4 Steps to Align Your Mindset and Become Unstoppable

Have you ever wondered why people say they are going to do something, seem really passionate about it, sound very convincing that they will do it but then... don't?

Chances are they weren't lying to you or talking nonsense, they simply did what most of us do and got in their own way.

I've recently learned something really powerful and I want to share it.

Our brains, generally speaking, have four separate parts that have their own agenda's that aren't necessarily always in sync with one another. Just because your conscious brain wants something doesn't mean the other parts want the same thing.

You have your left brain, which deals with patterns of arrangement, rhythm and sound, your right brain, which deals with words and logic, your midbrain, which deals with emotions and your brain stem, which deals with physical responses. All of them speak their own language.

Let me give an example. If you've ever tried to lose weight you might begin to recognise what's really going on here.

You decide that actually you'd like to fit back into those pair of jeans from a few summers ago, the ones that you now struggle to get past your butt. You weigh yourself, set a goal of how many pounds you need to lose, based roughly on what you weighed the last time you could fit into the jeans, then resolve to only eat healthily and work out hard until you achieve your goal. It all sounds very reasonable, you've been that weight before so it's not out of the realm of possibility that you can be that weight again. You make the decision to diet using your logic brain. You put on your Fitbit and get on with your life.

You're going about your day and find it's lunchtime, you're hungry. Your physical brain activates, you have a deep craving for carbs, and before you can really think you've bought a huge baguette from the boulangerie.

You get upset with yourself for making such an impulsive decision, your emotional brain activates. So for dinner, you resolve to only eat a salad. But dinner normally consists of something stodgy. The part of yourself that deals with patterns senses something is off and makes eating that salad a miserable affair. You then get upset again. The cycle contineues until something either completely shifts or you give up. Likely the later. Our patterns are really powerful.

And that's why dieting sucks, but it's also why it's so damn hard to actually do something different from what you normally do. Forming new habits takes time and a lot of concentration. And when it comes to doing something new to change your life circumstances, it really comes down to habits.

So how do you conquer these incongruent parts of your brain?

Look, your brain doesn't mean to mess you up it's just most parts of it don't know what you want.

We all have a stream of consciousness, which drifts all over the place with a ton of really quite random information every second.

It goes something like this:

Right, got to write this email

my head itches

ooo Becky text back!

okay, what am I saying in this email?

Carol from work is so annoying, she's practically breathing down my neck

Humm feel a bit hungry

might need the loo

Is that person outside my window actually wearing a coat in August?

Where is the attachment for this email, can't forget that.

I really wish I could lie down right now

What would everyone in the office do if I just lied down on the floor?

Etc.

You get the picture, it's chaos up in there. Now imagine that the task you set for yourself is being given as instructions but they include your stream of consciousness. Do you know what you're writing in that email? Neither do I.

So here is the trick that can help you actually focus for once and set your goals practically on autopilot so you're set to live your best life.

It's called Framing:

1. Write down what it is you consciously want as a description. This frames the conscious part of your desire. That right-brained logic master.
2. While you write and think about whether or not all this is doable, be aware of any uncomfortable feelings that arise. Describe them in writing. This frames any unconscious conflict.
3. Now read it back and look for words and phrases that trigger this conflicted feeling. Circle them.
4. This is the fun bit, you can literally rewrite your unconscious consciously. Look for words and phrases that replace the triggering words until you find something more acceptable to the unconscious and you feel more ease. This may take a few times.

This exercise bridges the gap between what you consciously want and your unconscious patterns. By rewriting you are asking your consciousness to find acceptable alternatives which it has done a million times when writing anything in our lives.

Writing really is a reflection of consciousness and we can harness it to our advantage.

Now go get em!