As the well-known saying goes “How you do one thing, is how you do everything”.
Habits are funny things really. Sometimes without really thinking about it, we’ve trained our brain to do something. Sometimes this can be a good thing, like turning negative thoughts into a positive; whereas others can be not so good, like not doing what you say you are going to do. 9/10 if I say I am going to do something then I do it (not doing what you say you are going to do is my biggest bug bear!). However I know many, many people that are the opposite (my husband included!).
It’s very easy in life to keep putting things off and off and to have multiple excuses to why you aren’t doing something. When you say to your brain that you are going to do something, (and this can be as small as doing a workout in the morning) and then end up not doing it, your brain then gets used to you not doing what you commit to doing. It then starts self-sabotaging. Giving you excuses to why you don’t want to workout – you are too tired, you don’t feel 100%, you can’t find your gym clothes etc. You then get to the point where you forgot you ever said you’d workout and so the cycle continues. This is now how the brain reacts to ANYTHING you commit to. Missing workouts might seem like a small impact to our lives, but what if this also now relates to the bigger changes you want to be making – leaving the job you hate and makes you miserable, turning that great idea you have into a business or moving industry.
Committing to something and following through with it, sends signals to the brain that you mean business. This means that moving forward, when you follow the same action, it will help to remove obstacles and make you more likely to do what you say you are going to do. Voila – a habit is now formed!
SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?
The good thing is, the brain is a muscle and muscles can be trained and adapted. You can train your brain to be your best employee and help support you to meet your goals, not to hold you back.
Start small to begin with – tell your brain you are going to make a coffee and then do it. Tell it you are going to go for a walk and then do it. The more evidence your brain has, the more likely it will believe you and help support you to do. the. thing.
You can then start thinking bigger – have that scary conversation with your boss, commit to your morning routine. Over time, this will become a habit for your brain and you’ll find you tend to do much more things you say you are going to do.
How did this resonate with you - are you a doer or a put-er-off-er?
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