Stanley F. Bronstein – Personal Development BlogPersonal Development Blog of the Founder of the Achievement IQ Movement and Creator of the Laws of Positioning

Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy. (Eagles, from the song, Take it Easy)

An Observation About Songwriters / Musicians

In my opinion, songwriters and musicians often are some of the most “contemplative” people in our society. They take the time to observe. They take the time to think. They take the time to write and sing about what they think.

To me, this makes many of them special. We should pay attention to what they write; to what they say. There just might be some wisdom in their words.

I know there is definitely some wisdom in the above quote, but first, some definitions before we dig into it in detail.

Some Definitions

Sound – The particular auditory effect produced by a given cause.

Wheels – A cycle, recurring action, or steady progression. A rotating instrument that Fortune is represented as turning in order to bring about changes or reverses in human affairs. A wheeling or circular movement.

Spin – To cause to turn around rapidly, as on an axis; twirl; whirl. To move, go, run, ride, or travel rapidly. To have a sensation of whirling; reel.

Drive – To force to work or act. To impel; constrain; urge; compel. To keep (machinery) going.

Crazy – Mentally deranged; demented; insane. Senseless; impractical; totally unsound.

Obsess – To dominate or preoccupy the thoughts, feelings, or desires of (a person); beset, trouble, or haunt persistently or abnormally, to think about something unceasingly or persistently; dwell obsessively upon something.

Source: Dictionary.com

What Does This Quote Suggest?

It suggests something I have observed in almost all people, including those who are successful and those who are not.

ALL of us, and I do mean ALL have a habit of allowing thoughts to “spin back and forth in our minds”. We frequently doubting ourselves. We frequently wonder whether or not what we are doing is the right thing. In other words, the wheels in our mind keep spinning, spinning and spinning.

Successful people control this. Unsuccessful people do not. It’s that simple.

If we can control the sound of our own “internal noise”, we allow ourselves the time to “think things through”

That is the process of the mental wheels spinning in our own minds.

Reasonable Control Is The Solution

So many people suggest that we must be in control, 100% of the time. I’m not so sure of that. I believe there are “varying” degrees of control, all of which are necessary to success.

I think if we need to be in total control, only a fraction of the time. The rest of the time, we need to be “fairly” in control. In other words, we can still make mistakes; we don’t need to be perfect. We just need to make sure that we are in control enough so that we don’t “mess up”.

The Sound Of Your Own Wheels

If you are like most people, the “sound of your own wheels” is often negative. You think thoughts like:

I would have done this.

I would have done that.

I should have done this.

I should have done that.

I could have done this.

I could have done that.

Woulda,Shoulda,Coulda

There is an old saying. Woulda, shoulda, coulda. If we focus all of our time on the things we would have done; the things we should have done; the things we could have done, we will drive ourselves nuts.

No matter how successful we are, we can always do better.

The main focus we all should have is that the minute we realize we could have done something better, we STOP. We analyze. We learn from it. THEN we move on. We do NOT obsess on the fact that we could have done something better.

When We Obsess, That Is The Problem

When we obsess, we begin to torment ourselves.   When we begin to torment ourselves, we start to go crazy.  That’s the very thing the song quote suggested.

There is nothing wrong with analyzing our actions and the results we derived from that.  A problem only arises when we dwell on those actions, over and over and over and over.   If we constantly think the same negative thoughts, we do not allow ourselves the time to “shift” into positive mode and to start thinking positive thoughts, which are based upon the things we learned from our actions.

Conclusion

The next time you find yourself dwelling on negative thoughts for too long, ask yourself:  What positive experience can I take from my negative thoughts.

Accentuate the positive.  Eliminate the negative.

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