Cameras,  Inspiration,  My Story,  Philosophy

Change Your Default Settings

February 26, 2020 / 911 Comments

When you first get your camera, it’s typically set to “Auto”.

The green box with the "A" is automatic. If new, this camera is set to default settings.
Green box = Automatic

Your camera has default settings telling the camera how to take the picture. You get automatic decisions made about how bright the photo is, how saturated (full of color) it is, the range of colors, how much of the photo will be in focus etc etc.

Now, don’t get me wrong, you can get GREAT results on auto.

This family portrait was shot with the camera's default settings
I still can’t believe I got photos like this while having NO idea what I was doing…

BUT.

The magic happens when you know enough to change your settings. The magic happens when you know what each of your options mean and what you need to manipulate to cultivate the results you want.

I may have achieved the above photo through luck then; I NOW know how to create that photo intentionally.

We can get GREAT results on Auto; we can get BETTER results with knowledge and choice

Our beliefs are the same.

From what society tells us, what our friends tell us, our teachers, our parents… we get a default way of viewing the world.

This may or may not be effective in giving us the life we want.

Thankfully, like the camera, we CAN shift our perspective. We can shift our settings.

Our actions shape our reality.

Our beliefs shape our actions.

We can change our beliefs.

How does one do this?

We change who we hang with.

If we’re in a group of people with unsupportive thoughts, we need to find a new group of uplifting people.

The beliefs of the new group may feel inauthentic at first, but with enough time, the tapes of our beliefs can be re-written. We’ll never even remember how it was before.

We change our environment.

This could be: leaving our house to get out of our head if we dwell in negativity there.

Joining a club with a focus on self-development.

Moving out of an unhealthy neighborhood if we are able.

Going on vacation to sit with our thoughts in a new locale.

Clearing out our physical clutter to create physical AND mental space.

We change what inputs are going into our brain.

If we are always reading the news, we’re going to get a picture that the world is in a terrible terrible state.

The news thrives on sharing what is novel, not normal.

I’m not saying the world is perfect, there is A LOT of suffering out there. But unless we’re using the news to learn where the suffering is in order to affect change, this isn’t helpful to our daily lives.

Also, the news rarely shares the millions (billions?) of small kindnesses that occur every day.

There are endless media channels that focus on good stuff. And when we focus on good stuff, we get MORE good stuff. We are primed to find it. Our confirmation bias is set to “confirm the world is good”.

When we think the world is good, we ACT good and create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

We don’t have to live on default. We CAN choose our settings and CAN choose our perspective.

We can design the life we want to live.

katie curtis of inspired video marketing in ann arbor michigan

Good Resources for Shifting Off “Auto”

Events

Permission Event (where the above speech took place)

Mindset Matters

Books

Podcasts

Dreams are Real

Conversations with Ask the Pool Guy and Girl

Entrepreneur on Fire

TED talks

The Tim Ferriss Show

Coming soon: “Our Inspired Lives”

Katie’s Other Speeches

Permission 1: Through consistent small steps, or through giant leaps, we design our lives.

Best Life Summit: Live Your Life Above the Trees

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