Mindset Series: Part 2

This is the second installment in the series on Mindset. Click here to read Part 1! 

Entrepreneurship can be lonely and very difficult. There are winning streaks that leave you feeling invincible followed by losing streaks that make you question everything. The mountain tops can be high, but the valleys can be devastatingly low.

While I know there are many factors in life that are out of my control, I have been learning that my thoughts are something I can control. My greatest struggle is with my health. My autoimmune disorder leaves me feeling sick more days than I am healthy. It can be incredibly difficult to deliver a high-level, luxury service on days that I experience a lot of pain and discomfort. I travel a significant amount, which has put a lot of stress on my mind and body. Because stress is a primary trigger for my autoimmune disorder, learning to control my mind has helped ease my physical symptoms to a small degree.

The biggest mental fight I have with myself is the stress around being sick. On days I feel great, I’m scared I’ll get sick. On days I feel poorly, I’m fearful that I’ll never get better. I regularly catastrophize my thoughts by jumping to the worst-case scenario and mentally trapping myself there.

But past my personal health issues, I have other negative thoughts as well. I’ll name a few below that you may be able to relate to:

During slow season: 

“No one is booking me.” 

“I’m too expensive.”

“My business is folding.”

“I’ve peaked and I’m heading downhill.” 

“I need to look for another full-time job.”

When someone books a client I wanted to book:

“That person hates me.”

“They hate my work.”

“They thought I was too expensive.”

“I am too expensive.”

“The market can’t sustain my prices.” 

“They thought I wasn’t worth it.”

When a past client of mine books a different photographer:

“They hated working with me.”

“I made a mistake.” 

“They hated their pictures.”

“They thought I was too expensive.”

“They thought I wasn’t worth it.”

“I’m not worth it.”

“They had a better experience with someone else.”

When I can’t get a session published:

“I’m not good enough.”

“I should just give up.” 

“Everyone else is better than me.” 

When I book a big gig:

“I’m not good enough.”

“This is above my head and out of my league.“

“What if I screw it up.”

“What if they hate the images.”

“Did I overcharge them?” 

“What if I charged too much money and can’t deliver what they need.” 

So what are more ways we can control our thoughts?

Externalize the thought. Write the thought down and view it from a distance. It also might feel good to rip it up and throw it away after writing it down.

Get to know your mind. Look at the list of limiting beliefs and identify the ones your mind falls into. Your mind probably has a pattern that could be predictable. The sooner you can recognize when you will have a limiting thought, the faster you can intercept that thought and replace it with a positive one.

Practice mindfulness of thoughts. Develop a practice of watching your mind as it works. Imagine there is a small distance between you and your thoughts, and watch them like you might watch words or images on a computer screen.

Change your thoughts. I like to replace my untruthful thoughts with truth. What is truth? Scripture. I read my Bible every single day and try to memorize my favorite verses to fight lies with the absolute Truth. I also write down positive affirmations to look at and read when my negative thoughts feel overwhelming.