Today you’ll discover a new tool for sculpting the body you want. Motivating both sides of your mind! For this you’ll dig into your deep thought processes to discover new things about yourself.
Firstly let’s get a little background. Have you ever noticed that you’ve an almost schizophrenic nature when it comes to weight loss and lifestyle change? One day you’ve decided to make positive changes in your life; the next you can’t ignore those plans quick enough.
You may consider yourself as weak willed. But this isn’t the case! It’s just that you haven’t considered motivating both sides of your mind! You see you have two sides in your brain that often spend their time competing when you are choosing which behavior and action path to follow.
The first is your rational side. This side likes to make plans to change and can see the logical benefits of doing so. This is the side of your mind that decides you’re going to lose weight and how you’re going to go about it. It looks to the long term and strives for achievement. Unfortunately, it’s also the side that’s in control for the least amount of time.
The other side of your mind is the instinctive, reactive side. This side of your mind is in the driving seat most of the time. Its preference is short term focus. It desires enjoyment and comfort in the current moment. This is the side of your mind that decides to skip the workout, or eat the pizza.
That’s not to say that your instinctive side is all bad though. In fact, it has far more drive than your logical side to get you to where you want to be. But to do so it needs its own form of motivation. You need to make your instinctive side feel the passion!
Doing so is surprisingly simple. You just need to create an emotional attachment to your goal. In other words, you need to find what achieving your goal will mean to you on an emotional level. The deeper and closer to your core this emotional attachment is the harder it will be to break. Think of it as a fence post in a high wind. The deeper it is routed the less likely it is to fall.
This can take some time, so it’s worth spending a few minutes a day over a week or two to dig deeper and deeper into your reasons. There are several techniques to discovering your core motivation. This time you’ll be using the 5 Whys method.
All this approach requires is for you to ask yourself “Why do I want to lose weight?” and then to dig deeper into your answers by asking “Why?” each time. Let’s look at an example:
“Why do I want to lose weight?”
“So that I can wear nicer, fitting clothes”
“Why do I want to wear nicer, fitting clothes?”
“So I feel more confident, especially at work”
“Why do you want to feel more confident, especially at work?”
“Because I will be able to get a promotion and earn a better salary”
“Why do you want to get a promotion and earn a better salary?”
“So that my partner and I can buy a house”
“Why do you want to buy a house?”
“So that we can start a family together”
You don’t always have to use 5 whys. You may use more, or less. The important part is that you reach the core of the reason that you to want to lose weight.
Summary
- Previous weight loss goals were unsuccessful because you only motivated your rational side.
- Your instinctive side needs to know your deep emotional connection to a goal to develop passion.
- Find your emotional motivation by using the 5 Whys system.
As always if you have any questions then please ask.
I hope you’re having a great day!
Best wishes,
Simon
Head Lifestyle Sculptor and Scientist
Body Development Centre