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Episode 03: My exact practice for anchoring in BIG beliefs in my business + overcoming icky thoughts!
Hi, how’s it going? Oh, my gosh. I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve talked into my pink podcast Mike and I am so excited to be back. I’m so excited to chat with you. Life has taken a complete 360. If you follow me on Instagram or you’re on my email list, you know, that I’ve recently had a huge life change.
If you don’t follow me on Instagram or on my, yeah. or you, aren’t on my email list, what are you doing? Get on my email list or follow me on Instagram. That’s where I share a lot of my updates and share a lot of behind the scenes and stuff like that , but yeah
if you didn’t know, I now have a teeny little baby so big, big news. , definitely a big life change.
And at the time of recording this podcast, a little guy is about to two months, just over two months old.
And it has been a wild ride. So if you want to know a little bit more about how he joined our family and all of that good stuff. , like I said, I have an Instagram reel so you can go take a peek there. I will link it in the description, but yeah, the last two months have been freaking wild.
So much of change, so much of excitement, so much of like re figuring things out , and on the business front, so much of just being grateful that I built so much of ease and space into my business because I’ve actually worked at full capacity since he came, I wasn’t sure whether I would take a maternity break or not, but I’ve actually worked at full capacity and worked less hours. So I’ve only been working about five ish hours a week. Worked at full capacity, meaning I’ve taken the same number of clients that I did before. , and when I sent out my email this week, I just realized it was, I was working five ish hours a week and they were still five figure months, which blows my mind, like.
I feel like for my own business, I keep pushing the envelope a little bit more and more to see how few hours I can work and be most effective. And how can I make that feel really easy and exciting and fulfilling. And even though I’m working fewer hours, I definitely don’t want to feel the pressure of being hyper productive all the time. And I’m sure the number of hours will shift over time, but I feel like to be able to build a business where you’re working such few hours and you’re still able to do some of your best work is, is yeah beyond amazing.
Which kind of leads into our topic today which is my practice for overcoming either icky thoughts or kind of those little speed bumps when you have a really big belief that you’re trying to solidify.
The practice I’m sharing with you is one that I use really often in my business, I am so excited to share it with you, just because I think that everyone should have their own version of this. Especially if you run a business.
A lot of the time when you’re trying to move to the next level or you know, that you’re wanting a little bit more or something different than what you’re currently doing. You need a practice that helps you solidify the feeling or big belief, right?
So, you know, yeah, this is something that I’ve used many, many times over.
I have, especially used it when I’m significantly raising my prices, I’ve used it when I was quitting my full time job and moving into running my business full time.
When I have a really big belief that I’m trying to solidify that my brain kind of hasn’t gotten behind yet, or like, I want it to be true. I want to believe it, but there’s just a little nagging feeling of like, but is that really possible?, that’s when having something like this practice in your toolbox Your toolbox quote unquote. , just helps get your energy behind that big belief over and over again.
I have seen. So much of a shift come about in my own business. Every time I use this practice and I’ve used it literally at every stage of my business, right from when I just started out. Up until now. And so I know it’s going to be so valuable for you
so grab your coffee, grab your chai, whatever it is. I’m so excited to dive in. Let’s get started.
what makes it easier for me to get behind big beliefs
Before we dive into sort of the steps of the practice, I should definitely tell you what makes it easier for me to get behind big beliefs and kind of make it feel like they are within reach for me. Is approaching it with a very playful energy.
And again, I understand that some things are harder to get behind it takes some work to get through all of your mindset stuff, to actually believe something, especially when it is. A really big belief that you’re trying to get behind. But for me, I find that when I approach it with a really playful energy, it takes a lot of the pressure off. It makes it a lot less intimidating because I’m going into it feeling like. This is going to be a fun experience and not like. This is going to be ultra hard.
Because I find that when I, when I’m bracing for it to be ultra hard, I either will procrastinate or complicate or just like, half ass it. and it just makes like getting behind that big belief so much harder than it needs to be. So I try and approach it with a really playful, excited energy.
And that has been really helpful.
So.
The first step of this practice Is, I will usually write it down and then say it a few times out loud. Quietly. The quietly is more because the first few times I say it out loud.
I usually feel kind of giggly or shaky or silly. , it’s almost as if I feel like when I say it out loud, the first few times, my brain doesn’t fully believe it. but there’s something about hearing it in your own voice, something about seeing it written down, something about saying it out loud that I think kind of engages all of your senses and kind of anchors it in.
And then Like full transparency.
I should definitely also say that as soon as you say, it, usually you will have thoughts that come up that contradict the belief . So, As an example. When I was quitting my job to go into my business. full time, I wanted every weekend to be a long weekend. So I wanted to take Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off.
I’ll talk more about this in a different episode. It’s one of the best things I did for my business, but I’m sidetracking. But like I said, that’s something that I really wanted to do. And so. When I did this practice. the thoughts that kind of came up were, You know, Isn’t that contradictory. You should be. You should be working harder because now your entire income depends on it.
Or, , no one that’s successful runs their business that way. Just, just kind of things that, you know,
Because it’s something that’s a little bit out of reach. Your brain, I think kind of tries to keep you a little bit safe. So the thing that I do next then is just notice those thoughts. Notice what’s coming up. Notice where that stickiness is, or like, notice why you think it isn’t possible for you.
Why you subconsciously think it isn’t possible for you. Write it down, if you can, so that you can kind of tackle each of those feelings as they come up.
Or just like, be curious about those thoughts that are coming up instead of spiraling along with them. So if you’re hearing yourself kind of say, you know, yes, but.
How, how will it happen if we work less? , and that’s in my example, like, you know, how will we continue to make the same amount of income if we’re working less? , just notice those thoughts that are coming up and let them go. , kind of acknowledge. yep, Here’s something that I feel worried or scared about and then let that thought go.
, That, that side of things works for me sometimes. Usually I have to write it down and go back and tackle it and just kind of like question each of those thoughts in order to work through them though. ,
Then the second step is. I close my eyes, take a big deep breath. Exhale a few times. So release any of that, like tension or fear or any of that that you feel like is coming up in your body. Take a big deep breath.
And release. And then play the what if game.
So I play this game in my business all the time, I call it the what if game and usually it is.
I approach it from a really playful perspective and just what if so,
what if it were possible?
What if this thing that I want were absolutely possible.
What would it look like if that were the reality for me?
What if what I want is possible, whether I have seen examples of it out in the world or not.
What if it was possible, regardless of what anyone else said about how I should do this.
So just play the, what if game and the, the point here? I think the point for this part of the practice is to. Let it be light. Let it be playful dream a little bit.
Don’t worry about the how, and I know the, how will keep you you’ll often ask yourself, but how, but how every single time you feel like you’re saying, but how just.
Let it go. Trust that. you’ll figure it out. But I think playing the what if game kind of brings a little bit of playfulness and ease and lightness to it. And I think it really helps us see the possibility, , which has been really helpful for me when I’m trying to get behind a big belief.
Right. So, like I said, first step Say it out loud a few times then kind of like close your eyes, take a big deep breath. exhale all the feelings that you’re feeling in your body. and then play the what if game and approach the what if game from a very, very playful as playful, a perspective as you can.
And then the next step is I try to slide this feeling into the everyday.
I’ll try and Come up with ways that I can. Pop in bits of this, into my everyday life.
The the key here is to get used to feeling like this belief that you want to get behind is normalized for you.
Again, I’ll go back to the example of, taking Friday, Saturdays and Sundays off when I first moved into my business full time.
And, how I slid this into my everyday was I didn’t start work at like eight o’clock on the dot every day. I gave myself like an hour every morning just to lay around in the backyard so I could feel, feel that sense of ease.
And then on Fridays I booked something fun to do. So that I could get used to that feeling of taking Fridays off and having it be fun.
Right. So the key is to try and slide this into your everyday in a microdose or just in like small ways so that you get used to that feeling. And The more, you feel that feeling, the more it kind of solidifies that that is possible,
and I think having little micro doses of it, doesn’t shock us so much. Or it doesn’t feel overwhelming,
Which is why I think there’s so much of magic in this part of the practice.
incorporating it into your every day also feels like you’re laddering towards getting behind this big belief. I think your brain believes it. A little, a little bit more every day. And then it just becomes normalized instead of you having to go from zero to a hundred all at once.
Which I find for myself at least like leaves me quite shaky. Sometimes I’ll find that I’ll believe it for a short period of time, any little speed bump or hurdle and everything just comes crumbling down. So this practice really helps that feeling sink in so that even when you come across something that, you know, might have thrown you off before you’ve had enough of proof every day. And you’ve, you’ve had the feeling little by little, every single day. Where it now feels normalized for you and it feels easier to fully believe it.
Yeah. So there you have it. That’s the practice that I kind of do. I know it sounds super simple, but honestly it can be so, so impactful. , I’m so excited for you to go try it out yourself. And if it sounds almost too simple to be true it’s because all of the best things are, you don’t need some like 50 step practice in order for it to be effective, you just need something that really feels solid for you.
I am so excited to hear how this works for you. If you love this episode, if you try this out, if you want to chat and you have more questions. Send me a DM on Instagram. I’m always hanging out on there.
Sending you a big hug and lots and lots of ease and playfulness for the coming week. And I will see you at the next episode.
Cheers!
Ayesha,