Jason: (00:03)
Hey everyone, this is Jason Owens. Thanks for joining me for this next episode in a two part series of what to do if you are stuck. This show is all about helping you gain confidence in yourself and in your business every day. Now, if you haven’t listened to the first part, which I believe was episode 65 what to do if you are stuck, you’re going to want to go back and listen to that one now because this episode is going to be good as a standalone. But if you have listened to that first episode, it’s really going to pack even more punch for you. Alright, so let’s get started. Yeah. What makes this episode so important is that rather than having to pull ourselves out of a hole, we’re going to focus on avoiding the whole in its entirety in the first place, right? So it’s a lot easier to get unstuck if you’re not stuck in the first place.

Jason: (00:51)
Now, one thing to realize is as we get older, we have of course, much more life experience. And I’ll tell you what, I didn’t look forward to getting older, uh, until probably the last couple of years. But what I’m realizing is that now I’m able to see so many patterns over the years. And the older I get, the more patterns I can see and the more patterns I see, the better performance I can give myself and the better performance I can give to my business. So I’m telling you what, do not be Moen getting older. Yeah. You might not be able to run as fast or, or do a lot of the physical things that maybe you were able to do with such speed, but Holy cow, the benefits far outweigh any drawbacks. So here’s something that I’ve noticed about myself. I was able to see certain patterns, right? So with life experience, I’m able to see how I behave in certain situations, right?

Jason: (01:42)
I’m able to see when I get triggered by something, I’m able to see what sets me off. I’m able to see what gets me, uh, down, uh, things that make me excited, right? So I’m, I’m able to understand that and, and just reflect back over years and say, Oh, clear patterns here. Clear, clear, clear patterns here. And what I realized here, uh, probably about a year, year and a half ago is that, okay, I can see these patterns now, but I don’t know that I’m able to do anything about them, right. Other than sit there and, and bemoan the fact that I’m in a pattern again. Well, what’s been very, very fun here over the past year, year and a half, is that I’ve been concentrating on probably the single most powerful tool that I’ve, I’ve ever come across. And it may sound trite, it may sound crazy, it may sound like what are you serious? But it works and it works like crazy.

Jason: (02:36)
It’s, it’s just called mindfulness. You guys, I’ve been using this app called Headspace and it has been phenomenal. Now, please don’t get me wrong here. I am not advocating that two days with this tool and everything’s going to be fine and your life’s going to be great and you’re gonna make $1 million. Okay? I am not formulaic. If you’ve been following me for any period of time, you know that about me. However, let me share with you what just mindfulness in general has been helping me do. Um, well within Headspace they have a number of these animations, let’s call them. And if you go to the show notes for this episode, I am going to try like heck to find this one animation. I hope that they have it public because it is absolute gold. So I’ll describe it to you. It’s this character who is walking along mining, I think her own business and all of a sudden she finds herself falling down in this hole, boom and hits the bottom.

Jason: (03:30)
Okay. And all right, so the whole thing is about falling down into a hole and kind of where you go with your thoughts. And then we kind of do this Groundhog day where he or she is back again and she’s trying again and she falls down again. And when we kind of keep repeating this loop over and over where she’s fallen down in this hole three or four times. Now the thing takes a whole twist when she’s down in the bottom of this hole and she’s able to take some time to sit there and just kind of reflect of, Hey, how did I get here? So then, okay, Groundhog day again. So here she is, she’s walking along and all of a sudden she finds herself in one of those wildly Cody moments where she’s standing over top of the hole. She hasn’t fallen yet. She’s like, well okay, here we go again.

Jason: (04:12)
Um, but not in a defeatist way. Well you can kinda tell that right there. She’s like, well, all right, I see I’m going down this hole again, but I’ve been here before. I know how to get out. And the whole story of course comes to this. There’s great big build up in this climax where she is kind of walking along, sees the whole and then goes around it right. That and innovation again. I hope that I can find a link for this to show you guys cause it’s the, the animation does 10 times better job than what I’m explaining here. It’s just absolutely priceless and what I feel like in my life has kind of, that’s where I am. I’m to a point now where a few years ago I used to be able to see the pattern, okay, this has set me off, this has triggered me.

Jason: (04:57)
It’s going to be a bad day. I’m, I’m going down the hole again. Dang it. Now I’m to a point where I can see this whole coming and I can walk around it and I cannot tell you how beneficial this has been to me and the growth in my business to be able to not get wrapped up for an hour, a half day, a full day, two or three days in some kind of defeat that’s happened in my business. I’m now able to see these things coming. All right. Yeah. This isn’t going to end the way I want it to, but let’s not go down the path of getting upset about it. Let’s not go down the path of a getting depressed about it. Let’s go find another way around this whole, let’s find a way to move forward in my business rather than dwelling on the thing that didn’t work. Alright, so another piece that has been just really amazing for me is, is realizing where I am now in Headspace.

Jason: (05:57)
They have another animation. And again, I’ll try to put a link to this on the show notes. Again, we’re in episode 66. It’s what to do if you are stuck. Part two. So there’s other animation is just amazing. Uh, the animation has to do with your thoughts. Okay? And the whole analogy here is that you are playing in traffic. So whenever you are wrapped up in, it could be good thoughts, right? It could be, um, I’m wrapped up in, Oh my gosh, I’ve got this lead for this new client. Oh, you know, and you’re all worked up over it and I, and I can’t wait and, and what I’m going to do with the money and on all this is gonna be so great and right. So you could be wrapped up in a positive way or you could be wrapped up in a negative way of, Oh man, I blew that presentation.

Jason: (06:37)
I blew that chance to lane another client. Uh, I didn’t run a good promotion to my online store. You know, whatever it is, you can get lost in those thoughts as well. Now, in, in the first part of this animation, there’s this person who’s in traffic, right? And your thoughts are these cars going by. So this person is kind of dodging traffic, jumping over here to the left, jumping back to the right, go in two lanes over to the left, right. Just trying to keep, uh, out of danger from these thoughts. Well, what mindfulness helps you do rather than being down in the traffic, you can be sitting up on the hillside watching the traffic. Yeah. That’s an angry thought going by. Yeah, that’s what I used to do. I used to go down there and play in that traffic and, and get angry and not be happy or have something depressing happen and you know, then I would go play in that lane.

Jason: (07:28)
Right. Or, or I would get too worked up over landing a new client and totally miss five other opportunities. Yeah. I used to play in that lane too. Being able to see the traffic and not play in the traffic for me has been so beneficial to not falling down the hole. Right. It’s, it’s almost the same analogy, just told a different way. I’m not taking the bait, right. I’m not going down the hole. I’m not hating myself for being in the hole. I’m not angry at myself or here I am again. I’m not beating myself up. It’s more a matter of, Oh, I now have mental resilience that if I’m in the hole, I know how to get back out again much quicker. I now have mental resilience too. Okay. Rather than going down there and playing in the traffic, I’m going to stay up here on the hillside, not take the bait, keep myself in positive Headspace and just keep on moving.

Jason: (08:19)
So guys, go back to the show notes. I’m going to put a link in there too. The Headspace app and there’s a couple of other books that I’ve read that have been really helpful with regards to mindfulness. Um, yeah, but it’s really mindfulness in general has been one of the keys that has really truly helped me stay in positive head space. And it really, if I had to go back and say I had to, I had to go back and ask myself what is the thing that has made me want to go from a a one person shop into a company, it be mindfulness. That has been the tool that has helped me kind of break the cycle that I’ve been in for a while of just getting wrapped up in thoughts and things not working out. And, and gosh, this isn’t for me, it’s been the thing to make me realize, Oh, that’s the key for breaking out of the cycle.

Jason: (09:14)
That’s the key for getting out of the loop. That is the key to higher levels of performance that I’ve never seen before. So that’s why I am so anxious and so eager to share it with you. It’s just a really big deal. And again, it’s not overnight. You’re not gonna read a book and all of a sudden be this super mental warrior like anything else that takes time to build up. But I’ll tell you what, if there’s any journey in life that is worth it, just being able to have good old fashioned mental resilience and being able to not take the bait and just avoid the pitfalls, learning how not to play in traffic. These are so critical. These skills are so critical to your longterm. Success is probably one of the best things you can do for yourself is to dig into this material and really, really start applying it. So all right folks, that is it. Again, if you haven’t listened to part one, go back and grab part one that will help you if you’re in the hole. And part two here is going to help you avoid the hole in the first place. So my name is Jason owns, and again, this podcast is all about helping you gain confidence in yourself and in your business every day. Take care everyone. I’ll see you on the next episode.