How to Use Awareness, Breath and Reframing to Overcome Obstacles

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It was one of those mornings. We’ve all had them. I had barely slept because I had so much on my mind, so I woke up groggy and didn’t go to the gym. I tried to log in to a portal to access an important contract, used the wrong password a few times and got locked out. Then, I tried to scan a document and it would not allow me to scan to PDF. I had had this problem for a while, so I finally decided to get on the phone with Geek Squad to resolve it.

You get the picture, right?

I was feeling frustrated, derailed and some stories started creeping into my head. Damn, another unproductive day! How am I going to “make it” dealing with crap like this all the time? Man, you’re not handling this well; how are you going to be a successful entrepreneur if you let every little setback throw you off your game? Are you cut out for this? 

Mind you, this is from the person who just posted, “Talk to yourself like you’d talk to a friend” the day before.

Lord knows I don’t do all the things I write about and talk to my clients about perfectly. But I do these three things that help me disrupt negative thoughts and refocus:

  1. Awareness—there is a great saying that “change happens on the other side of awareness”. As soon I am aware that I am telling myself these stories I can snap out of it and disrupt the spiral. 

  2. Breath— The next thing I do after I become aware is take a long, deep breath. (or two or three.)

  3. Reframing—I then tell myself a different story that allows me to find opportunity in the situation. What I said to myself was something like this: “Charisse, it’s a bummer that your day hasn’t gone as planned. It’s not you; that’s just life and this is just a moment. With a few shifts, you can still make today a good day. Wait--what?! Look at you reframing; you go, girl! This is why you’re such a good coach, because you are constantly coaching yourself.”

So here is what I did next, stuck in front of a computer I couldn’t use while tech support worked remotely to figure out the problem. I grabbed the stack of hand written thank you notes that I had been working on. Expressing gratitude for folks helped shift my energy.

When they kicked my ticket up a level because the first technician couldn’t fix my problem, I ran downstairs to grab a salad and I actually ate it without working at the same time. Finally, since I was still at home later than planned, I decided to work from home so I could make it to the gym for a 5PM class. 

With practice, taking these three steps can become second nature. The end result? Greater resilience, productivity and ultimately, happiness.

If you could use more support for advancing your goals and techniques for managing the stress and overwhelm that can derail your progress, let’s talk. I’m here to help.