How To Change

Our primitive brains really likes to work against change.

But all hope is not lost!

We have another part of our brain called the pre-frontal cortex, the thinking brain, or the higher brain.

This is the part of our brain that can plan and prepare, reason, and think about the future.

This is where change is created.

Have you ever had that experience where you feel like you are having a two-sided conversation in your head?

'I want to go exercise tonight.'

'Actually, it would feel so much better to just rest here on the sofa.' 

'But it will help me feel better both emotionally and physically.'

'Watching Netflix on the sofa will feel so much better'

'I did decide that I was going to start exercising more.'

'We can start tomorrow.  There's always tomorrow.'

Yep.  We've all had similar conversations in our heads, whether it's about exercise, better eating, using our time to learn a new skill, spend time with people we love, or working our business.

That's our primitive brain and our pre-frontal cortex having a conversation.

The primitive brain is seeking to keep everything the same, to avoid pain, seek pleasure, and conserve energy.

The pre-frontal cortex is seeking to move us forward into growth.

So, we have these conversations in our heads.

Two voices.

Nothing has gone wrong, and you're not weird.

The primitive brain says whatever it wants and we don't control it.

The pre-frontal cortex we do control, we consciously do the thinking/speaking.

The trick is to learn to talk to ourselves (pre-frontal cortex) more than we listen to ourselves (primitive brain).

And this takes a lot of awareness on our part.

It takes intentionally deciding what we want most, and just doing what we really want.

It takes being really conscious and aware that our primitive brain will absolutely push against growth and things that are not familiar, accepting that it will, and knowing that it's okay, because it's doing exactly what it was created to do.

And also realizing that our pre-frontal cortex is doing exactly what it was created to do - move us into growth and progression.

We get to choose which brain to listen to.

Most of us have a lot of practice listening to our primitive brain and not so much listening to our pre-frontal cortex.

Once we create more awareness, we can start practicing listening to our pre-frontal cortex and not negotiating with our primitive brain.

Doing what you really want to do, even though your primitive brain is screaming at you to not change a thing, is thinking with your pre-frontal cortex and will create the change you seek.

Practice talking to yourself more than you listen to yourself.

Want to learn more about this concept?

Check out this podcast:

 

#366 The Art of Not Negotiating

On Apple         On Spotify