New Habits for the New Year

Yes! You can be successful with your New Year’s Resolution by starting a healthy new habit. As a matter of fact, why wait until the January 1st to start? Whether your goal is to lose weight, quit smoking, or change any other habit you’ve grown accustomed to, the secret is all the same…

“Alter your subconscious mind.”

You ask, “What does my subconscious mind have to with it?”

I’m glad you asked! : ) It has everything to do with it. Did you know that more than 88% of your day is run on autopilot, by your subconscious? More than 88%! This means less than 12% of the time we are consciously aware of what is going on around us and in our heads!

Your subconscious controls your walk, it controls you smiling at a stranger, it controls you shaking your colleagues hand… and it controls your habits, good and bad! Keep in mind, you WANT your subconscious to be making your choices! After all, it does make 88% of your choices every day! That won’t change. This is exactly the reason why most diets don’t work! Most diets do not alter your behavior! With most diets you have to always remain conscious, always remain vigilant of the foods you eat. Most diets do not affect your subconscious thinking so as soon as your tired, or bored, or stressed, your old patterns are there.. grabbing the wrong foods once again! It’s the same thing with any other habit you may wish to change. You need to alter your behavior at the subconscious level and your success rate dramatically increases!

Some people hear the 88% number and think they need to try to decrease that 88% subconscious thinking by increasing their 12% conscious thinking. I can see where this sounds helpful, but this is exactly what you don’t want to do. You want to alter your behavior so your new habit is part of that 88%! You want your subconscious to make your choices, you just need it to make the right ones! Are you with me?

Let me explain how your subconscious mind works and why if left alone it will keep you stuck. Your subconscious mind holds your experiences, it holds your memories, it holds your perceptions... AND it holds your habits!

Well, you cannot change your experiences. You cannot change your memories. BUT what you CAN change are your perceptions about your experiences and memories!

One of the things I do as a Life Coach is teach people to write about their life with my book, “The Road You’ve Traveled.” One thing I’ve learned is it’s important to know where you’ve been so you can know where you are going!

Journaling is a key component of creating change in your life.

1. Write down the habit you wish to change.2. Then write why you want to change. Does this habit affect your health, your self esteem, etc.3. When you attain your goal, how will you feel? What will be different about your life?4. Write a commitment to yourself and date it.5. List all of the options you could do to begin to create this change in your life. 6. Of this list, what are you willing to try right now? Every week pick another option and commit yourself to doing it.

There are many other things you can do for yourself in conjunction with journaling to create the changes in your life you desire. But remember change takes time.

One of the cool things that happen through effective journaling is this: As human beings, we tend to have pretty quick recall of the events in our lives that have gone wrong. Don’t we? We can relate all of the horrid details, who said what, how awful it made us feel, and how we still feel about that experience!

If I asked you to tell me 3 events that have negatively affected your life, how long would it take you to come up with them?

Now if I asked you tell me 3 glorious events that have positively impacted your life, how long would it take you?

I’ve asked these questions to many, many people over the years and hands down, it took them much longer to recall the 3 glorious events!

Why is this? Well, it’s human nature to remember the negative events. Remember I said your perceptions are a part of your subconscious? It’s in this area that we become stuck. We’re not aware of our subconscious making our choices, it just does!

After working on a Reprogramming program for just two weeks, this is what one woman had to say:

“I love it! I am finally setting up boundaries and not allowing people to walk all over me!”

Can you believe that? She was able to make these dramatic changes in her life because she was immediately utilizing the tools she was learning to reprogram her subconscious.

So, if you have changes you’d like to make to your life, what’s keeping you from making it happen? Start out with buying yourself a nice journal or notepad and get busy writing!

To learn more about journaling journaling and creating new, healthy habits contact Life Coach Jane at 734 546 3260.