“What You Think About, You Bring About” | Reaching Your Goals

It’s true! “What you think about, you bring about,” is my favorite quote, and it is definitely true. It took me thirty years to get to the part where it is “brought about,” and looking back now, I can see why. Don’t get me wrong, you can’t just think about something and it instantly manifests itself, but it doesn’t have to take thirty years either. Life is short. Don’t wait to do what you love or be who you want to be.

Human beings are happy when they are growing, learning, creating, dancing, singing—and the list goes on. Over the years there have been many, many things I wanted to do—go places, learn things, meet people, try new things—and I never really got to the action part where you actually do something or go somewhere. The reasons (excuses) are many as to why I remained passive, and they are no longer valid, but at the time they were complete roadblocks to what could be.

I was going to do all these things I wanted to do just as soon as all the conditions were perfect. I needed to lose weight. I needed a different job. I needed more education. I needed to stop being depressed. I needed to live somewhere else. I needed more money. Yeah, once this huge list of conditions was met, then, just maybe, I could go for it.

Right now, everything is perfect, or rather, it’s imperfectly perfect. You don’t have to wait. I used to tell myself, “I tried that before and failed.” There are two huge problems with that statement. One is that the past doesn’t exist. Whatever happened before, if you learned anything from it, then that knowledge exists in the present and you can use the knowledge to move on. Another problem is thinking you failed. What great person hasn’t failed? Are you an exception? The greatest of the great people have failed many, many more times than they succeeded.

If you want to be good at something, you practice. You have to do it to get good at it. And if it’s something that makes you happy and you are passionate about, do it, do it frequently, and do it now. If you want to change your personality and be more outgoing or be someone who doesn’t take no for an answer, do it. You don’t have to wait for something to occur before you can make a change.

The biggest things that held me back were the past and failure, but now we get to the single word “should,” which should be eliminated from our vocabulary completely. Only people who want to be victims or martyrs should be able to use the word “should.” I used to “should” myself to death. I should do this, I should do that…ad infinitum.

“Should” is a word that totally passes the buck to say, “I’m not doing the right thing right now, but I know what the right thing is.” Really? I should stand up for myself and not let someone talk to me this way. Should? This is where you do it. I should be washing the dishes instead of watching TV. Do it. Turn the thinking around. Instead of thinking, “I should do the dishes,” think, “I want to do the dishes because then I will have a nice clean empty sink,” or for whatever reason works for you.

Don’t be a victim or a martyr. Catch yourself when you are even thinking it because “should” has all kinds of negative, depressing connotations and the word is not only self-defeating, but it will turn out to be what actually happens. When you are thinking to yourself, “I should memorize the periodic table so I can pass the test.” Think instead, “I want to learn the periodic table so I can graduate/apply the knowledge/etc.”

Pay attention to your inner dialogue. It conditions you and has the ability to control you. That’s a good thing if you are thinking things that don’t diminish you or hold you back.

“What you think about, you bring about.” It happens—as long as you do something. Do what you know you need to do and do it right now!