Our brain is wired to keep us safe, which often translates to “stuck.” Similar to how we need to trick our brain to achieve our goals, we also need to trick our brain to get unstuck.
A challenge in getting unstuck is that our brain is highly influenced by our past experiences and doesn’t acknowledge the future tense. We need to create a new present in order to realize our ideal future.
One step to getting unstuck is to ask new questions that are positive and present tense like “why does cash flow so easily to me?” By using a question (afformation) instead of a statement (affirmation) we trick our brain into looking for answers (like we proactively prospect regularly instead of aggressively waiting for the phone to ring).
Another step to take in tricking our brain to get us unstuck is to take small, proactive actions. Going from not exercising to exercising five times per week (or from not prospecting to making 20 cold calls daily) is a great way to create burnout and regress back beyond where we started. When we take small actions (like making one cold call today and two tomorrow) we create a new present state gradually, which means our brain’s natural defense mechanisms, like thinking, “you’ve been working really hard, you deserve a night off the gym,” aren’t triggered.
By taking small, proactive actions we will create new results (like our body shape looking more appealing or our funnel looking more like a funnel). Those results reinforce our new present state, which our brain is wired to maintain instead of defend against.
Of course, we aren’t going to achieve positive new results every day, so another key part of tricking our brain is to reflect on our new results (aka journal), to again reinforce our new present state, which makes continuing to take those small, proactive actions easier because our brain is onboard with maintaining momentum.
Once our small, proactive actions become “normal” we can start to take larger proactive actions like stretching from 20 cold calls daily to 25, or exercising four times per week instead of three. Because we gradually built up to those larger actions, we are again less likely to trigger our brain’s safety defenses, which ultimately keep us stuck.
Until next time… go trick your brain.
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