When you feel you have too many thoughts that interfere with your end result, and your mind keeps focusing on the challenges and hurdles, and especially when you can’t see how you’ll achieve the results you want—use a Touchstone.
Touchstones are a moment in time that you can “touch” frequently throughout your day, and particularly when you’re triggered. Touchstones have no details, just one moment with a strong positive feeling. An example of a Touchstone is imagining you’ve achieved your goal, and you’re exclaiming excitedly: “Yes! I did it!” Just that moment. No details of how it worked out, or what happened. Just that end moment that represents it worked out perfectly.
When Do You Need a Touchstone? A Touchstone is designed to simplify your focus, and to keep you “facing” the direction you want to end up in. We are always moving forward, in the direction in which we’re facing. So you need to keep yourself “facing” the destination you want to end up in. A Touchstone helps you to do this more easily.
Imagine you’re driving on the road from the city to the countryside, and your focus is the direction your car is pointing in the moment. While you’re thinking of the countryside, you’re heading toward it. Each time you think about the fact that you’re not there yet, you veer off the road. Each time you think about the city, you start heading back there. Your attention and focus are your steering. But, of course, it can be very difficult to keep your focus on the countryside when you’re surrounded by storms and detours and scary scenery. Zero Tolerance will help you to stay on the road, and in addition to that, using a Touchstone will help to make that easier.
How to Use a Touchstone The key to the power of a Touchstone is that there are no details. It’s just one moment in time, with feeling, that represents the outcome.
Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and imagine you’ve achieved the results you want. Imagine you’ve been able to wave a magic wand, and you now have what you want. Allow yourself to feel the good feelings, and notice how it feels and where in your body you feel them.
Now, think about a moment in time, of you expressing that feeling. How will you express that feeling when you have what you want? It could be saying to yourself “Yes! I did it!” It could be a moment of high-fiving a friend, saying “YES!!” It could be a moment of gratitude, saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” It could be a moment of peace, appreciating the results with, “Thank you so much!” It could be a moment of wonder saying, “That’s amazing!” Choose a short phrase that comes with a strong, positive feeling that represents the end result.
Repeat that moment in time, over and over, in your mind and really focus on the feeling. No details, no how, where, when, who—just that one moment that represents success, with the feeling that goes with it.
Now, use that as your Touchstone by “touching” it frequently throughout your day. Play it first thing in the morning, as soon as you’re awake, last thing at night, as you go to sleep, and many times during the day. Do it even when you don’t feel like doing it! As you can see, it takes hardly any time at all, and it will help to keep you on track toward the destination you want to end up in. It will help you to spend less time “off road.”
Be sure to change your negative childhood memories to the opposite, positive, and empowering as well - to make sure your "GPS" matches your desired "destination"!