Is your own brain sabotaging your career aspirations? It’s not easy to pursue a non-traditional career, such as touring with a circus. Learn how to prevent negative thoughts from making it even harder so you can break through your limits and gain the power to achieve your dreams.
As someone pursuing or interested in creating a career outside the “norm” (aka the corporate job), you hear success stories all the time. You might read books or even see comments on your CircusTalk feed about friends or acquaintances who have made a successful living doing what they love. They have happiness and ease. They have made it. Reading about their success may fill you with feelings of envy and even sadness that you can’t do the same. Perhaps that person had resources you don’t have or was lucky to have the stars align. Whatever the reason for other people’s success, you may be absolutely sure that you cannot pursue your dreams and live your passions. It can happen to them but not to you. You are not destined for such greatness, you tell yourself.

I’m going to let you in on a scientific fact that will completely disprove these thoughts: your brain is designed to make you think that you can’t have what you want.Your biological machinery is constructed to keep you exactly where you are: unfulfilled, bored, and stuck in the same routine. According to your brain, there is nothing wrong with where you are because your brain’s sole purpose is to have you survive—literally to keep you alive. However, the brain’s definition of safety is not merely physical safety but also emotional and mental safety. In simpler terms, to your brain, keeping you safe means keeping you in your comfort zone. And as every circus artist knows, if you can’t break out of your comfort zone, you can never learn to fly.

For many people, the comfort zone is defined early in childhood. If you weren’t born into a circus family, you were most likely taught by your parents, our society, and our education system that to ensure a good future, you should seek the security and stability of a regular paycheck. You know the drill: get a college degree and find a company with good benefits that will provide you with a steady income.

There is nothing wrong with this lifestyle. Many have found this stability working for a corporation doing something they love. But if you’re reading this article, that isn’t you. You thrive off of a different lifestyle: travel, freedom, self-expression. Being in the circus is not a hobby; it is your life’s fulfillment. Doubt and fear are certainly normal when pursuing an out-of-the-box career that doesn’t have a secure paycheck, and you may have a lot of reasons why you believe you can’t have it all and pursue your passions at the same time.

But here is one question to ask yourself: Who made up those reasons? More importantly, are they even real reasons?

Your brain pumps out a lot of thoughts on a daily basis. Have you ever noticed that often its default mode is one of negativity instead of positivity? It will give you all the reasons that you can’t do something instead of all the reasons that you can. It will tell you that you aren’t good enough and should just give up.

Your brain, in wanting to keep you safe from the potential emotional and mental harm that could come from taking risks or being rejected creates these disempowering thoughts, which most of us believe to be the truth. When you listen to these powerful negative impulses, you won’t take any action, which leaves you stuck.

The successful people that you may envy are not different from you. They have merely learned how to view themselves and the world in a completely different way. They have trained themselves to view their thoughts as a creation of a biological machine that they can consciously choose to listen to or not. They are just thoughts. The only person who makes them real is you.

Instead of asking “why can’t I,” these people ask “how can I?” They look for creative solutions instead of listening to all the circumstantial reasons not to change. And they take action, consistently. Most people fail to create the life of their dreams not due to a lack of resources or bad luck, but because they quit trying. You can’t lose if you persevere (just ask anyone who has a success story!).

Have a dream? You have a choice too: you can continue to listen to those negative thoughts that aren’t real, or you can learn to take on a new perspective that gives you power in your life. You can stay where you are or take a new action. Choose.

For more information about the Right Brain Program, go to therightbrainacademy.com

Stephanie Staidle
Art Therapist, Business Coach -United States
Stephanie Staidle, founder of The Right Brain Academy and The Right Brain Entrepreneur is a licensed art therapist and business coach who helps individuals and companies bring their visions alive into the world through businesses they love that make a difference. Stephanie uses cutting-edge techniques based in the newest findings of neuroscience for her on-site workshops and coaching to professionals worldwide. With 18 years of experience in psychology, she speaks to audiences on the necessary fundamentals of building a successful business and the science behind achieving results by using an underused resource called ‘right brain thinking’. In her work with both individuals and companies over the past ten years, clients have consistently reported breakthroughs in performance, confidence, and happiness.