Traveling to Your Upper Limit

This month I am traveling more than normal. I will be visiting 5 cities in less than 6 weeks.  Four of the five trips involve airline travel and one is a road trip.  I am traveling for both work and personal reasons, but 5 trips in a row is a lot of traveling for me.

When I am traveling I love to use the travel time to read, unless I am driving of course, and in those cases I like to read audio books.  This weekend I am on trip number two and I am reading a book called, “The Big Leap” by Gay Hendricks.  It is well written and presents a super interesting concept. 

We all have one barrier to living a successful and fulfilled life.  Gay calls it the  “upper limit problem”.  

The “upper limit problem” is our innate intolerance for feeling good.  It is the idea that our brain wants to sabotage us if we sense that things are going too well or we start to feel too good.  I found this so fascinating.  Who doesn’t want to feel good or be successful right?  I am mostly a positive person, but when I really started to work through this concept while reading the book, I realized that I do it all the time.

Have you ever diagnosed a complicated case and felt very proud of yourself?  Did you feel the extraordinary exhilaration of being a Super Vet?  You feel great KNOWING that you came up with the right diagnosis and chose the very best treatment for the pet.  You felt wonderful about that right?  Then, did you go home later and Google, VIN, and research the snot out of that particular disease until you filled your head with doubts.  You read until you feel terrified that you made a big mistake and the pet was surely going to be dead by morning?    Yep!   That is the “upper limit problem”. 

Hendricks writes that we each have an internal meter that is the keeper of our joy.  We have these well-established beliefs that we are only so worthy.  It may be something that we developed in childhood or something that we were born with, but it is deeply ingrained in us.  We have this feeling that we can only be so successful or so happy.  When good things do happen and we should be exceedingly happy, our brain brings up problems to keep us “in our place”, so to speak.

How can we move beyond our “upper limit” thinking?

First we need to recognize the thoughts when they occur.  If you have a success and all of a sudden you start feeling critical towards yourself, a client or colleague; that is your brain bringing up an upper limit thought.    Deflecting compliments can be a sign of an upper limit thought.  When you are brilliant and someone tells you that you are brilliant you may deflect the compliment with claims of inferiority.  That is upper limit deflection. You can work to recognize these sabotage thoughts in your head and work to change them before they destroy your happiness.  That is the point of “The Big Leap”.  Taking a big mental leap to destroy your upper limits and stay in your zone of success, abundance and joy.

There is a lot more to the book than what I can explain here, so I would encourage you to read it.  Perhaps I can help you get a head start by noticing your upper limit thinking so together we can leap over our negativity and open us up to feelings of abundant success.

Have a beautiful week and safe travels to you all.

Dr. Julie Cappel

Early Morning Magic - Give Yourself One Hour

As I was navigating my morning ritual today I started thinking about early morning rituals and how important they are to our success and mental health. I have notoriously been a night owl all my life, so mornings are often a struggle for me; however,  I have found through research and experience that having a solid hour of morning ritual before I have to get ready for work, makes me more productive and happier throughout my day. 

As I was researching the subject to write this blog I ran across a webpage called, “Early Morning Magic”.   It sounded super interesting but I was unsure that I should explore the page. Perhaps it was not PG.  I decided to risk it and clicked on the “Early Morning Magic” link.  To my surprise and delight I discovered that it was a website advertising a program at Disney’s Magic Kingdom that allows visitors to enter the park an hour before the crowds. (for an additional $79)  For that “nominal fee” you can be the first to enjoy the park and the rides before the crowds descend.  Sounds wonderful right?

It was actually a perfect title for my blog about early morning rituals of successful people.   I hope Disney doesn’t mind me borrowing it.  

Studies have shown that early morning hours have proven to be the most productive and are a real secret to many peoples’ outstanding success.  Many highly effective and successful people use their mornings in a very specific and productive way.  I have painfully adopted this practice over the years and I have found that it is true.  I say painfully because I love to stay up late and avoid sleep at all costs until I am forced by sheer exhaustion to settle down and sleep.  For someone that does not like to sleep, early morning rising is difficult.  But, I have a specific flow and ritual to my mornings that I have adjusted over the years and the more specific I get in the ritual the more the morning hour serves me. As I have embraced the morning I find that I get so much more done each day if I just start my day right.

How do you start your day? If you are sleeping until the last minute and then rushing to get ready for work, disheveled and with sleep in your eyes, you are doing it wrong.  If you want to be more productive and feel better, set your alarm 30-60 minutes earlier.  Try it for 2 weeks.  Just do it.  Embracing your morning and adding time to your day will pay off in your happiness and productivity.

Here are some things that you can do with your hour to change your life for the better.

Avoid screen time:  Do not immediately check your cell phone, computer or TV news programs.  Screen time can have a profound negative effect on your day.  The amount of negativity that is spewed on morning news and social media feeds will start your brain in a negative space before you even get a chance to appreciate the day.  Email will remind you of the things that you failed to complete yesterday.  Avoid them for at least one hour in the morning.

Stretch your body or get some light exercise.  Stretching your body or engaging in light exercise will increase blood flow to your body and help you to releases the tension that builds up in your muscles from inactivity.  It clears your mind and readies it to take in more positive things to come in your day.

Brew your coffee, do some chores and make your bed.  I have always made my bed, thanks to my Mom, and I also have to feed and care for my pets as part of my morning routine. All these things add order to your day.  Keeping your space clean and clutter free has been proven to decrease the amount of stress you feel. 71 percent of bed makers consider themselves happy;  while 62 percent of non-bed-makers admit to being unhappy. Bed makers are also more likely to enjoy their jobs, own a home, exercise regularly, and feel well rested.  (pshychologytoday.com)

Read something positive or listen to an inspirational message or podcast in the morning.  I like to read something in the morning that inspires me.  I also try to get 10 minutes of meditation in after I read to let the information more fully sink in.  Meditation is intimidating if you have not done it before, but there are some good apps for guided meditation that make it easier.  Making a gratitude list may help you get your mind in a positive space if you are struggling.

Spend a few moments each morning visualizing and planning your day.  It helps me to write a list in my bullet journal of the three things that I MUST finish today.  Planning your day first thing in the morning when your mind is clear and you are relaxed will help you focus on the things that are important.   Keeping a clear head will increase your overall productivity. Set a solid foundation for a great day.

Practice thinking, “Today I am living on purpose and I will DO great things.”

This is your day.  Give yourself one hour and live it.

Dr. Julie Cappel

“Time isn’t the main thing it’s the only thing.”  Miles Davis

Stepping over FEAR to get to CHANGE.

 This was a big, busy and amazing week for me personally and professionally. There were exciting team changes at my veterinary hospital, a big life-changing move for my son, and a fabulous change for me personally -- the release of my new podcast!  

The podcast was an intimidating idea that I have worked on developing for many months.  Genuine fears came up for me in the development process that I had to mentally work around.  Fear comes up naturally when we attempt to do something that we have never done before.   We experience fear of failing, fear of criticism, and sometimes even fear of success.

Let’s explore big life changes and how to overcome fear that often accompanies change.  We all experience it from time to time.  There is healthy fear of change that our brains see as self-protective and then there is unhealthy fear that interrupts our progress on the way to accomplishment.

How can we handle the fear of change while still putting brilliance out into the world?

Embrace your fear.  Do not let the anxiety that you experience during a change paralyze you. Emotions are transient; so do not wait to take steps until your anxiety completely disappears. Feel the fear and then take small steps to overcome each thought that your brain develops.  If you feel stuck in the fear, write the thoughts down so you can see them on paper.  Sort them into rational fears and irrational fears.  Taking a critical look at the things that your brain “makes up” will help you move through the fear of change faster.  

Sometimes, a fear comes from simply not knowing very much about the thing you’re afraid of.  In my podcast example, I really knew nothing about podcasting, except the things that I learned from listening to other people’s podcasts. In order to overcome some of my fears I had to begin to study podcasting.  Fortunately for me, I have family members that were able to help me get my podcast out into the world. My daughter is a photographer and graphic artist.  She did the logo and artwork for my podcast.  My son is a composer so he was able to write my podcast music and also help with sound editing.  My sister Jill and her husband have a successful podcast called “True Crime Brewery” so she was able to advise me on where to start.

There is amazing power in collaboration and learning from others in your life.  If you are facing a big change and feeling fearful, talk to someone close to you that can see things from a less emotional perspective.  Have them help you work through your difficulties and see the situation for what it really is.  Ask them for their opinions and truly listen to their response.  It is very possible that you are making more of a situation than needs to be made. Your family and friends may help you overcome the fear of change.

Remember that fear and anxiety serve a purpose but when fear starts to slow you down, you need to kick yourself into action and STEP over your fear to get to the CHANGE.

Please listen to my new podcast (The Veterinary Life Coach Podcast) on iTunes or Spotify and let me know what you think.  If you have any suggestions or questions for me send an email to jacappeldvm@gmail.com.

Dr. Julie Cappel

“If you want to conquer fear, don't sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy”.  - Dale Carnegie

Buyer’s remorse – Coaching yourself through negativity

 This morning as I was drinking my morning coffee I started flipping through posts on LinkedIn. I have a tendency to do this in the morning as I find it a great place to find words of inspiration from thought leaders.  Today I found quite the opposite.  I ran across an article on the DVM360 website that talked about “buyer’s remorse” in young veterinarians in regards to their veterinary degree.  The author stated that most veterinarians feel remorse in the first 3-5 years of their working life.  They feel a sense of disconnect between what they THOUGHT life would be as a veterinarian and what life actually is.  They are discouraged about their debt, the difficulty of the job, and the work-life balance that they are trying to achieve.

This is a narrative that directly speaks to me.  These negative thoughts about our profession are a cancer that we need to cure and why I chose to become a veterinary life coach.  Most of us do not know how to manage negative thoughts about veterinary medicine when they occur.  If we can learn to manage the way we think about our career, we are well on the way to feeling better about our veterinary life.

Let’s talk about some steps to coach ourselves through this “buyer’s remorse”.

The first thing to think about is that YOU are NOT your job.    Your job brings many difficult circumstances that have nothing to do with YOU. There are negative clients, stressed team members, diseases that are difficult to cure, and daily struggles.  There are also happy clients, cute puppies, talented team members and successful surgeries.  You have no REAL control over most circumstances positive or negative.  They are just life.  They have nothing to do with YOU personally. When you separate YOU from the JOB you can see that you are 100% human and 100% worthy.  You need to start from this place.

Realize that you have control over the way you THINK about any situation.  You are in control of your thoughts.  It feels as if you cannot control your thoughts, but if you really sit down and look at them, you realized that you are able change them and look at life differently.   You don’t have to think from a place of scarcity when looking at your veterinary career.  You can choose to think of the abundance and the opportunity that you have to help people in your work every day.  Once you start thinking about your scarcity thoughts and realizing that you can change them to abundance thoughts, you will start to feel better about your career.

 

When you become more abundance minded you will more willingly take positive steps and actions towards making your life better.  You will take more risks because you will realize that any action is better than inaction.   Forward motion is better than procrastination, always. You will be more willing to risk failure because you know that failure is a steppingstone to future success.

The next time that you think about your profession as a struggle or feel buyer’s remorse, remember that you have the power to turn it around.  You can choose to be enamored with your life, not overwhelmed by it.  Choose an abundance mindset over scarcity.  Choose to think of yourself as 100% veterinary rock star, 100% worthy of a beautiful life.   There is no situation that you can encounter that you cannot handle, because you are a powerful, worthy veterinarian. 

Let’s do away with buyer’s remorse.

Dr. Julie Cappel

“Everything you need you already have.  You are complete right now; you are a whole, total person, not an apprentice person on the way to someplace else.  Your completeness must be understood by you and experienced in your thoughts as your own personally reality.” – Wayne Dyer