I learned this one earlier during one of my leadership trainings and I heard it again during a podcast I listened to this week from Michael Pilarczyk.
The original thought comes from Byron Katie, author of The Work. Katie went to deep troubles in her life, until one day she figured out that everything that bothered her where just thoughts.
We see these limiting thoughts everywhere around us. people in professional environments often think they can’t make mistakes, or if they make a mistake, the worst possible things will happen. The thought of this may paralyse us, whilst the thought might not be true at all.
She realized thoughts can be reframed, and can be changed by asking the right questions. Once you change your thoughts, you instantly look differently at yourself, your situation, the world.
So she urges people to ask the following questions about their limiting thoughts:
- Is it true?
- Can you absolutely know it’s true?
- How do you react, what happens, when you believe the thought?
- Who would you be without the thought?
It seems obvious, but running through these questions often leads you to the conclusion that your thought is not true, that it is irrelevant and that there is a better thought that is encouraging you rather than limiting yourself.