Summary: Happy St.Patrick’s Day! This morning, I woke up, jumped on the treadmill and thought about the story of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland. And it made me think, “what are the snakes in your life?”<br> <br> What are the snakes in your business? What are the mental snakes? The physical snakes and the emotional snakes? And what can we do to drive them out as quickly as possible?<br> <br> <br> <br> So our topic today is dealing with snakes!<br> <br> Let's start with the mental snakes. Anxiety, fear, doubt, concerns over things over which we have no control. Worrying about people. Worrying about things. Worrying about circumstances, finances, health, family.<br> <br> Worrying about things that could go wrong in our businesses. Worrying about how to keep things going right. Worrying about our own happiness, and other people's happiness. Fighting feelings that we can't keep all the balls in the air. Ever been there?<br> <br> We can't keep everyone happy. We can't even keep the train of our own lives on track and moving in the right direction most of the time.<br> <br> It's a lot of stuff to be concerned about. But we have to realize that all that anxiety, all that fear, all that worry... it's all internal.<br> <br> It’s not actually about what's going on in the outside world. It's about how we're processing it internally.<br> <br> That’s not to say we don’t have to deal with real issues. We do. Every single day.<br> <br> But, if you want to start driving out snakes, it’s often a good idea to start with the snakes in your own mind.<br> <br> Recognize that our fears don't make things better. Our worries don't make things better. Our anxieties certainly don't make things better.<br> In fact, they almost inevitably makes things a lot worse. And not just for ourselves, but often for those around us.<br> <br> So step one is to identify the snakes that need to be purged from our brains. Write them down and put together a plan for addressing that.<br> <br> So we started with the mental snakes within us. Now let's talk about the snakes on the outside.<br> <br> If I were to say to you, “what are the most obvious snakes?” What are the things around you that help to trigger or cause the fears, anxieties, worries or the stresses you feel -- what are they? Who are they? And are they really on the outside? Or is it an internal snake that I've failed to fully process?<br> <br> What I mean is, is it the person, the place, or the circumstance? Or is it the way we think about and respond to those people, places, and circumstances?<br> <br> Really think that through.<br> <br> Many people complain a lot about all the external circumstances that are making their lives frustrating, bad, miserable, or even intolerable.<br> <br> But is it really those outside factors? Or is it the way we internalize and process our thoughts about them?<br> <br> I don't know the answer to that question, and I am in no way qualified to answer it for you, which is why I'm asking YOU the question.<br> <br> Because I think that this is something ONLY you can determine for yourself.<br> <br> Is this one of those snakes that can be driven out by simply driving out the way you process it in your own brain?<br> <br> Or is this actually an external snake that needs to be physically driven out of your life?<br> <br> That's a big decision. Because sometimes those snakes, whether they're mental or physical, can take the form of friends, family, bosses, coworkers, or loved ones.<br> <br> And if the relationship is important or necessary to you, then the focus has to be driving out the snakes, instead of driving out the people, changing the places or altering the circumstances. And the reality of the situation is that it might require quite a bit of each.<br> <br> So take out a sheet of paper,
