Have you ever heard of mood proofing yourself?

Wow I have just finished listening to an unbelievable interview via a podcast I subscribe to and boy was it good. So good I want to share the message I took out of it. Basically my take on it is, no matter where you are in life; at the top of the success ladder, the bottom or somewhere in between, the same battles and challenges are still going to appear. The interview in question was between a mentor of mine Scott and a pracademic (practical academic) William Sukala who is just about to complete his PHD. His studies and research involve special at risk populations and empowering them to use exercise to counter and stop these conditions.

But the two big factors I took out of the interview to share with you is to do with your mindset and how your actions are ruled by it. Anyone involved in our wellness coaching program will know the importance I place on our mindset and William reinforces this. He has consciously mood proofed himself which simply put, means he is totally aware of his mind when things get tough. And in these tough times he makes sure his processes are right and reassures himself he is on the right path and to keep persisting. He also has Emergency Standing Orders (ESO) which he follows when his outlook and positivity is tested. Again his process is checking his personal mission statement (PMS) and making sure the path he is taking, when the struggle mentally begins, is in line with his PMS. Combining these ritualised tools in his armoury safe guard him against anxiety and worry. To quote him, "the future isn't here yet so why worry about that and the past has gone, so there's nothing you can do about that now".

I took so much out of this interview and I hope my message gets through to you in the same way. But to assist you to mood proof your mind and start making your own Emergency Standing Orders try following these steps when anxiety and worry starts to toxify your mindset.

1. Stop and listen to the messages you are broadcasting to your subconscious mind
2. Qualify those thoughts and ask yourself are the thoughts which will control my actions helping me achieve my desired outcome in life
3. Make a choice whether you entertain that thought further or disregard it totally and put a consequence to the choice you make
4. Take absolute responsibility for the choice you make and don't deviate from this responsibility. Don't become a victim.

I'll leave you with a famous Einstein quote that William the great repeated. The definition of insanity is seeking a different outcome yet taking the same course of action over and over again. Is that you?

William Sukala's website can be found at http://www.williamsukala.com/