Monday Motivation, 11.15.2021

Written by: Kaitlyn Gwaltney

Every Monday, The Rogers-Long Team meets for one of its two weekly meetings. The Monday meeting always ends with “Monday Motivation” in which a few minutes are spent listening to one team member presenting a quote, a quick reading from a book, a scene from a movie, or anything else they find motivating to provide a “spark” to the whole team on a Monday morning.

As most of us are wrapping up 2021 and trying to plan the upcoming year of 2022, most people are writing down resolutions, goals, to-dos, and anything else they can think of that might make next year even better than this one. Instead of focusing on multiple resolutions, I’m going to change it up and choose one word that I want to act as my filter for all things 2022. 

I’m sure I can speak for most of us with saying that everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. Whether personal or professional, sometimes it’s easier to talk yourself out of something instead getting uncomfortable and just going for it. But they say it is possible to train your brain to help you with this. In Mel Robbins book, “The High 5 Habit”, she goes into detail about your reticular activating system, or in simpler terms your brain’s filter. This allows your brain to decide what information gets into your conscious mind. There are only four things that automatically get through this filter: the sound of your name being called, anything that threatens your safety, romantic signals, and whatever your RAS thinks is important. That last one being most important because if you know what is important to you, you can train your brain to filter the world so that you see more of what you want to see. The best used example is wanting a new car. If you decide you’re interested in buying a new red truck you will start to see them everywhere. They were always there but your RAS blocked them out because you didn’t previously think they were important. There are so many opportunities, coincidences, or signs that we walk by every day because we don’t remind ourselves often what we think is important. This is why people say to actually write down your goals and have them where you can see them often. But getting back to “training your brain” doesn’t it sound much easier to train your brain on one word compared to multiple resolutions? If your one word is related to all of your goals, you can very quickly remind your brain of that word whenever you’re in a situation of question.

So, in summary, I’ll share my word with you in hopes that you, too, will consider picking one word to help you become a better person, friend, family member, business owner, coworker, etc. for your upcoming year. My word is “Joy”. I will choose things that bring me joy, I promise to choose things that bring you joy, and I would love to hear how you bring others joy throughout the year. Don’t pick your word quickly or randomly, think about it for a bit. It might not always be easy to stay focused on your word for the full year, but hopefully you’ll start to notice small wins in having the year you’re looking forward to. Picking a word and doing something, no matter how big or small, is a step in the right direction leading to your next step. 

Kaitlyn Gwaltney, a Realtor with The Rogers-Long Team since 2016, previously worked in the medical field for 6 years before deciding to shift her compassion and dedication toward helping others in a different direction. The RLT excitedly brought Kaitlyn on to work with buyers and sellers due to her humility, inner drive to succeed, and her fun-loving attitude.