On to today’s episode! If you are a regular listener to the Winning Mindset Mastery Podcast, you understand that April shares a lot of mindset tips. As a regular listener, chances are you find most of them quite valuable. Here’s one you may not like. You might find it to be controversial, even a bit crazy. But here’s the thing. If you are willing to give it a try, you’ll understand. You’ll quickly start to reap the rewards of this crazy tip. And if you avoid it? You’re more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, and fear. You’ll be less productive, and your mindset will suffer. So what is this tip? April tells you in episode 35 of the Winning Mindset Mastery Podcast.
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This Controversial Mindset Hack Will Change The Way You View The World
I have what may be my most controversial tip yet and this works. Some of you are going to say, “April, you are crazy. I am never doing that. I don’t even know how you live your life this way.” If you give it a try, you will understand. What is the tip? Stop watching the news immediately. All of it. Don’t worry. I’m going to share with you why I am recommending this. I’m also going to share with you how I know the things I know about the news.
First, a little background. I spent my entire young life in love with the news because I wanted more than anything to be a news anchor and be one of those trusted people that delivered information about the world. I studied the news. I read about it. I read biographies of every news anchor I could get my hands on. I was very fortunate because I was able to become a news anchor in the military and do that for around seven years.
It was very interesting, as I was doing this job that I loved, the things I learned I loved less. Some of that was from my experience being a news anchor and the way that we did things. Some of that was from the fantastic training I was able to take part in at regular civilian news networks, whether it was ABC, the National Press Photographers Association, Fox, or CNN. All of the media outlets are trained in similar things.
A lot of those were techniques and ways to make the news interesting. Some of those were things I see exceptionally prevalent in the news. That is, if it bleeds, it leads. The more shocking, scary, and bad, the more people are going to want to watch it. As I continued throughout my career, I found that advertisers paid more for high ratings and shocking stories. As I thought about transitioning into a civilian career in the media, I second-guessed whether or not I wanted to be doing something I thought could impact people negatively because it was good for business.
Mindset Hack: All of the media outlets are trained in similar things, a lot of which are techniques and ways to make the news interesting.
The best example I have of that is an interview I did when I was getting ready to get out of the military before I decided I was going to go into business. In that interview, they said, “We want to make sure that you know what you are dealing with here as far as the shifts, the work you will be doing, and you have the stomach for it because you need to understand that if a three-year-old was kidnapped or killed, we need you to put the microphone right in the mother’s face who is crying, looking at the tears on her face and say, ‘How do you feel about this?’”
It was at that moment, combined with what was going on in my personal life at the time, I was like, “I don’t want to do this anymore. This is not for me.” What ended up happening at the same time that I exited being in the media when I was in the service was I made the conscious decision to stop taking part in it and start getting my news through other mediums, whether that was online, the newspaper, or from trusted people in my life who I knew were informed. I wanted to do an experiment of finding my news in a way that wasn’t skewed to be super sensationalized and negative so that it could keep my attention.
Mindset Hack: Find your news in a way that isn’t skewed to be sensationalized and negative so that it can keep your attention.
You might be thinking, “April, you are crazy. What are you doing? I can’t be uninformed.” People said to me, “How can you do this? You will be uninformed. How are you going to be able to function in business, your job, and life?” I felt like this was an important decision for me and I wanted to try it out. At first, I only committed to doing it for maybe a month. When I noticed the difference in my mindset and the way I felt compared to everyone else I knew, and I knew a lot of folks who worked in media, a lot of us were news junkies, it was an incredible difference.
The more I started studying about mindset and the way our mind works, specifically the subconscious mind, the more I knew this was the right decision for me. A lot of things can happen while you are listening to or watching the news, especially if you are doing other things at the same time. Whether it is TV, radio, podcasts, or however you are getting it, understand that if you are doing something else, your mind isn’t 100% focused on what you are listening to. That means that the part of your mind that a lot of folks in neuroscience call the critical factor is not activated.
The critical factor is that part of your mind that says, “That is not true. I don’t believe that. That is BS.” That means that no matter what people are saying, if it is overdramatized or more negative than it needs to be, it is going right into your mind, and you are absorbing it. That is why it can make you feel even more depressed about the economy or scared about the outlook for jobs.
Mindset Hack: No matter what people are saying, if it is overdramatized or more negative than it needs to be, it is going right into your mind, and you’re absorbing it. That is why it can make you feel even more depressed about the economy or scared about the outlook for jobs.
If you don’t believe me, think about the last time you were on the phone in your car with one of your negative friends, in-laws, or family members. You are not 100% listening to them because they are complaining and are going on and on. When you got off the phone, did you feel exhausted? It is because it went straight through. That is what I’m talking about.
Keep in mind, all of this was before all of the things that have happened with the news over the past few years, where the news seems like sometimes it is made up and exacerbated for the ratings. This may be something that seems like too far of a stretch for you. If it is, I respect that. No problem. If you are willing to try it out, you only have to give it about a week. You will notice how different you feel.
Don’t worry. No big thing is going to happen that you are going to miss because you have other ways that you can get that information. At the same time, be more choosy about what you decide to read and look at the things that are important to you. Notice how you feel and what your mindset is like. Notice your energy levels, how you sleep, and your stress. This may be my most controversial tip but it also may be the most valuable one you ever get from me. Here’s to your success.
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