Episode 14: Descriptions Matter

Hello my friends, welcome to episode 14.

Let’s build a little off of last week's podcast where we talked about rules and tools. One of the coolest tools in this mind management / coaching work is the power of descriptions in our lives to motivate us to take action or not take actions.

Now we have talked about how we tell stories all the time to make sense of the world around us. This way of describing the world creates our experience in it.

When we describe the world as a friendly place, we usually experience it as such.

When we describe the job as frustrating and boring, we usually experience it as such.

When we describe the work environment as toxic, we usually experience it as such.

You get the point.

Descriptions Matter. Now I am not telling you anywhere in this podcast that you should just describe all the bad stuff in your life as good. Put on your rose-colored glasses as such and think of your life as rainbows and daisies. But what I am saying is pay attention to your descriptions of the world and pay attention to the outcomes you experience because of those descriptions.

But why?

The reason is the feeling that they create.

Let’s run through some examples.

One example that I heard on the Life Coach school podcast -How we break up - from a coach who works with individuals getting over breakups. And this coach indicated that it really does matter how a person describes their ex. One way has you desiring to be back with the person – where you are completely focused on their amazing qualities and how great they took care of you while another way of describing them can have you feeling like good riddance! Thank goodness I am alone and free from them. Depending on how we are describing the situation or the person can lead us to completely different actions. One has you calling them over and over again feeling a tone of desire to be with that person and others may have you blocking their number and deleting them from social media and completely moving on.

So depending on the action you want to take, your description of the situation matters.

The question becomes, is the way I am describing the situation leading me to the solution and action that I want to be taking or is it leading me to take actions that I do not want to take.

Now on this same podcast they used Ice cream as an example. It’s my favorite example!

There are many ways to describe ice cream

1. Frozen Milk and Sugar with some artificial flavoring and coloring that likely isn’t very good for you. Stuffed into a plastic bucket which it has likely been there for many months in a freezer that you now get to eat.

   or

2. The best thing ever. It is so sweet, creamy, silky with just the right amount of my favorite flavoring. It goes perfect with pie and it makes everything taste better. Just the cool sweet flavor melts in your mouth.

Which description makes you want to eat ice cream?

Descriptions matter!

This is a super powerful tool we can use to help ourselves take the action and have the experience that we want to have. Now neither description is right or wrong. They just create different emotions for us. Desire vs disgust. So, what do you want?

On a diet – I highly recommend my frozen milk description for ice cream. You are way less likely to eat it.

Out with friends and you just order ice cream for dessert. I highly recommend my best creamy thing you have ever tasted description.

So, let’s leverage our mental power and capacity to have the life that we want.

So, let’s try this for your job:

1. It’s a paycheck. And I put in 8 hours.

2. I have the most fantastic job. I get to be creative. I get to overcome challenges and I am in high demand. It funds my vacations and my passion projects. They pay me to do this!

3. It’s a toxic environment. I just have to come every day and no one respects me or recognizes my work.

One you want to go to, and one you are neutral about and one you want to run from.

So now let’s try this for the bull at the bull sale.

1. It’s the perfect bull. I have to have it.  I will have the most amazing calf crop next year. Have you seen these EPD’s there is no bull like him out there?

2. It’s a male animal. Fur and bones. Maybe it would be great, maybe it wouldn’t be so great. Will he really stay in the pasture with the cows???

Now friends – which one will you stay in a bidding war over and go way beyond your budget for.

Herd of cattle:

1. The perfect herd. Uniform, grow well, look spectacular, always clean, calm tempered, always go where you want them too.

2. A bunch of animals. Who sometimes hide their calves in the brush, and they are a lot of work and they eat a ton of hay!

Which description do you want to use when you are talking to potential buyers or when you want to be creative and promote yourself on social media?

Same thing for vehicles we drive.

1. Most gorgeous truck, 2wd, streamlined, everyone will love it and want to go for a ride in it.

2. It’s a little piece of tin. No one knows where it has been. Got four wheels and a running board.

We can create a lot of desire for things by how we describe them or we can totally neutralize that.

Sometimes we want to create motivation and desire for things and sometimes we want to limit that desire and motivation for things.

Make the things you have and want to work toward sound attractive.

Make the things that are not yours or the things that don’t serve you to sound less attractive.

If you don’t want to be envious or jealous of your neighbors’ cows – then describe them differently in your brain.

If you want to be in love with your 25-year-old tractor - then describe it differently in your brain.

There is a way for us to be in love with the things that we have.

Let’s leave behind the things that are just a distractive attraction and we can do that simply by understanding our descriptions of things and what those descriptions are creating.

It will be fun!

Have a wonderful week.