How I Handle Bad Thoughts

Summary

• Acknowledge stressful thoughts as they arise but choose not to act on them immediately.
• Compare unproductive thoughts to spam emails: recognize them but don't give them significance.
• Use the thought process as a filtering system to focus on what's important.
• Ask yourself whether acting on a thought will lead to more or fewer such thoughts in the future.
• Decide not to engage with stressful thoughts if the goal is to reduce their frequency.

Video

How To Take Action

I would suggest starting small to manage stress and improve your focus. When you have a stressful thought, acknowledge it, like saying, "Hello, I see you," but don't rush to act on it. Think of these thoughts as spam emails. They pop up, but you don't have to open them or give them your time.

A good way of deciding what to focus on is to use your thoughts as a filter. Ask yourself, "If I act on this thought, will it create more stress or help me feel better in the long run?" If something will keep bothering you, it might not be worth your time right now.

Here's what you can do:

• When a stressful thought comes, pause and say it out loud: "This is just a thought, not an emergency."
• Compare these thoughts to spam. Just as you ignore spam emails, do the same with unproductive thoughts.
• Use a notebook to write down the important things you need to do. If the thought doesn't help with these tasks, set it aside.
• Ask yourself the question, "Will dealing with this thought make me have more or less stress in the future?" If the answer is more stress, choose not to act on it for now.
• Set specific times in your day to check your thoughts, like you would check your emails. Only engage with the thoughts that are truly important.

Remember, you're in control of your attention. By not giving power to every stressful thought, you'll start to feel more in focus, and your day will go smoother. It might be tough at first, but with practice, it gets easier!

Quotes by Leila Hormozi

"my goal is to carry on despite this stress"

– Leila Hormozi

"my goal is just to get through the day without giving it any more attention"

– Leila Hormozi

"I'll acknowledge the thought when it comes up I'm not going to do anything about it"

– Leila Hormozi

"I'm able to say oh wow that's a that's an interesting thought yeah that's pretty stressful but you know what I'm not going to do anything about that"

– Leila Hormozi

"do I want more of these thoughts or less of them well if I want less of them then I won't act on this"

– Leila Hormozi

Full Transcript

my goal is to carry on despite this stress despite this thing despite this like maybe impending problem in the business that's stressing me out and I want to do something about it right okay my goal is just to get through the day without giving it any more attention I'll acknowledge the thought when it comes up I'm not going to do anything about it I'm able to say oh wow that's a that's an interesting thought yeah that's pretty stressful but you know what I'm not going to do anything about that you know when you open your email and it's like you have a ton of spam you're like oh God like I thought these were important emails but they're not I think that with my thought unuseful unproductive thought and some days I really want to act on them but I don't because the question I ask myself is do I want more of these thoughts or less of them well if I want less of them then I won't act on this