Unlocking Your Personal Development

Have you ever set goals or new years resolutions that you haven't achieved? Why can personal development be so hard?

The Answer: It doesn't have to be.

Below discover how your own "unconscious" mind holds you back, and how a simple technique can empower your mind to work for you, instead of against you.

Personal Development - Riding Your Wild Horse

Have you ever wondered why you can be motivated to do some things and not others?

Your subconscious mind can have a dramatic affect on your self motivation.

Question: Have you ever been tired and the very thought of working made you feel even more tired?

Or, have you ever been tired and someone called and wanted to do something you enjoy - go out to a movie, get a pizza, dancing, etc. Were you still tired, or did you suddenly come alive?

Why did the thought of working make you more tired, and going out energize you?

Your subconscious only understands two things:

Pain and Pleasure

It responds to each in completely different ways:

Pain = Low energy, low motivation, "walking uphill"

Pleasure = High energy, high motivation, "walking downhill"

Much like a river's current, your unconscious mind moves you towards pleasure and away from pain.

The problem? It, not you, decides what will be painful or pleasurable.

So if going to the gym seems painful to it, and staying home, watching TV, and eating a bag of Doritos seems pleasurable, which do you think will be easier? What if it was the other way around, how would that impact your life?

Personal Development - Taming Your Wild Horse

How can you get your subconscious to work for you, instead of against you?

The same way you train children: The stick and the carrot.

Just as a person uses rewards and punishments to train a child, they can use the same technique to train their subconscious.

The Simple Technique

1. Select something you want to accomplish daily.

2. Select something in your life that you really enjoy.

3. If you accomplish (1), you get to have (2)[carrot-pleasure], and if you don’t accomplish (1) you miss out on (2)[stick-pain].

4. To get motivated, ask yourself:

Do I want to be able to ___(2)?

Am I willing to miss out on __(2)?

Example

Let’s use the “going to the gym” example.

1. Choose something in your life that you enjoy daily.

Example: Watching Oprah (or your favorite show), having a bowl of ice cream, etc.

2. Now, if you get your gym workout done - you get to “watch your TV show”, and if you don’t get your workout done - you don’t.

In the above case, record your show and if you don’t get your workout in, use being able to watch 2 programs the next day as added incentive to do your workout.

3. What if you still miss your workout? When it’s workout time and you feel yourself “dragging your feet”, ask yourself:

Am I willing to miss out on ___ ?

The exercise of asking these questions reminds your subconscious that it will be pleasurable to workout and painful to not.

In Summary

Are you ready to put your subconscious to work for you? You can use the above principle in any area of your life.

If you ever were going to start improving your personal development, when do you think would be the best time to start?

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