Shhhh, I’m going to let you in on some secrets…
Being a badass is a mindset and that mindset has to be resilient. The secret to a resilient mindset is learning how to master self-talk. And, the secret to mastering self-talk is understanding my favorite theory in psychology — Cognitive Behavioral Theory.
Cognitive Behavioral Theory is simply this – your cognitions affect your behavior, mediated by emotions. Let me expound on this a bit: your cognitions, a fancy word for thoughts, create self-talk. These thoughts and self-talk create emotions and emotions affect how you feel. How you feel affects how you behave and thus, how you live your life. So, it’s sort of a domino effect.
The more positive and the more encouraging the thoughts and self-talk, the more resilient you are, and the more badass you will become.
Here’s the best part: YOU have the power to modify your thoughts and to change the self-talk.
So, when negative thoughts enter your mind, be aware of them and stop them right there. Do not allow yourself to go down the spiral of negativity. It will affect how you feel, it will affect how you behave, it will affect how you live your life. It will also affect the people around you — your family, your friends, your co-workers.
Here’s the trick to shifting negative thoughts, because, let’s be honest, negative thoughts come naturally (and sometimes they can come often). Choose the lens through which you view things. In other words, you can choose the negative thoughts and all the ugly that goes along with them and how they make you feel like garbage and how they can ruin your day, your week, even your month, even your relationships OR you can choose a different lens that views things in a way that is not so harsh, that doesn’t give in to fear, AND that actually contributes to your life, shifts your mindset, makes you more resilient, and more badass!
It boils down to this: Watch your thoughts. They become self-talk. Watch your self-talk. It creates your mindset. Watch your mindset, it dictates your actions. Watch your actions. They become who you are. And you are becoming a BADASS.
So, every morning, look in a mirror and say to yourself, out loud, “I am a badass!” and believe it. Your mindset will follow.
