Mastering Your Mindset: Three Mind Tricks You Need to Know to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
Recently I've found myself being challenged to step outside of my comfort zone - I've been leaning into hard conversations, launching new offerings within my business, speaking my mind (when others disagree) and laying down some personal boundaries - and I gotta tell you, I understand why we often choose to stay within those cozy comfort zones.
But here's what I know to be true, the life gold is found outside of the comfort zone!
And so, even when we experience the fast heart rate, the hot sweats and worst of all, the really challenging thoughts about how terrible and incapable and irrelevant we are, we must challenge our thinking so we can push through.
When we are doing anything that pushes us to the edge of our comfort zone, our mind will have an absolute field day. It uses subtle distortions and tricks us into believing unhelpful things about ourselves and the situation to try and keep us as far within our comfort zone as possible.
It does this from a place of survival, and is hardwired to protect us. As a result unknowingly, we can subscribe to mind tricks, negative thinking, and stuck in a mindset we know we want to break free from.
We all experience mind tricks, but the good news is with some mindset training we can find more of that life gold.
But how?
Here are three of the most common mind tricks I experience (and often see in my clients too) and some simple mindset training you can try to combat them.
Mind trick #1: “the I feel, therefore, I am ...”
Ever catch yourself saying:
"I feel like such an idiot"
"I feel bad"
"I feel like I could've done that better"
Here is a breakthrough moment ~ feelings are not facts. Just because we feel a certain way does not make it true.
Support to combat this mind trick:
I encourage you to create a list of feelings versus facts in any situation that is making you feel icky or in self doubt.
See what a good dose of truth can do for your mindset here.
Mind trick #2: negative fortune-telling
Our brain is hardwired with a negativity bias. It is also an expert in storytelling and constantly strives to fill in gaps and unknowns through stories (the creativity is actually inspiring but often unhelpful).
Unfortunately, the combination creates negative stories, usually about ourselves and our experiences. When we do something bold like challenge another person's viewpoint, the mind will automatically predict the negative things that may arise.
Common fortune-telling you might jump to in certain situations could be:
"I'm going to lose my job"
"They won't like or respect me any more"
"I won't be given the same opportunities now"
To master a positive mindset and help combat this:
Try asking yourself these questions and consider what comes up for you:
What would I love to experience?
In what way is this act beneficial for all?
Creating a more positively focused fortune is 100% more supportive of your success.
Mind trick #3: Generalisation
Generalisation is when we lump a few experiences into one fact. You can usually tell when somebody is generalising by the language they use, words like “always” and “never” demonstrate they are lumping multiple things into one category.
"They never listen to me"
"I always miss out"
"This always happens to me"
Really, is it infinitely true that something does or does not happen?!
How to combat this mind trick:
When experiencing generalisation ask yourself…
Is that really true?
What are examples of that not being true?
I believe there is always room for an alternative narrative in our mind and that the things that matter most to us, will often ask for a more compelling tale.
What's waiting for you at the edge of your comfort zone?
Start with some mindset training and combat those mind tricks and find out!
Want to dive deeper and learn more about mindset techniques?
Listen to the podcast Brené on FFTs by Brene Brown
Watch the TedTalk The benefits of fostering beginner's mind
Discover if mindset coaching will help you to get out of your comfort zone