Focus on what you want, not what you don’t.

Focus on what you want, not what you don’t!   This sounds like common sense right? But it’s not something we tend to do. We usually focus on what we don’t want.   I was going to write about bitcoin for #wealthwednesday today (I will do so another day) but this topic felt more suitable as #lockdown continues to stretch ahead of us.

So what do we focus on?  I have been known to focus on the fact that during Covid, I have to homeschool my children while working full time! I am then so tired by the end of the day, that there is little time for anything else!  Or I might focus on the weight I have put on during the pandemic due to my propensity to eat vast quantities of chocolate in any form!  But while it is soooo understandable to focus on those negative issues, all I am doing is telling my brain to think of the negatives rather than focus and attract the positives.

Be Positive! Remember the old adages thrown about by Californian motivational speakers leaping about like leprechauns shouting things like ” We attract what we focus on” “Emotion comes from motion” etc  – it’s actually so true but can be done without all the dramatics!! Science has shown that there is a part of the brain called the RAS, the reticular activating system which determines lots of things from our #self-esteem to our #happiness levels.  When scientists talk about the RAS, they mostly talk about it in terms of sleep/wake/arousal states or fight or flight responses.

However it is also purported that the RAS alerts areas like the pre-frontal cortex when key messages are received and it filters those messages based on our own beliefs and biases.  So if you are prone to seeing the positive and opportunities, it will filter the messages that come through that most align with that positivity or belief set.  Likewise with the negative – if you are prone to limiting beliefs like “earning a lot of money is only for greedy bankers”, your brain will seek out evidence to prove that fact and limit you from earning enough yourself.   I remember  when I thought I was pregnant and all I could see, everywhere I went, were pregnant women, magazines on pregnancy, shops with baby clothes!   That’s the RAS working!

So what can we do to optimise our RAS.

1. Let’s give it positive things to focus on- change your state.   That might be “I look forward to a glass of wine and a hot bubble bath after the kids are in bed”.   Or it might be “I will give myself an hour off today and go for a long walk in the fresh air” rather than the chocolate – or maybe in addition to the chocolate!   And for #wealthwednesday it might be “I will get my finances in order and I will create a strategy so that I am ready once opportunity arises”
2.  Don’t put it off – take ten minutes and think about your limiting beliefs.  Then write out the opposite. So if you think you will always struggle with money, then you have told the RAS in your brain to ensure that is what you see/feel/focus on.  Instead train to brain to believe that you will always have enough, focus on that and then take positive actions to ensure that’s the case.  Repeat it over and over to yourself but also put yourself in the right position to believe it.
3. Get yourself a motivational partner – it helps to have someone that will hold you accountable and you them.  So if know of someone who will make you sure you show up for that run with you or who will start a financial review of their own, get them on board.

Start today, be consistent, take it slow  and soon you will be surprised at how much more positive you feel.  #wealthmanagement #positivity #focus #attraction