You get up in the morning and the first thing that comes to your attention is something negative.

You’re upset about it. You’re irritated, annoyed and unhappy.

Then something else happens and it sets you off as well. And so on…

But hold on here… what if you could turn everything around and redo your day after it started?

Well, you cannot physically redo your day.

Yet, you can teach yourself to feel good when you would normally feel bad.

Let me give you an example:

Inevitably, you will have days when something happens that you didn’t want to have happen, nor did you expect it to happen. And when it does, the tendency is to get upset.

But what for?

What if the situation or event was actually a benefit to you in a way you aren’t currently aware of?

Or, better yet, what if what happened WILL actually benefit you if you shift your focus from “ah shit” to “ALRIGHT?”

My experience tells me that the faster you view a situation as beneficial or ideal, the quicker you begin to benefit. What’s more, you begin to feel good about the situation almost instantly. No wasted time. No wasted energy.

Fortunately, I get to practice this on a daily basis. After I send out an email, someone will send me a “nasty” message. It could range from a simple “you suck” to a “take me off your f’n list.”

Either way, I look at the message and say, “Awesomeness itself” or “Excellent” or “Perfect.”

This immediately and instantly reframes the situation for the positive and not a single moment is lost feeling down and out about something that played out the way it is supposed to play out anyway.

Keep this idea in mind today. Whenever something happens that would normally upset you, stay calm, take a deep breath and look for what’s good about it.

When you look for what is good about something, you’re probably going to find it.

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey

Several years ago I met with a coach in northern Florida who helps athletes improve their sprinting speed with a seemingly unique “mind method.”

You’d think he would get the athletes on a track, stretch them out and then begin running a series of sprints as hard as they can.

That’s the way so many of us would have done it when we were in high school or college.

But this coach, he’s a bit different than what we probably had.

First thing he does is have you sit on the ground with your legs outstretched. From this position you are told to run in place.

No, you don’t stand up first.

You run with your buttocks and hips – which you cannot do UNLESS you change your focus and mentally pretend that you can… and then, you discover that you can simulate running, even without your legs.

After this drill is finished the coach brings you to your feet and gives you other drills that you may think have NOTHING to do with running, much less running faster.

On and on it goes for an hour.

When you finally get to sprint for the first time – you run up a sandy hill rather than on flat ground.

And on the day you ran your first sprints on flat ground, you were amazed at how much faster you could run.

One of the key takeaways from this coach was hearing him yell the following as his athletes sprinted:

FOCUS ON THE FINISH.

That’s correct.

Focus on being DONE.

Focus on completion.

Focus on the celebration.

Focus on taking that final step – as well as the first – and the current one.

Start from the ground up.

Start from your buttocks. Now go.

Don’t tell me you can’t sprint from your buttocks.

Imagine what you think you cannot do – and do so.

When an athlete is sprinting, he’s already focused on where he is in space and time. When you add “the finish” to the equation, you increase creative tension, which helps catapult you forward.

Think of anything you want to do.

Come up with simple bite-size exercises that lead you to the goal.

Build momentum each day by knowing where you are as well as where you want to be.

For short-term goals (short sprints), focusing on the finish is powerful.

What’s your short-term goal?

Good.

Now go get it.

Matt Furey

P.S. Long-term goals are not exactly the same as short-term when it comes to focusing on the finish. Much more on this in my Theatre of the Mind audio program.

The other night I was irritated, annoyed and pissed off.

Every now and then this happens, and instead of telling myself, “I shouldn’t be angry,” – I do something constructive. I grab myself a baseball bat and start going to town.

I even put up a video on YouTube where you can witness and watch me quickly hit my way out of this emotional state.

By the way, this is something Dr. Maltz suggested in Psycho-Cybernetics and Zero Resistance Living when he wrote about blowing off steam the way Old Faithful does. I also speak about it in Theatre of the Mind.

Yes!

Go watch the video NOW – and be sure to subscribe to my channel.

Matt Furey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmLZqbmHS5A