Latest / Overwhelmed Working Woman: Boost Productivity, Master Time Management, Overcome Overwhelm & Stop People Pleasing / #86| Is Your Mind Creating Problems That Don’t Exist?
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: You're listening to Overwhelmed Working Woman, the podcast that helps you be more calm and more productive by doing less.
- 0:12Speaker 1: I'm your host, michelle Gothier, a former Overwhelmed Working Woman and current life coach.
- 0:16Speaker 1: On this show we unpack the stress and pressure that today's working woman experiences and in each episode you'll get a strategy to bring more calm, ease and relaxation to your life.
- 0:28Speaker 1: Hey friend, thanks for joining for Quick Hit Thursday.
- 0:37Speaker 1: Today I'm going to tell you a story that's kind of embarrassing and makes me look sort of ridiculous, but I think it proves a great point, which is that we should never believe our own thoughts.
- 0:48Speaker 1: Okay, so last week I was making waffles for my son.
- 0:55Speaker 1: I have this waffle maker that I got as a wedding gift in 1999 when I got married, and it makes heart-shaped waffles.
- 1:06Speaker 1: It's like five little hearts that all go together to make the waffle shape, and I absolutely love this waffle maker, and for sure my son, my daughter, loves them too, but it's my son's absolute favorite.
- 1:18Speaker 1: If I ever want to make his day, I just have to start it off by making him waffles in the waffle maker.
- 1:23Speaker 1: So, anyway, I get out the waffle maker to make him his breakfast one morning and I noticed that there's like stuff stuck to it and it's chocolate.
- 1:34Speaker 1: So my daughter had used it to make chocolate chip waffles and there was chocolate in it.
- 1:38Speaker 1: So I was like, all right, I can't use this yet.
- 1:41Speaker 1: So I start cleaning it off the best you can, because you can't really wash it.
- 1:45Speaker 1: I'm like picking out the chocolate with a knife and maybe complaining a little bit to myself as I'm doing it.
- 1:52Speaker 1: So, anyway, I finally get it clean and I go back to making the waffles and so I put the batter in there and I open it up and it's like it's not cooked, right, it's only partially cooked, and when it's ready the light goes off.
- 2:04Speaker 1: And the light was off and it said it was done, but it wasn't really done.
- 2:08Speaker 1: And so my son was sitting there and I was like, oh my gosh, our waffle maker is broken.
- 2:13Speaker 1: I cannot believe it.
- 2:14Speaker 1: I don't even think we'll be able to get this anymore.
- 2:17Speaker 1: It's so old.
- 2:18Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I can't believe we're not going to have this anymore.
- 2:21Speaker 1: I have made these waffles for you one million times.
- 2:24Speaker 1: Every time we have company, come in town, we make waffles.
- 2:31Speaker 1: Everybody knows we have the heart-shaped waffles.
- 2:32Speaker 1: What are we going to do without this?
- 2:33Speaker 1: I don't even know what the brand is.
- 2:33Speaker 1: Maybe I could find it.
- 2:35Speaker 1: I'm telling him the story of how his dad didn't want this particular waffle maker and how I talked him into it and how much we love it.
- 2:42Speaker 1: And I'm just going on and on and he's buying my story this whole time like so upset about the waffle maker and what are we going to do?
- 2:49Speaker 1: And I turn around and I look down and the waffle maker is now plugged in.
- 2:54Speaker 1: So when I was cleaning the chocolate out of it, I unplugged it because I moved it over by the sink so that I could get the chocolate out and like just put it directly in the disposal and I just put it back on the counter, didn't plug it in and put the batter in and, shockingly, it didn't cook.
- 3:15Speaker 1: So the reason why I'm telling you this story is that sometimes we'll get an idea in our mind or we'll get a thought in our mind and we will just take that as the truth.
- 3:20Speaker 1: So the truth of my mind is number one my waffle maker is broken.
- 3:25Speaker 1: Number two this means that every special memory that my family's ever had is ruined.
- 3:30Speaker 1: This means that when people come and visit us they can't have heart waffles, which means they probably won't want to visit us anymore.
- 3:36Speaker 1: My brain made this waffle maker not work.
- 3:39Speaker 1: Working mean all kinds of things when really the only problem was that the waffle maker was unplugged.
- 3:47Speaker 1: Now, obviously this is a silly example, but it was just a reminder to me of how seriously we can take our thoughts and how we believe them as the truth.
- 3:56Speaker 1: So recently I had a client tell me that she was in this organization and she just was sure that nobody liked her in that organization and so she was always looking for proof that they didn't like her and they thought she didn't belong there and she ended up quitting.
- 4:13Speaker 1: And when she quit she got all of these nice messages from people we're going to miss you so much, it was so great having you here, we're going to miss your input, et cetera, et cetera.
- 4:23Speaker 1: And she said I would have bet you a million dollars that not anybody liked me or cared if I left that organization.
- 4:29Speaker 1: And sure enough, she got like four or five messages that were absolutely to the contrary.
- 4:35Speaker 1: So there are so many times in life where we just think something and decide it's true.
- 4:40Speaker 1: So today I invite you to just think about the waffle maker and think that maybe there isn't a problem, maybe your brain has just created a problem, and ask yourself what else could be true.
- 4:53Speaker 1: You are under no obligation to believe your own thoughts.
- 5:00Speaker 1: Remember, you can't control the thoughts that come into your head, but you can choose if you believe them or if you want to have a new thought.
- 5:08Speaker 1: Imagine how differently my client would have felt if she was sitting among that group of women thinking I belong here and I really enjoy being with all these people, versus nobody here likes me.
- 5:19Speaker 1: It would have created a totally different experience, without anything outwardly changing.
- 5:23Speaker 1: Okay, that's it.
- 5:25Speaker 1: Have a great Thursday and I will see you next week.
- 5:28Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the Overwhelmed Working Woman podcast.
- 5:34Speaker 1: If you want to learn more about my work, head over to my website at michellegothiercom.
- 5:40Speaker 1: See you next week.