Creative Health Check Up
What do you do when you’re just not feeling great? When maybe you don’t even know why you’re not feeling great, but you are.
The best thing to do (and I’d do this every single month) is what I call a Creative Health Check Up.
You might not have a self coaching practice already in place, but it’s the most crucial part of changing your life. My daily practice is at 6am on weekdays and I do a dedicated thought download then as well as check in with myself. I record the thoughts I immediately have when I wake up but I’ve also started building something a little different into my monthly routine. Because it’s helpful to see your progress, monthly checkins reveal if I’ve actually been doing my thought work or if I’ve just been thinking about it. It also helps me understand if I might be headed for burnout or depression but it also helps me see my own positive progress.
Every few weeks, I do a more comprehensive check in with myself. I see where I am. What I’m feeling. What I’m struggling with and then I think through a plan to solve that. It’s nice to look back month by month and see how far I’ve come in certain areas but also get a reality check about where I SAID I was going to go but just haven’t put in the effort.
Here’s the outline I use.
Grab a journal (or your computer) and record no more than 10 of each:
Circumstances or Situations that cause me stress
Thoughts that plague me
Feelings I want to work on
Reactions / Actions I want to solve
Results I want in my life
Circumstances (like an employee leaving my company) don’t cause feelings, but they do trigger my thoughts.
Thoughts that I think over and over become strong in my mind, and the goal is to have thoughts that make life better, not worse.
How am I feeling? If the majority of my feelings are ‘negative’ I know that I need to do something. It’s natural to have a range of feelings, from happy to sad, but if my general outlook on life is depressed it’s time to see what’s going on.
What are some actions or reactions that aren’t serving me? Am I drinking too much? Am I spending too much time alone? Am I overthinking about something instead of taking action?
Results. This is where most people start. They decide that they want more money, time, love or happiness. I’m right there with you. Checking in with myself every quarter on my results (some take more time) let’s me know if I’ve shaped my thoughts to help those results or not.
So, where do you go from there?
You begin with your thoughts. There can be no change in your life unless you first change your thoughts. One by one, you pick a thought and you trace the result it’s getting you. Many people prefer to work backwards, first beginning with a result they really want.
Here’s a quick reminder of how to self coach.
CIRCUMSTANCES trigger THOUGHTS.
THOUGHTS cause FEELINGS.
FEELINGS cause ACTIONS (or Reactions).
ACTIONS determine our RESULTS.
C > T > F > A > R
Pick a thought and trace it through to it’s specific result on your life. If you want to change your life you start there.
You can also pick a result and identify the thoughts that are causing it.
The only way you will make any new results happen in your life are by changing your thoughts. Period.