F.I.R.E.D UP with Krista Mashore

I’ve been asking people for ideas on how to keep a strong and healthy mindset during these tough times. And a musician I know said, “What about music?” I love music, especially Broadway musicals, but I hadn’t really thought about music as a tool for keeping us positive and motivated. But I looked at the research and realized that music is really powerful medicine. Here’s some of what researchers have found.

Every week I answer questions that YOU answer!    If you would like to submit a question just visit http://bit.ly/30d1aMd.   This week's question is from Susan Egglestown.   "What are your favorite tips for maintaining your focus and following through?". 

Today’s One Minute Mindset is about noticing the difference between the facts of a situation and the story you tell yourself about that situation. I’ve mentioned this before but there’s a huge and very important difference between those two.  The facts are what’s actually happened or what is happening. Our stories are our interpretations and the meanings we give to the facts. I’m telling you, you can’t believe everything you think. Sometimes these stories are just made-up fantasies. They’re not “facts.”.

Forbearance does not mean Forgiveness.  It’s important to understand what it is that you are signing.  Let’s do some ‘mortgage forbearance math’.

Right now, during the pandemic, it is a scary time for us all. But it doesn't necessarily have to be. Here is why. We have more opportunities now than we have had in a long time. People were afraid to do their business online but now they have to make it a priority. Let us now talk about different ways on how you can take your business online.

I’m doing this blog because, honestly, it’s something that I need to work on and that’s assumptions, especially when it comes to people, and especially when I’m under pressure, and even more especially when the whole world is under pressure. What I know is that my assumptions about people will set the tone for our interactions and even cause them to act differently.

Have you heard the term “personal self-care?” I used to think that personal self-care meant being self-indulgent. To me, it was like wealthy heiresses spending half the day getting massages and pedicures then spending the rest of the day playing mahjong. I’m the kind of person who tends to put others first. So spending time on “personal self-care” seemed really selfish. But I came to realize it just means keeping all parts of yourself—physical, mental, emotional and spiritual—healthy and happy. Taking care of yourself, especially in a time of crisis is not selfish. It’s necessary.

Today’s tip is to breathe. I know that sounds crazy. I mean if you weren’t breathing right now, you wouldn’t be watching or reading this blog, right? But even though you’re breathing, you may not be breathing properly. Which means you may not be getting all of its amazing benefits from breathing properly.

Did you know that some experts say our minds think between 60,000 to 80,000 thoughts a day? Others say it’s only 50,000 thoughts every day. Still, that means we’re thinking at least 2,100 thoughts every single hour. One thought every two seconds. And I’m guessing that a lot of us think a lot more thoughts than that.  The thing is that most of these thoughts are not really productive. They’re thoughts we’ve thought before, negative judgements and reactions, or just useless chatter. But our brains can do much better for us.

I’ve done a bunch of One Minute Mindsets now, offering a lot of tips and techniques that I’ve learned over the years. And I know that every single one is effective for keeping your mindset solid based on my own experience and the experience of my students. And while I’m really happy to share this knowledge with you, I have to tell you that knowledge without action, it does nothing, nada, zip.  Lots of people are chronic learners, but I want you to be a chronic implementer.

I started this series with a blog titled “What I Did During the Pandemic.” It was like those “What I Did During My Summer Vacation” essays I used to have all my third-grade students write way back when I was teaching.  In the weeks since that first blog, I’ve been thinking about this even more. I heard someone say, “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” And I think that’s true. A crisis gives us the opportunity to step up, be generous, courageous, creative, proactive, kind and thoughtful.

Businesses that are already set up to be remote or virtual are really fortunate during this time of “social distancing.” Some of these services have taken a hit because their clients and customers are struggling financially. Others, like delivery services, survival, or online vendors, are actually doing better during this time.

I started this One Minute Mindset series because I truly believe that we can handle anything and do anything if we put our minds to it with the right mindset. Our minds are so powerful! And our minds, especially our subconscious minds, are so smart! It doesn’t matter what your IQ is, your brain is brilliant if you ask it the right questions.

We will talk about how can spiritual and emotional mindset can affect your immunity, fear of the unknown, what happens when you don't address your fear and many more!

Today, I’m going to talk about a great tool for keeping your mindset positive, motivated, and healthy:....... Visualization…….... Even though we’re starting to see some positive breakthroughs in dealing with this coronavirus, most of what we see about what’s going on in the world is still pretty bad, isn’t it? It’s exactly what we don’t want: People getting sick, companies laying people off, crummy stock market—none of us want any of these things, right?  I’ve talked about how energy flows where focus goes. We don’t want our focus on what we don’t want, we want to focus on what we do want, whether it’s for ourselves or for our world.

Today, I’m going to demonstrate a really powerful technique to help you eliminate negative self-talk. I call it Snap Out of It. The only piece of equipment you need is a rubber band.

In a prior One Minute Mindset, I talked about embracing change. Since we’re in the midst of massive, massive change right now, I think it’s worth talking about more.

Today we are going to talk about ways to thrive, not survive during these times. I am not trying to feed into the virus but many of us are on lockdown right now and we are seeing many businesses shutting down. I want us not to focus on the negative energy, but focus on what we can do right now, today to make an impact. A lot of the strategies might not give you money right this second but all of the things you do now will have a big impact on what you are going to do later. A lot of the strategies might not give you money right this second but all of the things you do now will have a big impact on what you are going to do later.

It looks like there are free money programs for real estate agents, lenders, small businesses and, independent contractors. It looks like there are free money programs for real estate agents, lenders, small businesses and independent contractors. I wanted to let you know about some of the programs out there that can help support us all during these times. Please note, I am not an attorney or a CPA I am just relaying the information I received from my trusted advisors. Please visit www.SBA.gov to learn more.

We’re working on keeping a healthy mindset in this series. But I know in times like this with everything hitting the fan, it’s really easy to get caught up in negative thinking and worry. We know that kind of thinking is not good for us, right? But it’s like our minds have a mind of their own! If we aren’t paying attention, our minds take off on their own and twenty minutes later, we will feel horrible and hopeless. It’s like we start to think about a story with a horrible ending when most of the time it never happens at all.