When I first started my business about five years ago, I remember the exact “ah-ha” moment when I made the decision that this business was going to work. I knew I wouldn’t be going around giving out resumes anymore.
It was a super important decision because in the past I’d dabbled and always needed a backup plan. The problem with that is when you tell your brain there’s a chance this won’t work, you’re wiring yourself to act differently than you would if this was your only choice.
The next ah-ha moment I had was after working in the business for around a year or so. I made the decision to go all-in on a mastermind that cost $10K for a 6-month period, but it made me go all-in. I was confident it was going to bring me the success I was hoping for.
After learning more about mindset in that mastermind, I realized I might be different from other entrepreneurs when we were asked about what it would feel like if we were making 5 million dollars in our business. I remember at that moment already feeling like I was there! It was already flowing, and I wasn’t worrying about where it was going to come from. Others weren’t saying the same thing, so I’m bookmarking that for this episode and calling it the “Million Dollar Mindset.” (I’ll come back to this and break down how to change your money mindset.)
Next, I realized at that moment that this is exactly where my mindset SHOULD be.
We should be living in that future we’re creating.
That was our first 7-figure year. I was pregnant throughout most of it and had a baby girl that August… then we were celebrating 7-figures around my birthday in October! It was a crazy time, and I felt like it was just “coming” to me. We were absolutely doing new things in the business, but it wasn’t the hardest year we worked.
I was just in alignment with where I wanted to go, and my mindset was in a great place.
Two years later, I was very concerned about chasing those goals and trying to beat what we’d done that year, which is typical of driven people. Even if circumstances change, we’re constantly in fight or flight mode, trying to get back to those goals. We were facing multiple challenges, including our Facebook ad account going down and having to re-evaluate our offer.
I got back from another mastermind, and I realized the money blocks that had been impacting how I’d been conducting myself over the last couple of years. Today I want to break down why this happens to so many of us, and the steps we need to take to climb out and get our heads back in the right place.
As of yesterday, something clicked for me that made today feel a million times different than I’ve felt over the last two years! Let’s label this the “Mindset Shift.”
(Let’s be clear: I’m not a brain scientist- I just find this stuff interesting, especially when it comes to entrepreneurship and making ourselves feel better day to day!)
The environment I came from in the corporate fitness world is extremely “fight or flight.”
I’ve learned a lot from watching Joe Dispenza’s show, “Re-Wired,” on the Gaia network!
Up until the age of 35, we repeat about 80-90% of our thoughts every day. If we repeat certain things over and over again, there’s not much gap for anything to change in our lives.
By the time we’re 35, we’re set in our ways and thinking, and a lot of it is comprised of subconscious thoughts programmed into us until the age of 6. At that age, our analytical side isn’t developed yet… so anything we hear from teachers and elders can get set into our subconscious.
About 5-10% of our decisions are conscious and the rest are unconscious. Imagine repeating the same motions every day, reacting like we always have! This leaves very little room for changes to be made in our thoughts, emotions and actions.
We’re repeating things over and over again, and our bodies get addicted to those chemicals.
In my corporate job, if I didn’t hit my sales goals for the day, my body would go into a fight or flight response. My environment was filled with aggression and assertiveness, and was very fight-oriented. It’s not naturally relaxing or conducive to operating from creation! We were only as good as our last month, and we were in constant survival mode.
When that’s your mentality, your body releases cortisol and it gets addicted to feeling that way. Every day this gets more embedded into the neurons of our body, and we can literally think ourselves sick.
The more we’re in that response, and more cortisol is being released, the more it can cause disease.
When our bodies are in that state, we’re focused on problems and repeating them day after day in our heads. This isn’t the mindset that will lead you into creating a different future- it will only keep you stuck in a constant state of being too in the past, or too in the future.
If you’re feeling like you’re in a constant state of fight or flight, you might be experiencing short-temperedness, anxiety, be looking to blame someone for something that happened, and constantly doing things because you feel like you’re running out of time.
When I decided to make a mindset switch to “there is no Option B,” I decided on the future I wanted. I decided to start making decisions as if I had the business I wanted.
I read a book called Dollars Flow to Me Easily, which is about being open to not thinking about the problem. It was extremely helpful, and very much ties in with the Joe Dispenza stuff! Joe’s meditations are about getting yourself out of your body and into what he calls “space.” You’re disconnecting from the feelings of the past and being in your body, and you’re focusing on moving those brain waves in a way that help you create that future. (His explanation of this is very scientific!)
I’ve found Joe’s meditations to be VERY helpful! It’s a practice. When you sit down to do it, you won’t always find your thoughts going away immediately. Eventually, you go into a trance state where the thoughts dampen down and they stop, and you’re in a space where you can connect with creation and creating the future. You’ll have the right thoughts to create the future you want, rather than embedding past thoughts and situations into the neurons in your brain.
Your body doesn’t know the difference between a thought or something that has actually happened, so the more you can have these meditations and focus on the future, you’ll create new pathways of what you actually want. When you start to do this and live in this space, you’ll be able to operate from that place of “it’s already happening,” and you can feel those same emotions of it already happening.
I can tell you… life is SO much easier when you focus on what you DO want, rather than focusing on the past of what you DON’T want.
Three tools you need:
Those 3 tools will help get you out of fight or flight, which will get you closer to getting money.
Also? Get off your phone! This is all about being focused one what you’re learning. Checking social media makes you less present, but we’re so attracted to it because it’s firing the same addictive chemicals that we’re used to!
The mindset has to come first, and the rest will follow.
And lastly, my mindset shift:
I used to wake up and get into emails, my project management software, and social media. But they were feeding addictive chemicals like cortisol, and I had an “ah-ha” moment last night.
This mindset is allowing me to sink back into old habits I haven’t allowed in a long time. I’ve begun starting my day with Joe Dispenza and morning meditations. He talks about gratitude as something that helps lower your cortisol levels and increases your immune system.
I also love Sarah Blonden on Insight Timer!
I put on one of her meditations today and I got on the floor. I had my airpods in, cuddled my daughter, and was flooded with gratitude for that moment. I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be grateful… and I bawled on the floor in the fetal position with my daughter in my arms.
It completely changed my day. It was a moment of remembering what this is all about.
It’s not about money- it’s about feeling connected. Feeling grateful for what we do have. When we can connect with those emotions, and THAT’S how we start our day, the entire day is better.
This was a HUGE ah-ha moment for me! I’ve gotten away from those things, which is easy for anyone to do.
In summary, when it comes to the money blocks you might be facing, it’s about looking at your operating system. Are you in fight or flight all the time? Or are you making that space for that mind and body connection? Are you feeling the right emotions to start off your day, and making sure that’s how you start each day?
Key Takeaways From This Episode:
WHERE WE CAN CONNECT:
Don’t forget….. If you loved this episode, screenshot it and share it to your IG stories and tag me @theashleyshaw. I would love to connect with you!
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