my life around". Not sure what I was turning around because there was never a turn around... shit happened. I made the wrong deal with the wrong investor in my first brand as a naive entrepreneur and it created a consequence of what some may have perceived as a set back, the end of my life and career...or as most figured... a give up moment in my life.
But I didn't give up. Yes it was a hard hard lesson to learn BUT I learned from it. I never gave up and I looked at that set back as a great gift. A Master Teacher.
How does one learn without failures and obstacles? It's the best education out there. Especially for an entrepreneur. My focus has always been the same. Since I was 19 I knew exactly what I wanted to do and I have continued to follow that path by BELIEVING in the story I choose to tell myself and more importantly believing in myself as well as the unknown that I will always be supported by the universe.
People always ask how I do it. What's my secret? No secret. It's a ridiculous amount of hard work. But once you realize how insanely important mindful self talk is, it can make life a lot easier. Create a daily practice of being your own biggest cheerleader.
Here are three tips to get you started:
1) List your accomplishments
2) Envision your best winning moment. Go for it. Feel the win. Talk out loud at the people congratulating you. Be in THAT moment.
3) Focus on the good story. A good story makes for a good life. That's when being mindful really comes into practice of observing negative thoughts without attachment and releasing them because your faith in the winning story is much stronger.
At the end of the day, It's up to you to make your dreams and desires manifest. And the only way that's going to happen is to tune out the naysayers, haters, and pessimists etc etc (including your own self talk that's not serving you) and believe in the good strong stories and the goals you set for yourself. It can be done! Just #believe and #achieve! I believe in you.
xo
Shalini