Soundtracks

Soundtracks teaches you how to beat overthinking by challenging whether your thoughts are true, retiring unhelpful and unkind ideas, adopting thought-boosting mantras from others, using symbols to reinforce positive thoughts, and more.

As much as we said “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” as kids, we all know now that it’s not true. Words hurt. And it’s the worst when they’re the words you’re telling yourself.

The first step to beating overthinking is to recognize and throw out the soundtracks that are hurting you. There are three questions to ask yourself to catch a harmful thinking pattern:

Is it true? Is it helpful? And is it kind?

When asking the first question, “is it true?” you need to interrogate your thoughts. Pretend you’ve got a little “pocket jury” as Acuff puts it, and present all the evidence.

Most often, you overemphasize the negative and underemphasize the positive, so don’t be shy about the good. If you discover that you’ve been lying to yourself, get rid of that thought!

Sometimes, however, you will find that something you’re thinking is true. But if you find that it’s unhelpful or unkind, you should stop that soundtrack.

When determining if it’s helpful, ask yourself how it’s affecting you. Does it build you up and lead you to be your best? If not, stop that soundtrack!

And last, to unearth unkind thoughts, ask yourself if it’s something you’d say to a friend.

Once you know the soundtracks that need to get the boot, it’s time to replace them. And that brings us to our next lesson.

The good news about unearthing negative thinking is that you can use it against itself by turning it upside down. One of the best places to do this is where you think in absolutes like “I must” or “it has to be perfect” or “I have to finish the whole thing right now.” Once you find these undesirable soundtracks, simply repeat the opposite to get on a positive thinking pattern. Acuff did this with writing. His initial soundtrack was “I have to finish the whole book in one sitting.” He flipped this and began repeating to himself that he just needed to finish a few pages at a time, and it helped him finish this book! Another great source for new soundtracks is other people. Take Kanye West’s quote, “my life is dope and I do dope sh*t!” for example. Acuff used this one himself to start seeing more of the good in his life. If you wonder where to get your soundtracks from and how many to borrow, the answer is anywhere and all of them. Anything that makes you feel…