Our mind is a powerful tool.

Feed it with the good stuff and some exceptional results can come out.

Feed it with the negative stuff over and over again and it can start to believe that this is the only way (and that this is the truth!).

There are a number of tools that we can use that can help us to become aware of what is going on upstairs. Acknowledge it for what it is and start to take some action to change the course of the narrative.

Frustrations
We all know that the story we tell ourselves in our head can snowball into a shit storm very quickly. A dark web of doubt and worst case scenarios can form and the cycle continues. Our thoughts are powerful. They have the ability to catapult us forward or keep us small.

Frustrations that emerge are signs that we should never ignore. They are here to make us listen up and point us on the right path, but rarely do we want to listen.

Why?

Because it is absolutely terrifying!

It makes us feel uncomfortable, uneasy and sometimes we don’t know what to do with it all. Fears and frustrations can literally point us in the direction of where to go next. By looking them square in the eyes, we can say…

“Hey I see you, I’m terrified of you but I will gain my personal power and come at you someday soon”.

When we open into that narrative and tackle that stuff over and over again, it loses the hold it has on us. Not all at once. Slowly, with repetition, the grasp can weaken.

So instead of waiting until the frustrations are at boiling point, why not let off a bit of steam on a regular basis to avoid the overflow.

Frustrations List

Grab your journal. Put pen to paper.

Go into this task with a “let it hang out girlfriend”. This is for you and you alone. No one will read it. No one will judge you. Everyone is so busy dealing with their own stuff anyway!

1. Brain dump
Write down everything in your life right now that is causing you frustrations.

Anything that comes to your head. Small, silly or mammoth get it out.

Frustrations list:
Coming home and the dishes aren’t done.
The way my coworker speaks to me if I’ve done something wrong.
Not being able to break through my bench plateau.
Constantly having a “niggle” in my shoulder.
Not feeling like my training is progressing.
Coming home after a long day and eating shit.
Over getting regular headaches.

2. Assume Detective Role
Now here is the part where I need you to set some intentions before we go any further.

Imagine you are looking at yourself from the outside in.
You can see yourself sitting there with your list of frustrations.
You can see that you are a bit confused and maybe a bit anxious about everything on that paper.
Where do I start? It’s just so hard, I don’t even know if I can change it now…

It is now time to assume your new position of detective.

Your job as a detective is to find a solution to a problem.

With your frustrations list, we are going to seek out the problems and decide on some solutions. There might be many, or what at first can feel like none. The solution might not appear easily but if we scour and look we will find something that will help.

3. Find your solutions
On your frustrations list we are going to rate each one.
Low hanging fruits get a 1 while curly pandora boxes get a 5.

We want to seek out the low hanging fruits of the list first.
As a detective, if you were giving advice and offering a perspective what solution(s) would you come up with?

Against the frustration let’s write down a solution.

Work through your low hanging 1-2 ratings first and let’s get some momentum going.

If you get stuck on ones that have a higher rating, reach out.

Ask your Coach, phone a friend, send a message.

“Hey can I just have some perspective please”.

The caveat here, you must give it a go first yourself. Really assume your role as detective and scour over the crime scene.

Work through the whole list and let’s start tackling some action from here.

Are there “simple fixes” that can be implemented?

Or

Are they a bit more complicated?

Are your afternoon headaches, a result of poor hydration throughout the day?
Not sure, well let’s at least start to try and make it better.
3L water targets every day. New bottle for your desk, water checklist by 3pm.

Is the late night bingeing much more than poor planning?
Our first action might be to start to gain some awareness around what is going on here so that we can take appropriate steps next.
Journaling when and how we are feeling in these times.
Exploring who we trust enough to share this information with.

The more we do this the better our chances are at catching these frustrations before they develop into massive mountains.

4. Repeat Monthly
A really nice monthly task that can help you to gain back some control of your thoughts (and life!).