Change the way you see the world, and the world you see changes. But how do you do it? The best tool I know for managing your mind and changing how you see the world is called the “model.”
The model simplifies everything down to five things: circumstances, thoughts, feelings, actions, and results. I first heard this term from Brooke Castillo, but the key concepts have existed for literally thousands of years.
It works like a formula. It’s simple–and POWERFUL.
Circumstances are conditions or situations that are facts. For instance, your client is 90 days late paying their invoice. You have thoughts about it: “I’ll never get paid, I need the money, we’re going to go out of business.” Those thoughts cause feelings, like worry. Feelings lead to actions: you complain to your partner, blame yourself for getting in this position, buffer with food. Actions create results: because you waste time blaming, complaining, and buffering, you don’t move quickly to find a solution. The result is you don’t get the money you need.
We think it’s the circumstance that’s causing our feelings, but it’s our thoughts! Here’s another model with the same circumstances but different thoughts:
- Circumstance: Your client is 90 days late paying their invoice
- Thought: I’m going to create another source of revenue because I may not get paid
- Feelings: Focused and determined
- Actions: Meet with my team, look at all the services we currently provide, find the ones that are most learnable and valuable, systematize them into solutions that we sell as products, and charge in advance
- Results: New revenue streams, scalable solutions, positive cash flow
The most important part of the model is that when you use it, you stop focusing on what you CAN’T control (the facts of life, other people, the economy) to what you CAN control (your thoughts, emotions, and RESULTS).
I’ve used the model with my clients to get results in business, relationships, health, and money. I’ve seen it transform business owners from frustrated to free, exhausted to energized, overwhelmed to clear. And I’ve personally used it to make millions of dollars. It’s the best tool I’ve ever found for changing the way I see the world.
It’s simple, just not always easy.
