Good Morning MOJO,

You are right in the middle of the 18th fairway…you are 180 yards out….water in front of the green. All you need to do is hit it on the green and 2 putt for the best round of golf in your life. All you are thinking is “just don’t hit it in the water…just don’t hit it in the water.” You take your practice swing and it is perfect. You tell yourself again, “don’t hit it in the water…don’t hit it in the water” Then you step over the ball, take a swipe at it and it lands right in the middle of the lake. “Ugghh…why does that always happen? Right when we are about to do something really great and have that breakthrough, we fold and do exactly what we tell ourselves not to do.”

It is because we are focused on what we don’t want to happen instead of being focused on what we do want to happen. That is what makes the difference between professionals and amateurs. The ability to be laser focused on the outcome we know is going to happen and not have any fear about failure…not even letting it enter our mind. It is the professionals’ ability to block out all of the obstacles and be laser focused on the flag stick…laser focused on the goal.

This is how it works with everything in life. So, the million dollar question is, how in the world do we train ourselves to have the ability to be focused on the outcome we want and not the fear of what we don’t want. How do we focus on being fit and healthy, not fat and overweight…wealthy, not broke…success, not failure…hitting it on the green, not in the water? It all starts with reprogramming. Reprogramming our brains, changing the conversations and focus in our noggin. We are subconsciously affirming things every minute of every day whether we know it or not…whether we want to or not. The question is what are we affirming…good stuff or bad stuff? If we are not affirming what we need to be affirming, we need to figure out a way to reprogram our brain so we start affirming the good stuff and push out the bad stuff.

I by no means have it all figured out, but here is what I do. I spend time first thing every morning being thankful for everything I have in my life. Then I spend time focusing on what I want to attract into my life…and I do it with motion and emotion. Those who have seen me working out early in the morning will see me in the gym grinding with my eyes closed, sweat rolling down my face, listening to inspiring music on my I-Pod, visualizing success…visualizing the things I want in my life…visualizing what I want my life to look like. Now, that is what works for me. Everyone needs to find their way, but the key is we need to find time everyday to visualize what we want our life to look like WITH EMOTION…fill our brain with the good stuff and push out the bad stuff…push out the limiting beliefs. The key is not to be thinking about and affirming the things we don’t want, we need to be focused on what we do want. For starters, you should take time to write out the affirmations you want to push into your noggin and read them first thing every morning out loud 5 times. Everything needs to be positive (i.e. I do, I am), not negative (i.e. I won’t, I will stop). Here are some examples of the do’s and don’ts conversations/affirmations:

YES:
I am fit, healthy and only put things in my body which are good for me. This gives me the highest level of clarity and energy at all times.
NO:
I will stop smoking and eating like crap and start exercising.

YES:
I am a devoted son, brother, husband and father. I take time every day to show my family and friends how much I care.
NO:
I will stop being anxious and short with my family and friends. I will quit yelling and being impatient.

YES:
I am a great financial planner and I am getting closer to my financial goals every day.
NO:
I will stop spending so much money on things I don’t need so I can get ahead in life.

YES:
I am alive, excited and full of energy every day.
NO:
I will quit being so lazy.

YES:
I am successful.
NO:
I will quit being such a slacker…such a failure.

YES:
I am a winner.
NO
I will stop being a loser.

YES:
I will fire this right at the flag and make my birdie.
NO:
I won’t hit it in the water and hopefully hit the green so I have a chance and making a 2 putt for par.

Make it a GREAT week and affirm your success!!!!!