What we think affects how we feel.
How we feel affects how we act.
How we act creates our results. 
Our results create our life.

This is the core of my self coaching system. Everything flows from how we think. Yet most people have no idea about how and why they are thinking what they are thinking. They simply accept that a thought in their head is in control. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Thoughts are just passing opinions that we can choose to empower or that we can choose to dismiss. Ask yourself if a though, or belief, is useful. Ask yourself if that thought is making you better off, or if you’d be better off without that thought. This is the beginning point of creating everything you could ever want. Just because a thought happens to spontaneously appear does not make it true, regardless of how convincing the sensation of its emotion may feel — we must realize that our thoughts can mislead us. 

I read a lot of completely inaccurate articles that suggest that it is hard, if not impossible, to change our thinking.I struggled with understanding how easy it is to control our thoughts and beliefs. It took a lot of practice to understand that I can program useful thoughts into my head and that I can let go of non-useful thoughts. The first step in this process is to actually observe your thoughts.  Pay attention to what is going on inside your mind. Try this game that I recently learned from the great trading coach Van K. Tharp. Mr. Tharp has developed principals to obtain a mental edge. What he calls “Tharp Think”.  He teaches this mental edge thinking to some of the most successful traders and hedge fund managers around.

Go somewhere that is comfortable and quite and close your eyes. I have done this before falling asleep, others do it as a part of meditation. Begin to notice each thought that comes to you.  Pretend you are on the outside, actually watching each thought come into you.  Do not judge the thought, just notice it. One thought after another… some happy, some stressful, some odd… just observe how thoughts move into your mind. Do not act on them. The more you do this the easier it is. What you are actually doing is called mindfulness, or as I prefer, awareness. Begin to be aware of the thoughts that pass through. Later we will explore where these thoughts might have come from, if they are useful, and how to program useful thoughts in. For now, be sure to understand that just because a thought happens to spontaneously appear does not make it true, regardless of how convincing the sensation of its emotion may feel and that our thoughts can mislead us.