Have you ever woken up and said to yourself ‘today is the day’ I am going to start eating better and exercising more? Did you then spend the next 15mins having thoughts of how much effort it will take, before deciding to wait for a better time?
Don’t beat yourself up, it’s a survival technique.
The conflicting thoughts of wanting to and not wanting to change are coming from two different parts of your brain.
The area that’s encouraging you to change is called your Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) aka your “Thinking brain”. It’s the newer part of your brain, that can look past the emotion an initial discomfort of an action to see the long-term benefits. It assesses the situation for real life danger and makes calm decisions, it’s your brains health and safety officer.
The other area that’s trying to talk you out of change is your Limbic system aka “Lizard Brain”. It’s the very primitive, emotional driven and hard wired for efficiency part of your brain. It tends to mistake mind -based dangers for real life danger.
For example, you need to food to survive, your Lizard brain will see a donut and say go for it! It’s an easy way to get energy and it tastes great. Your PFC “Thinking brain” is calmer and measured. It’s the other voice in your head questioning whether or not you actually need those calories and, if you do could there be a better option.
If you take the harder option and pass up the donut, you are training your brain to use your PFC and override your Lizard. You are looking to cut that 15min “Should I or Shouldn’t I” battle you have in your head down over time, to speed up your PFC super- powers.
The great thing is that once you start to let your PFC take charge in one situation it becomes easier to do it in others, actions that you previously let your Lizard brain talk you out of
Such as: –
• Taking the stairs instead of the elevator
• Doing a 10min workout instead of saying “what’s the point” and spending 10mins looking at your phone instead.
• You have that tough conversation with a friend/family member you have been avoiding.
You will never shut down your lizard completely, and you don’t want to. There are times it stops you from repeating unhelpful actions from your past. Such as when you are 5 and your sister tells you to put your finger on an electric cattle fence (not forgotten sis!). However, by training your brain to do helpful hard tasks, overtime the process will become less threatening to your Lizard and easier.
Here’s a tip.
Pick one thing that you have been putting off doing or changing. Maybe it’s a HIIT session, you know its going to hurt but you also see the benefits. However long your session is, cut it in half. If you’re still avoiding it cut it in half again. You may only be left with 30sec and be thinking “What’s the point” that won’t improve my fitness. In the case we want to train your brain, by doing even 30sec of something you haven’t done before is a win.
Try it. Unleash your PFC superpowers and with it your potential.
Head to http://www.laurawoodley.com to sign up to my newsletter, for more ways to make you stronger in all areas of your life.
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