Reframing is a powerful strategy I discovered a few years ago. It is a mental tool to step back from an initial belief and relook at it from another perspective for constructive insights.
Below is a list of reframing I went through over the years:
Original: It’s too late.
Reframed: It’s never too late.
Original: I have no freedom.
Reframed: What will I choose to do now?
Original: I wished I started a year ago.
Reframed: In twelve months, I will wish I started today.
Original: He angered me.
Reframed: I allowed myself to become angry.
Original: She didn’t listen.
Reframed: I didn’t listen.
Original: I’m not ready.
Reframed: I will never be ready, so let’s just go.
Original: I failed to achieve the plan.
Reframed: That plan was never meant to be.
Original: I’m not good at this.
Reframed: The only way to become better is to work on it.
Original: I will never recover.
Reframed: It always passes.
Original: I have to wake up.
Reframed: I get to wake up.
Original: It should have happened.
Reframed: Look at the story I tell myself.
Original: No one understands me.
Reframed: I understand myself.
Original: It’s too risky to do it.
Reframed: The cost of not doing it is too high.
Original: What do other people think?
Reframed: What does my gut say?
Original: I must accelerate.
Reframed: I must slow down.
Original: Does it make money?
Reframed: Do I love it?
Original: I can’t produce anything on a consistent basis.
Reframed: I need a system to support consistent work.
Original: I have no motivation.
Reframed: I must lower the barrier so I don’t need motivation.
Original: I don’t have the inspiration to start.
Reframed: I must start to get inspiration.
Original: I can’t draw.
Reframed: Start drawing.
Original: I can’t write a polished essay in one sitting.
Reframed: I can produce one interesting idea.
Original: I need to find one good idea.
Reframed: I need to collect a thousand ideas.
Original: This work sucks.
Reframed: The time for this work hasn’t come. Let it sit.