Fed Up With Missing Out on Life? Here's Why You Need to Flip the But Mindfulness

How often do you hear yourself saying that you would love to do something, but immediately talk yourself out of it by coming up with a reason why it is not possible for you? It’s easily done. I can go there, too.

However, I have learned that our “reasons” are often not set-in-stone reasons at all – and in reality, are little more than excuses. If we truly want to do something, and we treat it as important, nine times out of 10, we can and will find a way.

And so, here is a simple mindset hack you can use the next time you hear yourself coming up with a reason as to why you can’t do something. It is called “Flip Your But!” and it is as simple as adjusting the order of the words that go before and after the word “but.”

Here are a couple of examples:

“I would love to have a night out with my friends, but I am tired.”

Flip to: “I am tired, but I would love to have a night out with my friends.”

“I want to take the kids out for the day, but money is tight just now.”

Flip to: “Money is tight just now, but I want to take the kids out for the day.”

You will find that flipping the order of the sentence around the “but” can be hugely impactful by sending a completely different message to your brain. This is because your mind sees the word as negating what goes before it and puts more focus and attention on the second part of the sentence. 

So the next time you hear yourself talking yourself out of doing something, try flipping your “but” and feel the difference it makes!

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Comments (4)

bepositive
Interesting suggestion. 🙏🏼
Elisa Schmitz
"You will find that flipping the order of the sentence around the “but” can be hugely impactful by sending a completely different message to your brain." Such a great perspective. Thank you for sharing!
Eli Taieb
very informative
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