Our brain is by far one of the most powerful tools in the world. Habitual performance is created on the fly. We hardly have to sit down and design our experiences. However, this short cut comes at aridiculous price. Most people form habits and then think that they cannot change them anymore.
I think it is from my own experience that I say that habitual performance can make or break you. But, if it is at breaking point,it would be a smart choice to decide to create a new and empowering habit instead, do not you think? How do habits form? Let us take a peek into our brain for the moment. We know that we have got brain cells known as neurons.
Habits are formed when neurons begin to branch out to other neurons through a communication mode called an action potential. This is a small electrical impulse that runs through our brain cells that help to form neuro-connections.
The closest visual representation is much like what might happen if an octopus were to extend on of its tentacles to touch another octopus. When a connection is formed, we have a neuro pathway. The more this neuro pathway is used, the more solidified it becomes.
So, when do we get these electrical impulses in our head? All the time! Think about it this way: Every time you wake up, you wake upin a particular way and move in a particular fashion, and carry outa particular sequence or steps in order for you to get out of bed, and off to work. And this is a pattern of habit for you everysingle day, is not it? Likewise, is not it true that sometimes when you see someone, you might just feel lousy? Think, boss! The key issue is some of these habitual patterns take place when you least expect or want it to happen.
In such a situation, you will have to use a technique to get a new pattern installed and let the old pattern die away. This techniqueis known as The Switch Pattern, developed by Dr. Richard Bandler. The Switch Pattern uses distance as a driver because distance tends to control other sub modalities. For instance, if you made an image go further into the distance, the picture tend to become smaller, less focused, and tends to lose color along the way. In order for us to do The Switch Pattern effectively, we need to identify the characteristics of effective change processes using The Switch Pattern.
Creating behavioral change processes, not imaginary static outcomes. It is important to focus on the outcome of the changethat you want to create. For instance, if your problem situation isovereating, you cannot simply imagine yourself being thin. You have to think of behaviors you will be exhibiting in order for you to eat less. For instance, you could deliberately choose to see yourself, or imagine yourself eating half of what you normally eat. You could deliberately choose to eat only up to seventy percent of your stomach’s capacity and drink more water.
For instance, clearly imagining the feeling of what it is like when you eat up to seventypercent of your stomach’s capacity.
Likewise, if you are procrastinating, just visualizing yourself doing work is not going to cut it. What do you want to feel instead? How would you help yourself to get there? You will have to see yourself do something to change your state. For instance, if you procrastinate, you might have to visualize the image ofyourself feeling the fear of the consequences if you did not do it. Some of you already do this. You think about how bad the consequences will be if you did not get it done right now. Alternatively, you might choose to do something else that changes your state, such as doing a set of fifty push ups to suck yourself up. Once you know of a behavior that you can do to change your state, see yourself doing the desired behavior clearly.
To your success!
