Superior Oblique Myokymia … Wow, did I just start off with that? Yes, I did. It is brief episodes of movement, shimmering or shaking of the vision of one eye. I can tell you firsthand with these normal things like walking, driving and reading become complicated. It not only affects general vision but can also cause balance issues and in severe cases vertigo. There are many things that can set it off such as stress, fatigue, too much caffeine etc. What does this have to do with cognitive thinking … or your life? I’m glad I asked.
Cognitive thinking is any thinking, beyond basic recall. It is deep thinking or in the negative sense, over thinking. We will be looking at how these can affect your business, your motivation and most important your happiness. We are going to break it down into three areas … 1 Getting Positive, 2 Getting Confident and 3 Getting Hungry.
Get Positive – For many of us it is easy to get stuck in a rut saying, “Life Sucks” or “I never get a break”. I’m not saying that the bad things you are experiencing aren’t real. I’m saying that changing the way you see it may help you fix it, and or, keep it from happening again. A good mental filter can help you get past the haze that can make you feel overwhelmed. That haze is usually caused by our own thoughts.
We are our own worst enemy. We can’t always go by what we feel about our self. If you feel stupid and boring, it does not mean you are stupid or boring. Feeling it doesn’t make it true and you couldn’t have gotten to where you are at if you’re as bad as you think you are. Don’t always look at where you’re at but where you have come from. Someone who is at the same place you are may have only walked a few steps while you may have walked many miles.
The set back you are experiencing is not the end. Just because you hit a wall doesn’t mean you can’t go over it, or around it, or under it, or even straight through it. The wall may mean it’s just not the right time. Take a break and regroup. Get positive to the best level you can achieve.
Get Confident – Someone, somewhere, at some point must have liked something you did! Think about the positive things people have said to you. Count on those things as your strengths and use them to build your weaknesses. Life is not an “All or Nothing” journey. Not being the “winner” doesn’t mean you are a looser any more than winning makes us successful.
Every year since 1939 the Heisman Trophy is given to the most outstanding college football player in the United States. It has become the single most celebrated and sought-after award in American collegiate athletics. It may come as a surprise that fourteen of those winners never played a single game in the NFL, including the first winner Jay Berwanger. Fifteen winners went undrafted in the NFL including the 2003 winner Jason White. Three Heisman winners went on to play on team sports other than football. Not being the best on a certain day or in a certain year by no means makes you a failure. Get confident in who you are and what you can do.
Get Hungry – I’m going to ask this straight away … Do You Want It? You cannot answer that question by saying “Yes I deserve it”. What you want cannot be the reward for self-denial or because you put in more time than someone else. If there is one thing, I have learned is that there is a fallacy of fairness. When I was younger, someone once told me “If you work hard, it will pay off”. Many years later that same person, laid me off from his company due to “downsizing”. I found out after many years “downsizing” meant that they needed to hire someone else to do my job for less pay.
It wasn’t fair, some might even say that it wasn’t even right, but I can now say that it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. It made me hunger to make sure I was successful at doing something I love and not just help someone else make more money. Sometimes in life you just have to say, “There was nothing I did wrong” or “I did not cause this”. Pick up the pieces and build something better.
When it comes down to the basics, even if you work for someone else, you are your own boss. You are in charge of your own life. It took me 10 years from the time of that layoff to make it where I’m now. If I wouldn’t have started when I did and made the changes needed, I could not have accomplished a single thing. Let’s say I waited till now to start; I would have another 10 years of work ahead of me and that makes 20 years of my life being unhappy and unfulfilled. I’m not saying that my vision problems are gone forever, but I’m now in more control of the things that set it off.
Ask yourself, where are you going to be in 10 years? Where do you want to be? Find something positive in your life, be confident about it and let everything, good or bad, make you hungry to never quit. In short … Get Positive, Get Confident, Get Hungry and Get Moving!