Defining What You Want
Are your actions consistent with those who have achieved your goals?
To make this question work for you, there are three key steps to rewiring your brain to set yourself up to become more successful at just about anything--whether that's finally running that 5K or building the next unicorn startup.
1. Define what you want.
First, get clear on what it is you really want. Not because you're not multifaceted enough to handle multiple goals, but because we often fall into the murky trap of thinking we want things that we really don't--and these distract us from attaining what we really do.
Partially to blame, according to neuroscience, is that we are wired to want to avoid loss more than we want to gain a reward. But in a modern society, this primordial instinct often keeps us where we are. To step out of survival mode, we need to set our sights on what we want, because if you want to grow, you need to focus, according to research published by the Harvard Business Review.
2. Become aware of your habits and behaviors.
Next, raise your awareness of your patterns of behavior. Within these, we can often discover what we're doing that holds us back.
For example, maybe you keep saying you want to get healthier, but when it comes to meal time (or snack time), your choices often don't reflect this desire. Or, maybe they do, but without even realizing it, you make decisions that impede your progress. Maybe you always choose the escalator or elevator over the stairs. While it may be a choice that has historically stemmed from a need for speed, it's one that isn't doing you any favors when it comes to your goal.
There are many things we do subconsciously that may not be in our favor. But as long as we're not conscious of them, we can't begin to change them, our small and largely subconscious habits that keep us where we are--as opposed to where we want to be. Meanwhile, many of the small, but smart habits are a springboard for success, much like how Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates do one surprising thing before bed every night.
3. Take action to bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be.
With an awareness of what you want and your habits, you can begin fielding your own decisions with the question of whether or not your actions are consistent with someone who has achieved your goal. In other words, are you taking the same types of actions that the person who has achieved what you want to achieve had to take to achieve what they achieved?
4. Create Habits that last.
Habit of mindfulness
Habit of creative exercise
Habit of asking more questions
Habit of practicing a hobby
Habit of generosity
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