Don't Look Down! Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Whatever the time is now as you read this - don't think about your favourite snack. And don't think of a nice thirst-quenching drink. And don't - whatever you do - think about whether your left elbow might be starting to itch.

I made this very mistake earlier this week. I was appearing as a guest on a BBC TV show to talk about goal setting and how important it is to take the time to set proper, well defined goals before you try to take any action to achieve them. Just before it was my turn to go on the set, I cleared my throat gently (and quietly - because the show was live). 'I hope I don't get a frog in my throat while I'm on air', I said to myself. And as I said that to myself, I found myself imagining having to clear my throat while I was talking on TV. And as I imagined that, I said to myself again 'I hope that doesn't happen'. And I started imagining it even more.

Guess what. Yep. Halfway through my interview, I started croaking. I coughed. 'Excuse me', I said, and I carried on. I started croaking again a minute later. I coughed again. I carried on.

It wasn't the end of the world. The interview went fine. They said they'd like to have me on the show again. But whose fault was it that I got that frog in my throat? Mine.

The more you think about NOT doing something, the more you fret about it. And the more you hope that it doesn't happen - the MORE LIKELY IT IS that it WILL!

Turn your thoughts around. Instead of hoping a bad thing DOESN'T happen - tell yourself you're sure that a good thing WILL. Instead of saying to myself 'I hope I don't have to clear my throat on air,' - I should have said 'I know I'll be fine now that I've cleared my throat before the interview'. Instead of 'I hope I don't lapse and break my New Year's resolution,' - tell yourself 'I'm doing well - and I know that with every day that goes by, I'm doing even better'. Your brain works best if you tell it what you WANT it to do, rather than what you don't want it to do. There's a reason for that - it's explained in the book - but there's not really enough space to go into it here.

And if you find yourself walking a tightrope from the top of one skyscraper to another... tell yourself anything you like ... except 'don't look down'.