Mule

My friend Steve, the guy responsible for our supa-sweet new website, talk big rambling ideas.  He said "Did you hear the story of the entrepreneur riding a lion?" No. "A businessman rode into town on a lion and everyone said 'wow that's so impressive, he rides a lion wherever he goes." And the business man said, "I got here because I couldn't get off of it without being eaten!"

It's a story less about business and more about irrational beliefs. There's an irrational belief that if you change your situation you'll die, that riding the lion is the most beneficial thing, or that the lion isn't actually your friend who just wants to try a new IPA with you at The Tap Room.   Steve and I talked about the fear of "I won’t be able to turn it back on” or “the ship is always on fire”. Irrational beliefs caused by fear  

Our brains, at one level, don't know the difference between positive thoughts, negative thoughts, beneficial beliefs or irrational and dysfunctional ones.  It just knows we think stuff, and if we think something often enough eventually it tries to do us a solid by physically bringing those synapses closer together to make it easier to think that way.  Round and round it goes.  

Irrational beliefs can sometimes come about because at one point we needed it to survive or get what we want, but it's overstayed it's welcome. There isn't a red flag that pops up and said, "it's time to move on!"   "It's not a problem of character it's a problem in your thinking," We aren't malicious, we sometimes run into traffic with ill-timed thinking. 

The way to change that thinking is to challenge it. You've trained your brain to think that way, and the cool part is you can change it through practice to think differently. There’s a 1:1 ratio - if you've thought something dumb 10,000 times its going to take 10,000 challenges to get back to zero.  That's just reality.  But knowing that is a powerful plan. The mindfulness app headpsace has really helped me recognize my brain running into traffic. I find peace in my Christian faith, and I try to visualize my more constructive thoughts. Even if there’s a bit of fake it till you make it, I know my brain will do me a solid and it will come more naturally.  It’s a responsibility to ourselves and to the people we love to take care of that business.  

-Matt