186. The Art of Self-Control with Tracy Pleschourt

Beautiful people! As you know, I believe our beliefs and thoughts dictate our results. I’m excited to share this conversion with Tracy Pleschourt, founder of Self-MadeU, who teaches the concept of self-control. We've all had those moments. You're going through your day; things are just gorgeous. Then you have that one thought that takes you completely off course. It might be something like “I suck! Who do I think I am?” or maybe it’s “I really deserve this one glass – no this entire bottle of wine tonight.”  Tracy has made it her life's work to help all of us understand what to do in that moment. Just a few years ago, Tracy was a successful advertising executive. Stifled by the rigorous, time-consuming demands of the corporate world, she traded in her 20 years of advertising to pursue her real passion: personal and professional coaching. As she made the switch she noticed thoughts of self doubts starting to creep in. The narratives like “you don’t know what you’re doing,” imposter syndrome, and lack of control. She started pinpointing that unwanted feeling and figured out what she refers to as the “math in your mind” that is creating self doubt.  Tracy created what she calls the mind-math formula. You start to see that when you literally can put [your thoughts] + [your feelings] = your actions down on paper, your experience unfolds in black and white. There is no arguing the math. You've now got the evidence that your brain needs so desperately to want to believe something. Tracy believes most people are operating with a lack of control. They think that all solutions, all goals, are outside of them, that they need to either blame something or someone for not having what they want. And that's not true. She says most speak of self-control as an action – like choosing to avoid the plate of cookies or glass of wine. Tracy wants to teach people to think of self-control as a feeling.  Understanding which thoughts are driving the show can be difficult. Tracy highlights an example where someone might want to stop pouring that glass of wine every night – an experience she’s also gone through.  For her, Tracy realized that thoughts of “I deserve this. Today was hard, I need this,” were causing her to drink more than she wanted. She realized the thoughts made her feel entitled. In some cases, she says it was like cognitive dissonance to realize she wanted to drink more moderately, but she kept pouring the wine.  “You have to understand what your thoughts are leading to in regard to an emotion and how those emotions have you behaving. There is a neuro pathway that's very well-established that looks like a habit,” says Tracy. It’s not because you’re broken; it’s not because you’re a bad person. It’s because your primitive brain is in the driver’s seat. When you’ve got that thought of “I need to take the edge off” you question what else you can do in that moment. It can take a matter of seconds to question those thoughts, and that, in turn, extinguishes the urge you’re having.  Free Gift for Listeners Use code GOGPODCAST for 50% off the “Mind Over Matter” video series: https://www.self-madeu.com/mind-over-matter  Connect with Tracy Pleschourt Website: https://www.self-madeu.com  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/self_madeu/  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTboNxe27TEFIYCULzdA11w  More Game on Girlfriend Episodes: Not Getting Results? It’s Time to Get Unsexy: https://sarahwalton.com/get-unsexy/  Are The Results You Want Taking Too Long?: https://sarahwalton.com/results/  What’s Causing the Results You Have Right Now?: https://sarahwalton.com/causing-results/  Have You Always Secretly Felt “Less Than”?: https://sarahwalton.com/feeling-less-than/