Win any challenge by retraining your reality filter

Every human sees the world through a unique stained-glass window of thoughts, feelings, words, deeds and influences. Psychologist Albert Bandura called these “self-phenomena”—they shape your identity and actions every moment. If your window is cracked with self-doubt, toxic media or critical habits, your reality warps toward fear and inaction.

The antidote is to become a deliberate window-smith: inspect each of your five creative tools and identify where distortion creeps in. Perhaps you’ve coached yourself into “I can’t” or you gossip whenever stress hits, or you binge on draining news to escape difficult feelings. These habits blur your reality and limit your performance.

Next, choose one swap per tool: replace “I can’t” with an “I can” prompt, swap gossip for an uplifting podcast, speak your truth instead of second-guessing yourself, turn a small failure into a learning step and unfollow media that ratchets up anxiety. Each replacement is a piece of new glass you’re fitting into your window.

Over days and weeks these new panes settle in. Your filter clears, your self-image upgrades and your actions shift toward bolder, more skillful moves. This daily practice rewires your brain, giving you the superpower of shaping your reality rather than being shaped by it.

Start by writing out your five internal filters: your constant thoughts, feelings, words, deeds and main influences. Circle one negative habit from each list—like catastrophizing or doom-scrolling—then choose a precise positive replacement. This week, commit to applying each swap intentionally and note in a journal how your mood and decisions shift. Keep reinforcing what works until you build a clear, empowering filter.