How do you choose to think about your projects?  Will they be difficult or easy?

It’s easy to come up with new ideas; the hard part is letting go of what worked for you two years ago, but will soon be out-of-date.

— Roger Von Oech

In her post, What Are You Thinking?, PattiAnn asked several questions.  Among them were these:

• What do you think that these people are thinking that allows them to continue to fight the good fight?
• How do you feel today?
• What are you thinking?
• What is your choice?

Well, her questions resonated with me because I had just watched Wayne Dyer’s special on PBS, No Excuses! and I was still reeling from my reaction to his question:

How would you feel if the project that you’ve been thinking would be difficult was – instead – easy?

I closed my eyes and imagined that a certain pesky project would be easy… and my immediate gut reaction was:

I feel POWERFUL!

And, oh my, what a wonderful feeling that was!  I felt strong, able and ready.

Then I Opened My Eyes

Reality is how we choose to view the world around us.

— PattiAnn

Well, with my eyes wide open, my old reality held sway – I was holding fast to my prediction that the project would be difficult.  “Powerful” was but a fleeting feeling.

It Could Be Easy, It Could Be Difficult

Dyer argues that either prediction about the project could be true:

The fact is, there is hardly any thought that we can be 100% certain will be true 100% of the time. So we have a choice.

On the one hand, you know that a thought you have may or may not be true, and you know that if you think this particular thought, it’s going to take you away from where you would like to be, such as with excuses [like] –

I can’t do this.  It’s going take too long.  It’s going to be too difficult.  I’m too old.  I’m too scared.  I’m too fat.  I am too…

And then you have the other choice, to think the opposite thought, which may be,

It’s going to be easy.  It’s not going to be risky.  I can afford it.

And again, while this thought may or may not be true, you know it will at least give you the opportunity to align with something that may help you to achieve what you want.

Why would you pick the first one rather than the second one? It’s just a simple, logical thing when put into this context.

[Bolding is mine]

And, as PattiAnn explained it:

…in the end, the conversations we have with ourselves have more influence on what we accomplish than everything others say about us.  We choose what to believe… What you choose to accept into your head determines your reality.

I Want to Choose “Easy”

I want to choose to believe that the project will be easy instead of difficult.  The problem is, I haven’t fully embraced “it’s going to be easy”… Right now there are these noisy inner critics reminding me of all the pitfalls, the problems that are just around the bend…

Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window… but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.

— Mark Twain

So here I am, standing at the top of the staircase, vacillating between easy or difficult. And since I enjoyed that brief feeling of powerfulness, I’d like to align myself with “easy” and all the possibilities that go with it. So I’m going to play with Dyer’s recommended bedtime affirmations:

It’s going to be easy to accomplish…
I have accomplished all I wish for…

I’ve printed and pinned them to the lampshade by my bed so I can remember to tell myself, “it’s going to be easy”.

Does Saying It Make It So?

Heck no.  In fact, every time I say the affirmation, “It’s going to be easy to accomplish,” my inner critic pops out a “Yeah, right.” (Wink, wink.)  That’s because, truth be told, this pesky project is fraught with many difficulties that aren’t going to just disappear.  No happy affirmation is going to untangle the complexity of the project.

Facing My Fear

So was this an exercise in futility?  Again I say, “Heck no.”  That’s because I’ve come face to face with my fear.  And although there are difficulties ahead, they’re not anywhere near as bad as my imagination has been painting them to be.

In fact, I’ve decided (after one night of reciting Dyer’s affirmations) to change my affirmation to this:

It’s going to be easier than I think to accomplish…

Now THAT affirmation I believe. Even my inner critics are willing to line up behind it and PUSH forward.  And, with my eyes wide open, I now feel confident, even powerful.  So this has been a very fruitful exercise in finding my own answer to PattiAnn’s question:

What do you think that these people are thinking that allows them to continue to fight the good fight?

How do you choose to think about your projects?  Will they be difficult or easy?