Yesterday I was coaching with one of my legendary clients and we were discussing how the brain works; how habitual it is.
Have you ever moved house and gone out and driven home only to find yourself parked outside the old house? I did this a few weeks ago.
Our brains create super highways in the neural networks so it doesn’t have to think. The neurons bounce along the highway time after time.
This is why it can appear like it is hard to change a habit.
I want to dispel that belief.
Late last week Ross and I left early to run the Leading Yourself and Leading Others Experience. We got a little way down the road and I realised I had left my phone at home.
We circled back and I rushed to exit the front passenger seat of the car.
Without realising what had happened, I found myself sprawled out between the grass and the cement in the driveway. I had literally fallen out of the car.
I knelt on the cement dumbfounded and dazed for a few minutes. What had just happened?
As Ross came to my aid he said, “I saw your bag following you out the door and I thought, this can’t be good”.
It wasn’t good.
I had placed my handbag on the floor next to my feet. The handbag has a long shoulder strap on it. In my haste to exit the car, my foot got tangled in the strap, which resisted as I went to get out.
Bang! Onto the cement I went.
I was telling this story to my client to emphasise a point.
It’s not always difficult to change a habit.
That will never happen again.
I will never place my bag on the floor if I’m a passenger in a car.
That habit has been well and truly changed and in an instant.
So, if you’re of the belief that it’s hard to change a habit, maybe you might want to rethink that.
Can you remember a time when something happened and it affected you so quickly that in an instant you made a decision to change?
If so, that’s more evidence that it doesn’t have to take a long time to change a habit.
One of the mantras I teach my clients regarding changing beliefs (and it’s a belief, that it takes a long time to change a habit) is to say, “But that may not be true”.
Regarding all beliefs, they are decisions we’ve made at some point in time and they are not fact. If they’re not fact, they’re not true. So next time you find yourself limiting yourself, question your decision, “But that may not be true”.
I can assure you, I will never again place my bag on the floor in a car when I’m sitting in the seat.
That habit changed in an instant.
P.S. Create a good habit. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.
P.S.S. Our next Leading Yourself and Leading Others Experience starts in February 2023. We’re still working out the days. Early bird discount will end on 31st December 2022.
