Blog of Ben Foden

By: alexindigo

You had a big idea and have completely fallen in love with it. The initial excitement lasts for awhile, but eventually the day comes when skepticism and doubts creep in. This usually happens for me on a bad day, unproductive day, rainy day, due to someone’s comments, or all of the above.

It is nearly inevitable that your optimism will fade, and in fact it will happen more than once as there seems to be a cycle.



>>Try This:

• Eliminate irrational fears by noticing how short-term they are, i.e. this is a concern today, but is it only for today? Am I still going to be concerned about this tomorrrow?





• Be mindful of the challenges that do persist and address them logically or at least acknowledge that you just don’t know how to solve them yet. It seems like 95% of the negative thoughts about my idea I have one day are quickly replaced by new optimism the next day.





• If you are really down in the dumps, run a classic pro / con comparison and list the things the idea has going for it in Bold.





• When possible, shift your logic from x “CANT, WONT, DOESNT work” to x “needs, requires, necessitates Y” to work.  Use the power of positive rewording to your advantage. (and it does lend a big advantage).
  
  

  The classic example: You are playing basketball and you have a problem shooting too low. You tell yourself “Dont shoot that low! Stop shooting so low! I cant shoot that low! etc..” and before you know it you have shot a complete airball that is a foot short of the hoop.
  
  Try “I will shoot higher. Next time I am going to shoot higher. I can shoot higher, and on and on”

It really will be better tomorrow.

Let me hear your thoughts in the comments.