Workday Mantras
Repetition, in any form, can be an incredibly powerful way to cultivate change. In this episode I’ll introduce you to a concept that will help you capture and steer the power of repetition when we apply it to the way we think about ourselves and our abilities, and that concept is called a workday mantra.
Episode Transcription
INTRO
Repetition, in any form, can be an incredibly powerful way to cultivate change. In this episode I want to introduce you to a concept that will help you capture and steer the power of repetition when we apply it to the way we think about ourselves and our abilities, and that concept is called a workday mantra. Let’s talk about how to do it. Here we go.
If you think about it, most of the challenges that we encounter during a workday have very little to do with the performance of the actual work itself. The majority of challenges that we face are related to thoughts or feelings or emotions that we experience in connection with that work.
So it’s our minds that really are the drivers for how we move through and interpret everything that happens during a workday.
In addition to that, at their core we can trace every action we take back to an originating thought that we had. In other words our thoughts are what drive the actions we take.
And because of this, because our thoughts are at the heart of everything that we do, THE MOST IMPORTANT THING we can do is learn how to strengthen our mindset so that we can be active participants in shaping how our workday goes.
If you feel powerless during a workday over the thoughts that you’re having, or if you’re consistently moving through your day unhappy or wanting to make a change, the place you have to start is learning how to grow and strengthen your mindset.
And mental strength is secured exactly the same way physical strength is secured - through repetition.
We’re very familiar with the concept that if you exercise regularly, then you’re going to see changes in the way you look and feel. We all know this to generally be true - the more we exercise and eat well over time, the more likely it is that we’ll feel better and that our bodies will change internally and externally based on that repetition. By exercising, we get to literally shape our bodies and shape how we feel each day.
AND when we don’t exercise, then we invite our bodies to do whatever it wants to do without any input from us. It can expand, it can contract, it can feel tired, it can feel weak, it can literally do whatever it wants to do. And we’re all very familiar with this framework as it applies to our body.
But here’s the deal: this same framework applies to our mindset. The more we work on it consistently, the more we work it out, the more we take care of it - the more we get to shape and control what it does. By exercising our mind we can address fear and negative thoughts, and we can also make room for the kind of growth that we want to see.
And just like with exercising our body, it’s about reps. The more repetitions we have, the faster we’ll grow and the more finely tuned our mindset will be.
Now I want you to picture a time when you’ve wanted to make a change physically and maybe you haven’t exercised in a while. I think we can all picture a time when that’s happened.
Let’s say you want to start exercising three times a week. The first few times you get up and engage in that exercise, it’s hard. We feel sluggish and it’s a challenge. We also don’t see results immediately, which can make it hard to want to follow through.
But we know from experience that if we stick with it, and put in the reps, then eventually it gets EASIER. It becomes more natural, and our body actually starts to crave that feeling. It wants to be exercised because the benefits that come from regular exercise are fresh.
It’s the exact same process when you want to train your mind. Let’s say you want to change the way you think about a certain situation, or you want to start to establish a different belief about yourself. So just as an example for, let’s say you want to increase your confidence in the value and the quality of the work you’re doing.
The first time you have a new thought about your self-confidence in the work you’re doing, you might find it hard to accept that thought as true. It’s not what you’re used to.
Instead, what you’re probably used to is that nagging voice that shows up from time to time to remind you that your work’s not that great, or other people think you’re not good enough, and so that new thought is initially in direct opposition with the thoughts you’ve been having.
But if you think about that new thought again and then again and then again, it becomes easier to accept. The more you repeat that thought, and if we keep doing it over and over again, we’ve now formed a new groove in our mindset and a new way of thinking.
And if we engage in this new way of thinking long enough, and specifically if we keep REPEATING this new thought, then this thought eventually becomes our new default way of thinking. There’s no more room for doubt. We’ve established a belief simply through repetition.
So in order for this new thought to take hold, we have to be intentional about getting in those reps. We have to make time for ourselves to repeat the thought that we want, to take time to envision ourselves in that new experience, and to turn it into a belief, and we have to give it time to grow.
And that’s where the concept in this episode comes into play - the idea of a workday mantra.
So just by way of quick background, a mantra is traditionally a word or phrase that is repeated during meditation or quiet time in an effort to really hone your focus on a single cause or a belief that you want to instill. It helps to really get laser focused on an intention that you want to achieve and it’s a powerful way to change our thoughts.
And we can take this idea of a mantra and apply it to our workday.
Specifically, your workday mantra is a series of words or phrases that, when repeated, help you change a belief you have about who you are and what you’re capable of.
There’s a lot of science that’s emerged around how powerful something like a mantra can be. For a long time there was a bit of stigma around things like this, and people considered it to be a little too mystical to be something that could work in a professional setting.
But I can tell you from experience, this is a powerful way for you to shift how you think about yourself during your workday.
And so if you’re interested in changing the way you’re thinking about yourself or your abilities or if there’s a belief you want to reinforce, I want to give you a three step process here that will help you to create your own personal workday mantra.
Step one is to identify one thought you have during your day that’s limiting you - about how you think about yourself or your abilities. So going back to my example, maybe your thought is “My work isn’t that good,” and this is a thought that ends up popping into your mind consistently.
Step Two, once you’ve identified that thought, now we’re going to create a workday mantra. And in order to do that, I want you to come up with a phrase or second thought that is aligned with and represents the new way you want to think about this particular situation, or this particular belief that you have about yourself.
So maybe the phrase you come up with is “My clients value the work I do for them. My work changes their lives. ” So this phrase represents the new belief you want to have that more accurately represents who you are.
The third step is to repeat this very specific phrase over and over several times a day. Saying it out loud is the best way to do this, or if you prefer you can write it over and over on a piece of paper, but you have to repeat it and I want you to say the same phrase every single time.
My clients value the work I do for them. My work changes their lives.
My clients value the work I do for them. My work changes their lives.
I would recommend you start by doing this for two minutes straight, without any interruptions. And as you’re doing this, I want you to envision a time when you got positive feedback from a client or someone who praised you for your work.
The more you say this phrase over and over the more it sinks into your subconscious and the more you start to believe and acknowledge it as true. This is the way that we start to build repetitions in, and it’s one way to start exercising your brain so that it can grow and replace limiting thoughts.
So doing this might feel a little awkward at first. Like: really? You want me to say this out loud over and over? And the answer is yes I do. There’s a ton of science that says that this kind of a practice really helps to solidify new positive thoughts.
So recap here’s the steps I want you to take:
Step 1: Identify a limiting belief
Step 2: Identify a workday mantra
Step 3: Repeat your workday mantra for at least 2 minutes a day
Before I sign off I want to leave you with a quick story. So I’m the host of a weekly series called 11 at 11, and it’s a live members-only webinar that I host every Monday at 11am PST where I share one thing each week that you can improve your workday, and each episode lasts around 11 minutes. If you haven’t checked it out yet definitely give it a try, you can sign up at drewamoroso.com/links and you’ll find a link there that you can use to sign up.
So at a recent 11 at 11 I taught my members how to craft a workday mantra, and I had one member who came back a few weeks later and shared the results of her mantra with our group.
And it turns out this member is a relatively new owner of a law firm but has been practicing for years, and she created a mantra to really bolster her confidence because she has a big vision for growing her firm.
And so she shared with us a simple mantra that she created which was this: I have valuable, relevant experience that benefits my clients. I have valuable, relevant experience that benefits my clients. So it was really simple and right on point.
And she also shared that she just took opportunities throughout the day to say that mantra to herself for a few minutes here and there, and she told us that pretty soon after she started saying it, she had two of her first clients sign up.
Now, for anyone who’s thinking that this is coincidence, I just want to point out that one of the benefits of a mantra like this is that when you start to think differently about yourself, you translate those different thoughts into the way you interact with people, the confidence you project, your ability to spot opportunities, and your willingness to transcend fearful moments and go after clients, just to name a few examples.
In other words a mantra can help to change the energy and enthusiasm and focus that you bring to all of your interactions - which can absolutely lead to new business or exuding a sense of confidence to your clients.
So I guess we’ll never know the extent to which her mantra helped, but I pass on this story because this kind of a simple practice day after day can be a transformational way to shift your focus toward a new way of thinking that can lead to not only a new kind of workday but a new way of life.
Go have a great workday.