Allowing other people and situations to control your thoughts and feelings is one of the easiest habits to fall into, and also one of the most debilitating to your success.
Of course, that whole sentence is a simple misunderstanding, as it’s not them, it’s YOU that’s making you think and feel how you do.
In fact, you’re the only person who can ever make you think or feel anything at all.
Here’s some thorny issues that might resonate:
- You leave home after an argument with your spouse and feel angry all day
- The business partner who ripped you off ten years ago has made you wary, distrustful and incapable of forming other fruitful relationships
- Your neighbour’s obvious and public success – new cars, holidays, home improvements – makes you feel inadequate and a failure
- You get an unexpected bill so you worry for a week about how you’re going to manage
- The news reports on the future economic climate have convinced you that it won’t be your fault if you fail to make your fortune
In each case, it might seem like your thoughts and feelings are the inevitable result of the external circumstances.
But they’re not, truly they’re not.
Just decide what you want to think, how you want to feel, and you will.