I've had a podcast episode I've been meaning to listen for months now (I'm the WORST about listening to podcasts) and I finally made it happen.
The episode is called "Obstacle Thoughts" and it's part of The Life Coach series with Brooke Castillo. Yes, it's technically geared towards coaches and yes, she says she hopes this isn't your first podcast of hers you're listening to because they all build on each other, but here we are.
I often speak with clients about how worries and hesitations about changes we make in our jobs can be turned into design inputs.
"If I take this new role, I'm worried I'll be lonelier because my team is remote." Turns out that's super useful information because now you get to be intentional about designing for that outcome. Knowing that you may feel lonelier on a remote team, how do you want to design the experience to make sure that doesn't happen?
Brooke Castillo talks about this in the context of goal setting and refers to them as obstacle thoughts.
"As soon as you set a big goal, like making a certain amount of money, reaching a certain weight, or getting a promotion, your brain will automatically flood you with reasons why that will not work. It will immediately present you with all of the obstacles to achieving that goal. Most of the time, these obstacle thoughts result in us avoiding anything that looks like work or a challenge to overcome."
I love the simplicity of how she explains the sequence of events. We set a goal. Our brain floods us with obstacle thoughts (defined as thoughts you're thinking now that aren't producing the result you want).
The trick is that obstacle thoughts that are turned into strategies then become the map for how to achieve our goal.
The obstacle thoughts help you identify, what about your thinking has to change for you to complete the goal/get a new result? First, you have to become aware of your thoughts (I can't do this because x, it's impossible because y, etc) and then you can change those thoughts and start practicing and believing new thoughts about why you can achieve the goal.
She sees the whole magic of goals as the process of revealing obstacles and overcoming them, rather than just the end result.
I really enjoyed the 24 minute listen and thought you might too.