ANTS

So what the heck do I mean by ANTS? Well ANTS is simply an acronym for Automatic Negative Thoughts.

Now these are the thoughts that go on in our heads subconsciously when we’re driving, you know, taking a shower, or having a conversation with somebody and then all of a sudden you start remembering things from the past or you start thinking things, “Well jeez does this person think I’m not smart enough? I’m not good enough. I’m not rich enough.” Whatever it may be. They happen automatically.

So think of your mind, your mind is a supercomputer. And you know this is true. But what runs that supercomputer is your software. And your thoughts are your software, and so the key here is making sure that your software is running efficiently, smoothly, and is updated with the latest firmware. And so what I mean by that, oftentimes the software we run, the programming, or the way that we see things in our world are actually from childhood. It can be from high school and adolescence, but oftentimes they start even younger. And this could be something like a parent saying, “You shouldn’t cry.” And then you become very stoic, or it could be somebody saying, “Sports, soccer, you’re not that good. You shouldn’t be playing,” and then the rest of your life you have this programming, like, “I’m not good enough.” And that’s constantly running in your mind as you’re doing things.

Now, ironically, this happens with a lot of high performing people. They have these ANTS. And these ANTS are things that actually cause them to actually achieve, because these negative thoughts come up and they think, “Oh I’m gonna crush this.” Now what they haven’t done, or many of them haven’t done, is actually get rid of the ANTS. Just get rid of them. And so there are ways that you wanna do this, there are ways you wanna get rid of these automatic negative thoughts.

So one way, and we talked about this in a previous daily growth act, is as soon as you recognize an ANT, or an Automatic Negative Thought, I want you to count to five backward. So you have a thought, come up, and just go five four three two one. And then replace that negative thought with something that’s better. Something that serves you. And that’s the important thing right now. Because walking around and having a thought of “I’m not good enough,” for example. Or “I’m not smart enough to own my own business.” Or “to go out and be an author of my own story.” What that does is that’s gonna limit you, so each time you hit a barrier you’re gonna say, “Well of course, I’m not smart enough and that’s why I didn’t do that,” or “That’s why I wasn’t able to achieve,” or “That’s why I wasn’t able to travel like Doug is doing right now.”

So when you have those negative thoughts with something that does serve you. ‘Cause the truth is, is you are smart enough. You know what, you’re living in an age where we have technology, we have resources, and right now if you are listening to this or watching me on video, you actually have a resource that most people didn’t have previously. And you’re smart enough to access that resource, and that’s great. So with these ANTS, you’re gonna go ahead and come up with something positive. So, again, “I’m not smart enough.” Now, come up with at least five reasons that you are. Five things, right now. I’m able to utilize and leverage technology, that’s a big one. Good job. I’m able to hear, listen, and focus, that’s another one. So come up with five things that actually justify why you are smart. I know you can come up with those.

And so then what I want you to do is take it to another level, and use the work. The work is an actual great thing, it’s called the Judge my Neighbor worksheet. The Judge my Neighbor worksheet is something that was done by Byron Katy and I highly recommend checking it out. A simple worksheet that goes through that, and you can do that on yourself, and it’s really important to get rid of these ANTS and replace them with positive thoughts that allow you really to up-level and become the author of your own story.

Now I highly recommend, grab your journal right now, write out your five to thrive, your mind, your body, your soul, your relationships, and your business. We use this again ’cause it’s a holistic representation of you as a person, and what’s going on in your world. Now in each of these categories, I wanna have you write down something you know is a negative thought, something that comes up. So again for mind it could be, “I’m not smart enough.” For body it could be, “I’m too fat.” For soul it could be, “I don’t have the ability to mediate.” For relationships it could be, “I just always date the wrong people.” For business it could be something like, “I just never seem to make enough money.”

Right, those are just examples. Common ones that I hear all the time. Now if you can’t come up with them, ask a loved one, a spouse, a significant other of some sort, a family member, someone who knows you really well, a friend, a coworker, and ask them, “What are the things that you say all the time?”

Now, with full disclosure, and I’ve shared this before, one that my wife helped me point out was just, I always say, “I’m tired. Whew, so tired I’m running all these companies. We’re traveling all the time, taking care of the family. And playing a lot, and I’m just always tired.” And what I found when she put that out to me, is I had that ANT, right? That Automatic Negative Thought come up probably 20 to 30 times in a day, it was crazy. Blew my mind. I would have said, maybe I say it a couple times a week. But when I actually paid attention, I realized I was saying this about 20 to 30 times a day. And since then, what I’ve realized is the more I said it, the more tired I got. It was really weird, I lived into what I was saying.

And so, it’s the same thing with you. I changed that. I have more energy. I always have enough energy and abundance in my life, that allows me to do those things that I wanna do. Because, you know, really, I asked myself, Look if I’m tired and I won the lottery right now, if someone came up and said, “Hey you just won the lottery. You just won a hundred million dollars, Doug,” I would be jumping up and down, celebrating ’cause of all the things that I could do for other people, people that I love, then that means I have enough energy. Wow, okay, so that Automatic Negative Thought was just a limiting belief. And I wanna make sure you’re able to erase those.

So that’s just an example of something that I dealt with and I’m still trying to work through right now to reprogram my supercomputer. And I wanna help you do the same. So do that exercise. Never leave the site of a decision or an insight without actually taking action right away. So you’re driving in the car, if you’re watching this and you can’t actually do the work, so to speak, do one thing. Record a voice memo, actually write something down in your iPhone. Whatever it may be for you, make sure you take action, schedule it in the calendar to take action, whatever it is. And of course, share this with three people. By sharing this with three people, you’re gonna have accountability partners [inaudible 00:06:19] other people within your realm. Your circle of influence are gonna help you grow, at the same time you’re gonna help them as well. So I don’t take this lightly, make sure you’re sharing this with at least three people right here, right now.

That’s it for me today, remember go to Authorofyourownstory.com where you can get your latest tips, tricks, and insights right to your inbox as well as the special features that we’re rolling out. I wanna make sure you have access to those because as soon as we roll them out, most of them we’re only giving them a one week window where they’ll be free and available, and then we’re putting it actually to our private groups, those members only. So I wanna make sure you have it free, so only with the email will you have the notice of when that’s the week so you can actually utilize it, help you become the author of your own story. Have a great day.

If you like these daily growth hacks, it would mean the world to us if you would take a moment to subscribe and review us on iTunes!