Mink In The Morning: Thoughts, Feelings, & Actions
"Man Is Made Or Unmade By Himself" - James Allen
You are where you are at this very moment because of your thoughts, feelings, and actions. These 3 forces are creating everything you have (or don't have) in your life. In the best-selling book, As A Man Thinketh, the author says, "A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the sum total of all his thoughts," and I wholeheartedly agree. We are made, or unmade by the way we think, feel and act.
Your health (or lack of) is your fault. Your wealth (or lack of) is your fault. Your relationships (or lack of) is your fault. You are the cause and effect of your life and when you truly embrace this fact, you have the power to go from the "victim" of circumstance to the creator of it.
The only difference between those who create and shape the world and everyone else is the belief they have in themselves and their commitment to taking responsibility for their thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Personally, I believe we are entitled to nothing in life and everything you experience is a result of the way you think, feel and act. When you decide your life is your fault and you take control of your thoughts, feelings, and actions, you are in complete control of your destiny.
It might sound like a lot of work, and that’s because it is! Life is not meant to be easy, and you shouldn’t want it to be! There is no growth in taking the easy road, no sense of accomplishment. The most valuable things in life are only valuable because it takes an incredible about of energy, effort, and patience to create them.
“What comes easy doesn’t last, and what lasts does not come easy.” - Unknown
Thoughts, Feelings, Actions (TFA)
Your thoughts create/influence your feelings, your feelings create/influence your actions, your actions create/influence your results, and your results create/influence your thoughts.
This cycle of thinking, feeling, and acting over time creates all the results you experience in your life. Becoming an incredible cycle of success where empowering thoughts (I can, I will, it’s possible) lead to feeling motivated, empowered and inspired which leads to getting up early and staying up late taking action and creating the success you desire.
Or the opposite happens and you lose control of your thoughts, feelings, and actions which leads to very little progress. Then this lack of progress begins causing self-doubt and insecurities, creating that downward spiral of failure we've all experienced in life.
Understanding this simple TFA cycle gives you the opportunity to break destructive behaviors, end self-sabotage and use it to your advantage to change your behaviors in a way that propel you towards your goals.
Regardless of what has happened in the past, I wanted to share this with you today because in every moment you have the opportunity to start fresh. Part of being human is experiencing both sides of this equation, the success, and the failure as they are 2 sides of the same coin. You cannot have one, without the other.
In every moment, we are deciding what to focus on, and that focus is controlling our thoughts. When things are going well in life, bring awareness to your focus and how you are thinking and simply do more of that! Success (and failure) leaves clues, we just need to find them.
"We Are What We Repeatedly Do." - Will Durant
In high school, my Varsity basketball coach told me, "How you do some things is how you do everything," and at first I didn't really believe him. As I've gotten older, I can clearly see how my behavior in one area of my life is a thread woven through every other area.
I can clearly see how small decisions like getting up early, making my bed, and following a very specific morning routine have a tremendous impact on how my day unfolds. Like it or not, our behaviors in one area determine our behaviors in every area. We are what we repeatedly do and that's why success is a habit, an action, and a way of being. We must develop successful behaviors if we want to be successful and that starts with successful ways of thinking, feeling and acting.
Behavior is defined as, "the way someone consistently conducts oneself," and is created over time by the way we consistently think, feel and act. Consistent thought, feeling, and action multiplied by time creates the behaviors that control our lives.
Have you ever met someone and thought, "they are so dang happy all the time," or "they are so damn negative and mean all the time." I'm sure each of us has had at least one of these experiences and I bring it up because this behavior is a great example of consistent thinking, feeling and acting in a very specific way. The result may be dramatically different, but the formula is the same. Over time, our behavior is created by our habitual ways of thinking, feeling and acting.
Thoughts + Feelings + Actions = Behavior
Thoughts + Feelings + Actions = Results
Behavior = Results
Final Thoughts
I hope this was helpful and you can begin to see how these three forces (TFA) are controlling every aspect of our lives and when you take control of them, you can take control of your life. Begin by bringing awareness to what thoughts create what feelings and the impact that has on you. Then begin to upgrade those thoughts to ones that support you and pull you forward.
Stay tuned and please share your honest thoughts and feedback. Leave me a comment below, send me a PM or an email and let me know what you think. I might be the guy on camera, but this isn't about "Mink," it's about us having a conversation and holding each other accountable to Do Better and become the best men we can be. I cannot wait to see where this journey takes us. See you next week...
