How often have you considered doing something—writing a book, jumping off the high diving board, parasailing, driving cross country, ending your marriage, having children, changing jobs, bungee jumping, sharing your real feelings or thoughts, or moving out of the country—only to stop yourself from taking action? I’ll bet, like most people, you’ve done this many times in your life.

What stopped you?

You didn’t feel ready and decided to wait until you were more prepared.

As you considered what you wanted to do, you told yourself, “I’m not ready.” You might have been ready, but your mind convinced you that you could be better prepared.

And you listened to that bit of self-talk.

Prepare Your Mind

The I’m-not-ready excuse reminds me of a quote from William Shakespeare’s play Henry V. “All things are ready if our minds be so,” says Henry V to inspire his men before the battle of Agincourt.

Indeed, when your mind is ready, you are prepared to do just about anything. If your mind is not ready, you take no action—or very slow action.

You have to prepare your mind, and then decide to go for it—whatever “it” is.

The Influential Mind

Your mind continually influences you. In fact, it controls you—if you let it.

Tony Robbins has an incantation (his word for affirmations) that says, “Now I am the voice.” I interpret this to mean, “Now I am the voice in my head.”

You have to tell your negative mind chatter—or the Itty Bitty Shitty Committee, as one of my clients likes to call it—to shut up. Take a hike.

Replace that inner conversation with one of your choosing. Be the voice. Don’t let the voice be you—unless you are the voice.

The voice should not remind you of your mother, father, kindergarten teacher, or priest. It should sound like a confident, positive, bold, enthusiastic version of yourself—egging you on, acting as your cheerleader.

That voice should say, “You are ready. You were born ready! You can do this.”

That’s how you influence your mind and make it ready for whatever you want to do.

Get Ready

What will it take for you to prepare your mind so you can pursue your goals and dreams? How do you take control of your mind and get it ready for the fantastic things you want to do?

Here are a few ways.

1. Become conscious of your thoughts.

This is much easier than it sounds. All-day long you have thoughts in your head that you are not aware of. And these thoughts tend to sound a lot like “I’m not ready.”

Mine sound like, “I don’t have time,” “That will be hard,” “I’m too tired,” “I might get rejected,” “Someone will get angry,” and “It’s easier not to.” What about yours?

When I become conscious of these thoughts—usually when I feel their effect in the form of negative emotion—depression, discouragement, lagging energy, and fear—I can tell myself something different. “Even if it’s hard, I can do it.” “I can generate enough energy to do that!” “I might get accepted.” “I’ll make someone happy.” “It’s easier to take action.”

You can do the same.

Sit quietly, and listen to your mind chatter. Become aware of how you feel when your mind says anything negative.

Anytime you feel sad, frustrated, discouraged, or lacking in confidence, stop, and listen. What are you thinking? What has your mind been telling you?

2. Recite Affirmations.

Once you are aware of the negative mind chatter that holds you back and says you aren’t ready for action, replace the inner voice with one of your own. Become the voice. Tell yourself what you want (and need) to hear. You are ready. You’ve got this!

Use affirmations, or, like Robbins says, incantation. Recite words with the energy and intention of them casting a spell on you—and on your mind. Say them to yourself often…over and over again until you believe them.

At some point, your mind will get on board, believe you, and be ready.

3. Focus on what you want (or want to do).

Also, train your mind on what you want or want to do—that action you thought you were unprepared to take, that dream you thought you weren’t ready to realize.

Think about it all the time—when you wake up and when you go to sleep. When you stop for a break from work and when you exercise.

And visualize yourself ready—more than ready. Visualize yourself totally prepared and successfully doing whatever you want to do.

Interestingly enough, your mind doesn’t know the difference between your mental picture and what is real. So use your imagination to prepare your mind for action. Use visualization to convince your mind that you are, indeed, prepared.

“I’m ready!

I often teach my clients a trigger to help them feel ready to write. In fact, it can be used to trigger the mind to be prepared to do just about anything at all.

The trigger is simply two words: “I’m ready.”

Typically, I have my clients do some deep and fast breathing first, clapping with each forceful exhale. After 10 to 20 breaths, I have them clap five more times and say loudly (or shout), “I’m ready! I’m ready! I’m ready! I’m READY! I’M READY!”

A trigger helps prepare your mind and initiate a specific state of being. In this case, it’s the belief and sense of being prepared for whatever comes next.

Try this trigger yourself. See if it helps.

Getting the mind to work with you takes effort. But you can make the mind ready. And that means you will be ready to go out and achieve whatever your heart desires.

How do you get your mind ready? Tell me in a comment below. And if you enjoyed this post, please share it on social media and with a few friends.

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Photo by Sergey Nivens