How to Stop Letting Anxiety and Negative Thoughts Ruin Your Life Pt. 7

This is the seventh in a series about how to STOP letting anxiety and negative thoughts control and ruin your life.

Sometimes, our anxiety and negative thoughts can be managed or changed by recording our feelings about the past, present, and future tangibly!

If you’re interested in working with me in a consulting or coaching capacity, you can jump on my calendar at https://theharthabits.com/about.

00:00 Intro

01:00 Topic Intro

01:47 Intro to The Hart Habits™

01:56 How it Works

02:44 What to Record

03:33 How to Record

04:20 What Else to Record

05:43 What to Do with the Records

06:27 Recap

I recently created a video talking about what kind of family business you should start.

While I was creating that video, it brought to mind another tool I’ve used to stop letting anxiety and negative thoughts ruin my life.

It’s funny how my material crisscrosses, and although it seems unrelated, it’s all super related.

The critical thing I talked about in that video was the activity of recording, documenting, or writing down the answers to specific questions I was leading the individuals watching through.

It’s really a brain hack similar to how conscious thought and speech can help us tap into our Reticular Activating System to create the reality we want.

Intro to The Hart Habits™

And the next point about how to stop letting anxiety and negative thoughts ruin our lives comes from my seventh Hart Habit, which is Record.

I don’t talk a lot about The Hart Habits™ specifically yet, but each of these videos has led you through one of the 10 Hart Habits™, and I can’t wait to introduce you to the whole package at the end of this series.

Now, let’s talk about recording and how documenting plays into our anxiety and negative thinking, and how documenting well can play into healing those things within us.

How it Works

Neuroscience tells us that when we engage our brain in hearing, thinking, and seeing things intentionally, we can teach it to experience a new or different reality.

When we record our vision for our lives and have it in a visual format, our brain can receive it in new ways and get to work making it happen with us.

We’re not limited to sending messages with the words we say and the thoughts we’re consciously trying to choose to affect how we feel every day.

With our visuals, we can show our brain what we want to be true.

What to Record

Record ANYTHING that you:

currently feel, hear, see, or sense in some way
have felt, heard, seen or sensed in the past
want to feel, hear, see, or sense in the future.

It doesn’t matter which senses are engaged for you, if you are feeling it or thinking it, the goal is to get it out of your mind/body and on to a medium of any sort.

How to Record

You could use a paintbrush & canvas, sculpting clay, a nail on a rock, your cricut, spreadsheets, a database, or pen and paper, to name a few. I’m sure there’s a million more ways to record what you’re feeling, hearing, seeing, sensing, or wanting.

The important thing is to get it out of your brain/body and make it tangible.

Engineers and architects make scale models. Consultants create forecast reports. Gardeners draw plans and then grow whatever the earth lets them grow, depending on the care they’ve given to the process. 🤷

You could even use audio or video – two of my personl favorites!

What Else to Record

The next thing to think about recording is your progress on goals.

So if the first thing you record is a vision (because who doesn’t love a vision board party?), now it’s time to document your progress towards that vision. There’s no right or wrong way, but generally, by working backward from the end goal, one can figure out the smaller steps required to achieve it and make a plan for how to get it handled in a desirable timeline.

If you don’t know how to do that, jump on my calendar at theharthabits.com/about, and let’s talk it out.

It’s not easy, but it’s very doable with intentional work.

Document your progress on each of those smaller steps and make sure you’re keeping track of the best markers to tell the story.

For example, An excellent physical therapist writes down every detail of your work with them.

You did x reps, at x weight, on this date, at this time. As you increase in strength, you’ll see weight dropping, range of motion improving, etc.

Documenting the process helps you know what you’ve accomplished and where you are on your journey.

The essential third part then is to celebrate your accomplishments.

What to Do with the Records

Once you’ve recorded your progress and achieved a goal, you can share your portfolio of accomplishments.

It’s not bragging, rather, it’s the documentation of your progress and tells the story of what you’ve been doing.

You could share with your boss, your family, your clients, your friends, or just yourself.

No matter how you utilize the end product, it’s a great way to empower and uplift yourself.

When you decide to share it with others, it can build your credibility, price, brand recognition, and ultimately, it can tell your story for you, if you want it to. It’s an objective testimonial to how awesome you are.

If you continue to practice this habit, you’ll get the recognition you deserve more often.

You won’t be overlooked for credit that belongs to you because your “records” will tell the truth.

As you begin to do this, you might feel resistance to sharing because you’ve been taught it’s bad to brag.

Consider this reporting, not bragging.

Bragging is typically related to inflating a story or your importance in it, which is ultimately based on lying.

This model is about you keeping and sharing truthful data in any number of possible formats. Keep in mind, anything you create is data. It doesn’t have to be spreadsheets and charts. A series of paintings you created as you went through a life transformation could tell a powerful story that opens exciting new doors for you.

A series of live videos you did on Instagram could become the thing that launches the next phase of your career.

Obviously, journaling can be a powerful way to record the things we’re thinking and feeling, but I have done several journal entries in the form of coloring pages from my favorite coloring book painted with acrylic pens or watercolors or colored pencils. Those coloring pages had messages for me that I can still feel.

When you do this record keeping and sharing in a consistent and thorough way, you’ll find that people perceive you as humble, not as a braggart.

They’ll see what you put out and think, “Wow, this is great, but I can think of even more they’ve done! It permits them to celebrate your accomplishments with you and celebrate their own as well.

So, in conclusion… Record.

Record your thoughts and vision of the past, present, and future, record your progress, and share your records, because you deserve to be celebrated.

Disclaimer –

This video is NOT sponsored. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Your clicks help support the channel and allow me to continue to make videos like this one. But don’t worry, It does not affect the price you pay. 😉 Thank you for your support.