In his book A Whole New Mind—Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, Daniel Pink offers a number of simple exercises. The one we liked best is called “But Out.”
If you have changes that you would like to make, but you think you’re blocked by obstacles, make a list of those changes and what’s keeping you from achieving them.
For example, Pink suggests: “I’d like to read more, but I rarely have time when I can sit down with a book.”
If you change “but” to “and,” you might say:
“I’d like to read more, and I rarely have time when I can sit down with a book. So I need to get books on tape that I can listen to in the car and at the gym.”
“Exchanging ‘and’ for ‘but’ can move you out of excuse-making mode and into problem-solving mode,” Pink stresses.