Mojo tip from Owning Pink

Don't define yourself into a corner.

So often, we identify ourselves using certain personality traits. "I'm not a morning person." "I'm disorganized." "I'm a slow learner." "I can't sit still."


Each time we do this - state, "I am X" with such conviction - we are putting ourselves in a tightly-sealed box that automatically discounts all other possibilities. And often, these are just stories about ourselves - not the truth.


For instance, say one way you define yourself is, "I'm bad at technology." Think of all that implies: that you're incapable of learning or solving problems, that you're dependent on others for all things technological. It also may block an avenue to a dream. Most of what we do today depends on some form of technology. If you so firmly believe that you can't do technology, how many doors are you subconsciously closing?


What you might do instead is examine what led to this belief about yourself in the first place. Instead of saying, "I am lazy," change the story to "I'm someone who can occasionally be sluggish. I wonder what that's about?" It could be when you were young, your mother called you lazy so often and for so long that you forgot that that was someone's opinion, and began to believe it as truth about yourself. Such realizations bring instant freedom from beliefs that imprison us.


Next time you catch yourself saying, "I am X," see if you can untangle yourself from that story. Remember that you are much, much more than any one characteristic, and you are capable of anything.


Believing in the bigger You,

The staff at Owning Pink