I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.
How to change habits by repeating the right choice
Submitted by RagsToRich on Wed, 2010-05-19 09:56
Related Terms :
Sometimes you know that something is the right thing to do but you do not feel like doing it. This happens to pretty much everyone on a regular a daily basis. But more than ever it is almost bound to happen to anyone who is going through a period of personal development or habitual change.Evolutionarily speaking it has proven, over periods of hundreds of thousands of years, that the most effective strategy for survival is to establish a routine which works and then stick to it. By “works” all I mean is that the organism continues to survive, and perhaps gains a survival-based rewards such as food. Organisms find successful strategies and then increasingly resist changing those strategies as they age.
What this means is that parts of our brain, particularly the more powerful deeper emotional parts, tend to be quite resistant to change. They establish successful habits for living and survival early on in our life and then, as a general rule, they become more and more fixed over time. You can notice this in how common it is for people to comment on old people being “set in their ways” – as a generalisation.
Neurologists claim this phenomenon is due to a reduction in our Neuroplasticity – all that means is a reduction in the ability of the brain to change and form new neural pathways. You could literally think of neural pathways as a stream of water down a mountain. Over-time the path the water takes becomes deeper and wider and more set in one place. If you want to create a new path then you will have to begin by forcing a tiny stream.
That stream will still not be the dominate path down the mountain for the water to take. Instead the water will, over time, require deliberate intervention. If this process continues eventually the new pathway becomes the more likely path for the water to take, and some time on from there it could become effectively the sole path of the water down the mountain.
This is exactly how new behaviours work. The first time you do something you’ve never done before, or the first time you break an old behaviour, you’ve just created a trickle down the mountain. It’s a start, but you’ve still got 95% of your water flow pouring ferociously down the dominate stream which has been reinforced through years of habit.
Whenever you know that there’s something you should be doing, perhaps something which you’d like to make a new habit of like a new productivity habit or a change in your social behaviour, but you feel some emotional resistance this is the model you can think of. The resistance is the water pressure gushing down the old stream, it is disinclined to take the new trickle which you want it do and so you are experiencing the resistance in the form of procrastination-type emotions. If you let the old habit go on then eventually the new trickle will dry up and change will not take place.
On the other hand – if you get yourself together, and make a conscious effort to refocus and ignore the temptation to procrastinate or to fall into your old ways then you are making it easier for it to happen the next time. Every time you do the right thing, you reinforce the new productive habit.
It actually doesn’t take as long as people think to “get over the hump”. Within three weeks you can completely change any habit, if you’re committed enough.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
Email this Article
Re: How to change habits by repeating the right choice
"Making a conscious effort" to overcome resistance is easier said than done. That's because the mind is designed in such a way that it often sides more with our resistance than with our goals. A clinical psychologist, I've studied this phenomenon for years, and I'm convinced that it takes more than "will" and motivation to be able to make desired behavioral changes. I developed a simple electronic device called the MotivAider to help people stay focused on making specific changes in their behavior and habits.
Re: How to change habits by repeating the right choice
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the comments.
There's no harm in having a reminder. But in my opinion reminding yourself about your commitment is the easy part. All it takes is a bit of reflection in the morning, and perhaps a piece of paper which you check throughout the day.
If you are struggling to over-come an old habit, or procrastination, then I would look to your source desire and your method. Is your desire strong enough? Is your method sound?
By the way if you are confident in your product's effectiveness I'd happily accept a sample of your device and if it proves as useful as you believe (I'm always working on new habits) then I'll write a review on this site and openly endorse it.
Rich
Re: How to change habits by repeating the right choice
Hi Rich,
Reminding oneself "should be" easy, but it's easier said than done. For example, when people decide they should improve their posture, it's common for them to fail - not because they are resistant, but because they simply fail to remind themselves often enough of the change they sincerely intend to make. The mind is much better equipped to respond to reminders than it is to dependably generate its own.
I certainly agree, however, that desire and method are extremely important factors. In additon to reminding its user of a goal, the MotivAider can also help motivate the user by enabling him/her to stay focused on a powerful personal reason for putting forth the effort required to achieve the goal.
Rich, I'd be delighted to send you a MotivAider to test.
Steve
Post new comment