MY MENTAL DIET JOURNEY CHALLENGE

Or how Tony Robins calls it, “10 Days Mental Challenge”. As the title says, for the next 10 days I am supposed to only allow positive thoughts through my mind. Every time my brain indulges in some negatives thoughts, I will have to, first, realize that I am in fact, having a negative thinking, or that I am angry, and then break the pattern. Stop the process. Start thinking of something positive.

Tony Robbins suggests to ask empowering questions like “What can I learn from this situation?”, “What is great about this?”, or “What is not perfect yet?”. The idea is that for the next 10 days, I should spend 0% time on the problems, and 100% of the time on solutions.

“In life, never spend more than 10 percent of your time on the problem, and spend at least 90 percent of your time on the solution.”

Tony Robbins, Awaken The Giant Within

That is not an easy task. I admit that a commitment to 10 days looks quite scary now. 10 days is a lot of days … If the challenge would have been for 1 or 2, let’s say 3 days, that would have looked more doable in my eyes. 10 days require more planning, so that is why I decided to follow the next steps in order for me to succeed:

1. Start a post on my blog, and write daily about my progression, and my experience from each day. I will do that every morning, before starting the day, as part of my 5AM Club routine. (you can read more about that challenge on my 5AM 66 Days Challenge Routine).
2. Read at least 30 minutes per day. My reading routine is quite established, but I will focus more on it each day. At the moment, I am reading the “Awaken the giant within” by Tony Robbins.
3. Exercise at least 30 minutes per day. I know for a fact that exercising puts me in a better mood, so definitely this will help.
4. Pay attention to the food I eat. A mental diet will go really nice along with a healthy diet, wouldn’t it? Although I will be careful to what I eat these days, I will not be too harsh on myself.
5. Make a list with the things to do or things about in case I find myself having negative thoughts, or focusing more than 2 minutes in problems.
6. Write down the list with the things to do to turn my state into a positive one, and Hang it somewhere where I can read it every day for the next 10 days.

Here is the list of the things I can do in order to redirect my thoughts when I feel sad/tired/angry or just frustrated:

1. Start imagining that I won the lottery and make plans for what I would do with all the money.
2. Go for a walk and listen to my favorite music.
3. Dance.
4. Play the piano. This is a tricky one, because I really don’t know how to do that, but I could start learning. So instead of playing the piano, I should write “learn how to play the piano.
5. Eat fruits.
6. Watch a comedy show.
7. Give hugs and kisses to my kids – this is always a winner.

Update:

I did not manage to follow my own routine that I made for myself, so I didn’t come back here to write every day. The first day was OK-ish but then the kids came to me, and everything went south. I think Tony wrote this book before having kids.

Let me tell you that it is not easy to stay 100% positive when the kids throw a tantrum at you in the morning, right before you are supposed to go to school/kindergarten/work. Nope, it is not working. First day I was a hero. I smiled and thought about the lottery. The second day I was not that lucky. My daughter teared me down. She won. I was upset for more than 1 minute.

So, the rule was like that: every time you are upset for more than 1 minute, you have to restart your 10 days challenge. Start counting the days again from 1. I did it like 3 times and then I gave up. The vacation came and with the kids around it was not possible.

Now the summer is gone, and the kids are back to school. I think I will give it another try. Will I succeed? Let’s find out.

Day 1 (of many days 1)

This is the beginning of the day, so I will quite optimistic. Today I have lectures at the university, and also I need to go and buy some books for some of the classes. Nothing that would make my day not brilliant. Except the weather maybe, but I try to take advantage of the rain by staying in bed and attending the class streaming. Not too bad.

RESET – Day 1 again

And again, and again. It is not easy, I tell you that. I will have to make a note and have it on the mirror so I can see it every morning, and every night before I go to bed. This is not a bad idea. I’ll do that when I come home today.

It is a Monday morning now, and I had a lazy morning. Woke up, and started reading Tony Robbins. Then went to school. My boyfriend prepared my lunch box, so I just grabbed it and left. I listened to happy music on my way, not to get upset due to the rush. Excellent plan so far. I will be picking up my kids from school and kindergarten today, so let’s see how that will go.

Today I read about how important words are for how we feel. So, instead of using words such as frustrated, upset, depressed, angry and so now, it would be wiser to use words like: a bit annoyed, slightly uncomfortable, and so on. I think this advice will be really helpful for my mental diet as well, so I will try to introduce that in my daily life.