How to Unlock the Secret to Slow Down Your Thoughts Instantly With This #1 Strategy
- By Anthony Butkovic
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- 11 Dec, 2020
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Take Active Control in Minutes!
You can hear it now can’t you? The sound that breaks into your dreams as you sleep in your warm comfortable bed. For some it’s an alarm clock and others it’s the pitter patter of little feet. Perhaps the voice of a loved one saying, “good morning” or the noise of a jack hammer during construction season.
Let’s Begin With What are Thoughts?
Before you open your eyes, the thoughts begin to pour in. It’s said we have 60,000 thoughts in a day.
I did the math, and it works out to about 50 per minute or a little less than one a second. What we often forget is that a thought isn’t just words. As words are the internal dialogue in our mind.
Thoughts are:
- Pictures
- Sounds
- Words
- Smells
- Ultimately…feelings
Thoughts are the way we perceive the world and give meaning to life’s events and sensations. It’s been said a picture is worth 1,000 words. Think now for a moment of the pictures you regularly have in your mind.
It’s no wonder than when we worry, we say things like: “my mind is racing!”
That’s because it is! It’s like driving down the highway at supersonic speed.
Don’t believe me?
I want you to imagine for a moment, the last time you took a vacation or visited someone’s house. Are you there?
How fast did it take you to go to that exact place? Milliseconds!
You are sitting there reading this, but your mind pictured you miles away. Now come back.
If we were to put that in terms of words per minute, we’d be in the 1000’s.
Why Words per Minute is an Important Measure?
Before we get into the strategy, we need to create some reference points using words per minute. The brain prefers familiarity, but it learns from difference.
To begin with familiarity, I want you to think about now, how many words you can read in a minute?
How many you can you speak? How many can you write?
Just take a guess.
How many of you read before bed? Do you know why?
Our minds, on average, tend to process words in the following way per minute:
- Think 1000’s
- Read about 250
- Speak 150, and
- Write 40
Think of words like a speedometer in your body.
Imagine someone for a moment super anxious or excited. How fast are they talking?
Now imagine someone that is cool, calm, and relaxed. How fast are they talking?
Defining the Problem Further
Many of us go to bed with our thoughts on what we have to do the next day. If we’re able to get to sleep easily, then perhaps we wake up in the morning with our thoughts racing about:
- Meetings
- Emails
- Texts
- Phone Calls
Almost 25% of adults grab their phone within the first minute of waking up. That number climbs to over half of us within the first 5 minutes.
The beeps, vibrations, and proximity of reach to your phone (being that it sits on our nightstand), are triggers that target our eyes, ears, and body.
It all sets off a wave of thoughts and then we wonder why we are mentally distracted. Why our minds are racing.
For those of us that don’t reach for our phones we’re still thinking of what we need to do in the day, so who can listen or concentrate when we aren’t fully present.
I introduce to you the mind dump. The number one strategy for letting go of mental distractions and getting laser like focus.
What is the Strategy to Slow my Thoughts?
It’s called the mind dump. This is much different than a to-do list, but if you have been using to do lists to organize your mind go ahead.
Depending on what you prefer you can choose to do this before you go to bed. For others, it may be better to do it in the morning BEFORE you reach for the cell phone.
I am a morning person, so I start my day with a cup of coffee and my notebook. I sit down and I start to literally “dump” my thoughts onto the page. Notice I said thoughts and not things I have to do?
I give myself permission to let my mind wander, worry, be excited, or whatever it is to allow me to let go and be present the rest of the day. To identify the musts and not just the should’s or have to’s.
People say well I’ll do it if it’s a priority. I call bull. How many of us know health is a priority, but we don’t go to the gym and we stuff our faces with unhealthy food. We know that our relationships are a priority, but the bigger priority is to stay at work till 10 p.m. and get that report done.
Until things become a must, you won’t do it. But this is for another article another time.
Back to the mind dump.
You can mind dump:
- Worries
- Achievements
- Relationship issues
- Work issues
- Problems that you want to address
- Things that need to get done and perhaps you’re struggling with
- People that are on your mind
- Fear in any context
- Anything you can think of including things that should, could, and must get done.
It’s important when you do this to let your mind go like a horse being let out of the gate on the race track.
There is time to look back on it and reflect later. Right now, you’re just using this time to get it all out. Like when you pull the plug in the bathtub and let it drain the water out.
Why does this work?
The reason this works is because take a moment to refer back to the words per minute being a speedometer.
A person cannot think faster than they can write. If they try to it’ll be too difficult, so they have to slow down there thoughts so their hand can keep up. For me to write down my thoughts I have to first think of what I want to say then write it.
This allows you to release thoughts under control. Instead of it blazing down the highway at 1,000 miles an hour, you’re taking a leisurely drive through the countryside.
The sun is shining and warm on your skin. You have your shades on as you feel the steering wheel in your hands. The nice plush leather seat supporting your body as you slowly leave your troubles behind.
What do I do next?
Now that you’ve done the mind dump, you have several options in front of you. As people we love options!
IF YOU DO THIS IN THE MORNING
You can choose to:
- Close the notebook and get on with your day
- Rip out the pages and shred them or throw them in the garbage
- Take time to go back and analyze for any specific goal or objective you were looking for
- Use it to create a to do list
- If you’re a faith-based person going through struggles you can use this to find what to pray for or whom to pray for
IF YOU DO THIS AT NIGHT
Some people have trouble getting to sleep, and this is a fantastic tool to help
you get to sleep and enjoy your night behind your eyelids.
If you’ve done this at night, you can tell you brain that you’ve now cleared your mind and are going to sleep.
If there is something that is still bothering you, ask your unconscious mind to help you find the answer to the problem. You’ll be amazed how often this works because as you sleep your mind is consolidating all the information from the day previous.
I’m wondering, what would happen if you just let your brain find the answer for you.
What Results Should I See?
There are different outcomes for different people, and it depends on the intention you’ve set for the strategy. It’s like anything when you have an intention for what you do, and you take consistent and proper action, you’ll get a positive result.
For many people, they find that they get in a routine and their days seem more in control. That you can be in control of your thoughts and feelings.
If you’re just like me, you use it in the morning so that you can get direction for the day and what you truly want to accomplish.
Others will resolve conflict and problems in their life.
If you choose to keep the pages, it can become a record of how far you’ve come. You can look back on it 6 months or a year later and see how the things you worried about didn’t turn out that bad after all.
This will then provide you with certainty to continue to take action in areas that may feel uncomfortable because you know that often what you fear never actually happens.
The point I am making is the result is whatever you want it to be. This strategy is simply a tool to help you get the result you want.
When you slowly push the brake in your car, the car slows down. So, give yourself a break and slow down your thoughts with the mind dump.
If fear is something you worry about then check out my article:
3 Things You Can Use Right Now to Change Your Thoughts and Move Past Fear
How Can Butkovic Life Coaching Help Me?
For more information on the mind dump and how you can customize it to suit your needs click the book now button and schedule a FREE 30-minute call with me.
I have spent the last 15 years as a coach helping people achieve their goals and their dreams. Regardless if it’s at home, work, or in your mind it’s my goal to help as many people as possible live better lives.
The way this is done by showing them how to have better feelings that come from better thoughts.
At the end of the day, we are all chasing a feeling. Why not choose the ones that serve you. It’s easier than you think with my Butkovic Life Coaching Strategies.
Have you ever witnessed a motivational speaker in action? Perhaps recall a movie that created a lot of emotion inside of you to make a change. Maybe you collect quotes of inspiring messages. And yet…
Life is the same.
I was having a conversation with a friend of mine the other day. He said:
"You know Anthony I don't understand something. I went to see this motivational speaker and I was all jacked up ready to take on the world and the next day it was business as usual. What happened?"
As I sat there pondering the question I realized what the missing link was. It came down to one word.
BELIEFS.
What does that mean? I will get to that in a second. Let me take a moment to explain something first though.
I too have sat in a seminar with a motivational speaker and had that same charge. I've watched a movie and felt like I could do something special. I've listened to podcasts on my morning run that reminded me how great things are. Then hours later I was back at the grind.
But…
I then thought about what makes a person see a photo, hear a speech, or feel the impact of an event and profoundly make a change in their life. A change that not only impacts their life, but perhaps makes a change in the community or the world. What makes someone act?
It's their belief about themselves, an issue, their circumstance, or something. There is a "something" that shifts within them and changes the way they believe about their abilities. That they do have or can find what they need to succeed or make a change.
Perhaps you remember something like this before. A person is going through a terrible trial. They are about to give up. Throw in the towel. Quit. When someone comes to them, and speaks into their life. Often reminding them of who they are and what they have within them. That person can also help them shift their view of the trial so now they see possibility. They see the fight isn't over. Their belief shifts and they continue on.
You can read all the quotes, and watch the movies, but until you make that shift within you, it's just entertainment. A feel good story. Think about a time when you were able to make that shift. Many times it's a negative event that shifts us from thinking confidently or being happy to doubting ourselves or stealing our joy.
There is a way to shift back. There is a way to find that joy again. That drive. That before you are counted out or throw in the towel you give one more push to achieve what you want.
When I work with an athlete, coach, or anyone, I do so in order to help them find the true belief within them. To look past fears and lies to get that life they always wanted.
When you feel motivated, take a look inside and transform that motivation into a belief. If you're not sure how to do this. Call me. Together we can change your outlook, the outcome, and you….to the person that you were always meant to be.
If there was ever a time this happened to you. I want to hear about it. Email me at: anthony@butkoviclifecoaching.com and tell me about it.
Most of us are either living in the past or the future. Many of us forget about today. This day. This moment. Why does it take something drastic to happen in our lives for us to focus in the moment?
You know what I am talking about. You could be sitting there worrying about something that happened yesterday. Perhaps you're thinking about tomorrow and what needs to happen. Perhaps you're experiencing anxiety or sadness….and then it happens.
The "it" can be anything:
- A phone call
- A sound
- An accident
- A meeting
- You see something
Whatever it is, it interrupts your thoughts of yesterday and tomorrow and brings you to this moment today. Right now you are no longer thinking of yesterday and tomorrow because this event is forcing you to deal with what's happening today.
The event that causes you to drop everything and be there for someone or something.
What has caused you to shift your focus? What's caused the thought of yesterday and tomorrow to be forgotten while you deal with right now?
It's the stimulus. If it's big enough or profound enough to you, you will change your focus. Think about this. You're sitting there depressed and sad. A friend calls you and asks you to come out with them for dinner. You now have a decision to make to accept or decline the invitation.
However…
The same friend calls you and says your best friend was in a bad accident and is headed for the hospital, in most cases, people will forget their sadness and rush to be at the hospital with their friend.
The stimulus was significant enough to get our attention and refocus so we can act. The strategies I use helps you find the stimulus within you to create the change you want in life. Together we will look inside and pull out that inner person that needs to be present to enjoy the moment you're in right now.
Have you ever heard of someone describing something amazing in their life when they were fully present? The say things like: "I can't describe it" "I can't put into words how I feel" "I don't know what you call it, but I just know"
It's a feeling. When you are fully in that moment it's a feeling. At the end of the day that's what we're trying to change. How we feel. In our session I will give you the awareness to recognize how you are currently feeling. What's causing/controlling those feelings and then how to change what needs to be changed in order for you to achieve the feelings you want.
Moments are a measure of time. Something we a people created.
Life is made up of moments. These can be moments that made us laugh, cry, achieve, fail, impact us, remember, or forget.
Depending on the situation or the interpretation, moments can define or destroy us.
What I have found interesting is how we look at this value of time. How we as a people speak about it and interpret it.
I will often hear people say: "when that happened, my life was changed in a moment." Yet they are always referencing it in a negative way. They are stuck in the moment.
The moment:
- He/She left me
- When that person died
- When that accident occurred
- When I was hit with (news, fist, etc)
- You find yourself saying "And just like that…."
I find this personally fascinating because when I speak to these same people they can recall the event in their life when they felt their lives changed in the moment, but when I ask them…
"Can you change your life in a moment?"
Almost everyone says no. Almost everyone can admit life can change in a moment, but when it comes to them making a change in their life…that will take years, months, if ever. These same people can't see how they can take charge of their life and make a change in an instant for the positive.
A moment is defined by the meaning we give it. Not your family, friends, co-workers, or strangers on the street. The meaning that is given to a moment comes from you.
I will show you the strategies and insight you will need to allow you to re-examine those moments in your life and create the life you want. To help you look at that moment in your life that has plagued you all this time and re-define it's meaning. To make it something that will strengthen you and guide you to your ultimate destiny. Away from the hurt and the pain. To appreciate all the moments in your life because both work to create someone special and unique.
Within a few sessions you can experience the freedom you've been looking for.