NEGOTIATING WITH YOURSELF

When you hear the term negotiation your mind probably goes to business dealings of some sort. Did you know the art of negotiating has been around for over 200,000 years? Forbes came out with a Top 10 list of negotiations that changed the world. With so much conflict in every corner of the world, there is a need for negotiation to find resolution and bring peace on a daily basis, but what if its yourself you’re in constant conflict with? How do you approach that?

A lot of people get stuck negotiating with themselves. A little voice in their head says, “I don’t feel like doing this right now, let’s do it later.” The minute you entertain that thought, it’s over. The power of justifying our decisions and thought process is one of the most unmatched, innate skills we all possess. One of the ways we rationalize is by negotiating with ourselves, believing we won the negotiation when, in fact, we lost. What if instead of resisting those tasks or activities you don’t want to do, you embraced them head on in the moment? Negotiating with yourself instead risks possible success, your results, and your productivity. We are all guilty of doing it…but if we start out with making it a routine and building that muscle and stick to it, it becomes second nature to our daily lives.

One thing I often do when I’ve hit a crossroad, is ask myself how bad I want something. How bad do you want to lose weight, get out of debt, purchase a home, start a business…the list goes on. But what is going to pull you through to discipline yourself to take the necessary steps to get there? For starters, you have to stop negotiating with yourself and allow your mental toughness to take control. Zoom out and focus on the bigger picture, and the journey (like we talked about last week).

Lastly, make it easy for yourself. If you are trying to save money, setup an automatic withdrawal and have it go to its desired place so you don’t have to manually do it or have to go through that psychological pain of having to always see it. Instead of negotiating with yourself, remind yourself WHY you are doing what you are doing, and your will power will get you through it. You got this.

Have a great and productive day!