Have you ever read a book that gave you the impression that the author held nothing back? That she gave her all? That’s how I felt while listening to Tony Robbins’ Personal Power. I listened to his program because I felt that there was something important to learn from Tony for me.
My instinct turned out to be right, his unique ability to change mental state fast was something so new and fascinating for me.
In this post I want to share a simple exercise to intensify the two driving forces of human behavior, so that you can use them to your advantage instead of being enslaved by them.
Here is what you have to understand, if there is something you want to change but haven’t, the reason is very likely, that you associate more pain than pleasure to it. Don’t overreact to what you just read just yet. We often associate pain to things subconsciously. So you likely won’t realize at first that you do in fact have negative associations associated with a certain action.
The trick is to become conscious about your negative associations, once you do that, you’ll realize that they don’t make sense or at least are blown way out of proportion. That realization frees yourself from those associations. So this is what you do.
- Write down some important actions you must take or habits you must change. For example, starting to workout 3 times per week.
- Make a list of the negative associations (pain) you associate with each action.
- Example:
- Training sucks.
- It’s of no use if I start because I can’t form a consistent exercise habit.
- Example:
- Make a list about the pleasure you will get once you successfully establish a habit with each action. Really go into great detail and imagine everything you write down.
- Example:
- If I form a habit of working out, within a year I will be in great shape and look the way I’ve always wanted to.
- I will have more than enough energy to do all the things I want to.
- Example:
In this example, you should also debate your negative associations. For instance, if exercise sucks then why are there many people who love exercising so badly that they do anything to not miss a workout. A logical conclusion you must make is that your assumption about exercise is wrong. Write down all arguments to disprove each one of your
Read this list as often as necessary and go into great detail imagining the worst-case and best-case scenarios. Want to stop smoking? Imagine the worst case, getting cancer and suffering without anything you can do to change that fate. Then imagine yourself with lots of energy, health and happiness. Having the ideal healthy lifestyle you’ve always wanted. Imagine your list every day, for as long as necessary.
Actions will follow automagically.