Stop Telling Yourself What You’re Bad at

For years, I’ve been giving both my dogs anxiety medication at 7p every night. And for the most part, it’s been on time.

Yet for some reason, I recently had a few times when I noticed it was close to 8p and I still hadn’t given the dogs their meds. My brain was quick to pick up the pattern and I began to tell myself “I am so bad at this!”

Soon, it became part of the ritual: I’d see the overdue reminder on my phone and exclaim “I am so bad at this!” to myself (and my dogs). But here’s the thing: my brain listens to what I say, and it likes me to be right. As a result, what started as an occasional tardiness became an every night thing. And it got worse… I might see the overdue notification on my phone two or three times before acting on it. Next thing you know, it’s 10pm. Yikes!

This self-fulfilling prophecy is a sign of the influence our brain has over how we think and act, even subconsciously. I saw the reminders. I felt the pang of surprise, and the pangs of guilt as the hour got later and later. But as long as I was telling myself I was bad at it, I would continue to not be on time with my dog’s medication dose.

Luckily, I have some well-honed observation skills from years of self coaching, so I caught what my brain was doing here. Soon, when I wanted to say or even think “I’m so bad at this” I stopped myself, and thought “I’m getting better at this”.

And ya’know what? I got better at this! The past few weeks I’ve given my dogs their meds either on time or close to being on time, every night.

So watch out for what you say and think, your brain is listening!

If you want to start working on your observation skills to pick up on the subtle (or not so subtle) messages your brain is hearing then let’s get on a call!