Live "Way Ahead!"

Here is a simple technique that is guaranteed to impact your life in a positive way. It is one of my favorite perspectives that I call “way ahead.”

When I was growing up I would call my grandfather on the telephone and ask, “How you doing?” His enthusiastic response was always the same, “Hi Jeff--I’m way ahead!” No matter how he was doing his response was always the same. Whenever we encountered people on the street he would say this to them and it would always create a lighter moment in the conversation. Often they would laugh and say well that’s good because I’m “way behind.” My grandfather would just smile.

After he died, I missed having his positive “way ahead” presence in my life. So then one day I started saying the same thing. I would shake hands or answer the perfunctory phone question of how I am doing, by saying that I am “way ahead.”

When I say this, I notice two important things—my response and the response of the other person. For me, irrespective of how I am feeling, I feel a positive shift in my attitude and perspective on life just by saying I am way ahead. The law of The Positive is in effect. It is impossible to verbally claim something positive like being “way ahead” without creating a cognitive dissonance—a gap between your words and your perspective. Your mind begins to try to resolve this gap. The same thing happens when I watch the other person respond to my “way ahead” comment. This response is clearly not playing by the old script and so it often directs the conversation in a positive way. They often laugh and make some sort of a comment about feeling behind, but wishing that they too were ahead. I just smile.

STRATEGIES: LIVE “WAY AHEAD!"

1. Fake it until you make it—despite how you may be feeling, throughout the day respond to people asking about how you are doing by saying, “I’m way ahead.” Then notice how you feel and what they say. Smile.

2. Make light of how you mentally reinforce yourself by being “way behind.” What are your payoffs of being “way behind?”

3. Tell yourself, “You are so behind that you think you are in front,” and then laugh.

4. Look deeply at what you would need to give up and grieve if you adopted a perspective and lifestyle of being way ahead.

5. Contemplate what it would feel like if you really lived from the perspective of being “way ahead.” How different would your typical day look?

6. What if you were way ahead in significant areas of your life? What if you were way ahead with appointments by arriving early? What if you were way ahead with paying bills? What if you were way ahead with buying birthday cards?

7. Make a list of what you would gain if you were “way ahead.” Then have the courage to examine why you are afraid of claiming these positives in your life. Breathe through these fears.

(Photo - http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/6-simple-ways-to-be-a-positive-human/)