Whatever fantasy you choose to believe about yourself becomes your reality.
Think about a good day when you have a lot of confidence and you feel on top of the world. On that day, you know the work you produce will be high quality, your contribution in meetings will be strong, and your interactions with friends and family will be positive. On that day, you feel like you add so much value and you can take on anything! The next day, when you don’t feel so on top of the world, “the voice inside your head,” tells you you’re not good enough. And, you believe it!
Two days. One right after the other. Day one, you have confidence. You believe the fantasy that you are great. Day Two. Your confidence isn’t so strong. You believe the fantasy that you aren’t good enough.
In his book 18 Minutes, Peter Bregman introduces the idea that you choose your fantasy. I love this way of telling us we have a choice. The fantasy we choose is the framework that influences how we interact with the world.
Like Stuart Smalley, in the Saturday Night Live skit, you can choose to believe you are good enough and smart enough and that doggone it, people like you. You just have to choose that fantasy.
