JP: Hey, everybody, I want to introduce you this week to Callum Fox. Callum Fox is our newest team member. He’s come on board as our new general manager. It’s just awesome. And he and I were talking about this thing that you called the Vicious Circle and I said…

Callum: That’s right, JP.

JP: “Oh, my God, Callum, you have to share this with everyone.” So, go share this.

Callum: Hi guys, well first and foremost, nice to meet you. I’m Callum and thanks JP for bringing me on board and being part of the team. So, the Vicious Circle, well, this week I’m offering you an insightful distinction called the Vicious Circle and it will help boost your confidence, reduce stress, and ultimately improve your momentum as an artist. By understanding this distinction and being able to recognize how it applies in all areas of your life, it can redefine how any given situation occurs for you. Such a simple distinction can be applied at any time of any day and allow you to have better control of your day because you have better control of your headspace.

Now, I was taught this distinction when I was about 15 years old and I now apply it to almost every aspect of my life but I do it subconsciously because it’s a habit and I’m used to doing it, so I’ve had numerous breakthroughs over the years. And so today for my first hot tip I want to share this with you, so I can give you the power too. So here it is.

So as can you see in this diagram, there are two overlapping circles. On the left, we have “story” and on the right, we have “what happened.” And as you can see in the middle the circles overlapped which unfortunately is where most people spend their lives and they do it without knowing. So an example to make this a little bit more clear something for “what happened” could be you put on a show or an exhibition and no one turned up and then you created a story such as I’m a failure, I’m not good enough, I’ll never be able to do this, or my art sucks.

JP: So on one side, it’s just what happened.

Callum: Correct.

JP: Just the facts and the other side is the story. Does one happen before the other?

Callum: Exactly right, JP. So the “what happened” is present time whereas the story is usually associated with a past or a present experience such as worrying about what’s gonna happen or regretting something or how it went, whereas to simplify it you look at the facts simply just the what happened.

JP: Cool.

Kalen: And so as you can see most people, unfortunately, experiences this habit without knowing and they’re constantly collapsing these two circles, the Vicious Circle.

JP: Right, so what happens to us without thinking about it is that the story becomes more dominant. Is that true?

Callum: That’s correct.

JP: Do we forget the facts?

Callum: Well, we almost think that the story is fact.

JP: Right. So what we’re gonna do is for those of you that are in the ASAP program I’m gonna make Callum, I’m gonna force you, I’m gonna make you go into greater depth to understand this so that we can figure out our way out of this. But what’s something that people could try to do this week in trying to separate it from the vicious circle back to what really is the situation what could they do this week?

Callum: Well, yes, simply press pause. When you notice yourself limiting belief coming up or something that you’re feeling a little bit uncomfortable or there’s something big happening and you’re getting nervous about it whether it’s today or in a few days, every time that thought comes up just press pause and focus on the fact, the “what happened,” and try to remove that noise and that static of the story that subconsciously or potentially consciously detrimentally building up for yourself.

JP: That’s easy. You could do that. If something bad happens, what are the facts? What happened? No story, no story, no story, just what happened, what happened, right?

Callum: That’s right.

JP: Because they’re not…there is no story yet, it’s just what happened.

Callum: True.

JP: Cool, okay. So give that a go this week. And those of you that are eager to learn more check out the ASAP program and when you need real practical advice for your art business check us out, we’re at www.auspiciousartsincubator.org.