Why it’s so difficult for people to change their behaviour?
19th June 2017
Why is it so difficult to change?
Every year thousands of people across the globe attend courses and buy books on goal setting, goal getting and personal achievement. Yet they never reach their true potential or put into practice the tools and techniques that they have learned because they simply go back to the way they've always done things.
They then wonder why their life is not quite the way they imagined when they were younger.
While we crave the comfort and safety of that which is familiar, nowadays the phrase “business as usual” has a new definition. “Business as usual” means change and disruption.
In a recent survey of leaders the number one concern in business was cited as managing change. According to executives of Fortune 100 companies, 84% of those surveyed said they had at least one change initiative going on.
Nearly half of them said that they had three or more changes underway, with the changes being linked to growth, productivity, competition and globalization.
How many times have you tried to change and failed? Maybe it was quitting smoking, losing weight, or kicking a caffeine addiction. Why is it so difficult to change?
The answer lies within you..
You have two minds; the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. Your conscious mind is hard-wired to constantly analyze, criticize and judge everything that is going on, whether that is what your colleagues are wearing, what they are saying or doing, to whether it's criticizing and analyzing changes in growth, productivity, competition and globalization.
It's judgemental. Your conscious mind can be best represented by the keyboard and monitor on a computer. Your conscious mind is created, and like a computer monitor, nothing appears unless it's plugged into a hard drive and programs are loaded. Think of it like a new iPad or smart device. Press play and nothing happens…unless you load the programs.
Your unconscious mind operates in a different way. It can be likened to a computer hard drive (although far, far more powerful). Essentially, your unconscious mind is a recording and playback mechanism and forms the habit mind.
And did I mention that it is one million times more powerful than the conscious mind? The unconscious mind is running YOU on its automatic pilot mode around 95% of the time!
Neuroscientists have shown that the conscious mind provides 5% or less of our cognitive (conscious) activity during the day. That means that most of your decisions, actions, reactions, emotions and behavior depend on the 95% of brain activity that is beyond your conscious awareness.
Even when you think you are consciously making a decision, that decision is going to be based on the existing programs stored at the unconscious level. It is the unconscious mind which shapes how you live your life. And it's the hard drive your organization and team are operating from that shapes your business.
So if you've ever found it challenging to change, now you know the reason. Furthermore, if it's challenging for you to change, then how challenging is it going to be to change an organization of people all running from pre-programmed hard drives?
So consider the following: Do you dress like a 5-year old? Are you still riding around on a little toddler tricycle?
Probably not! You grow up into an adult; you learn and constantly evolve and develop yourself which means that you've out-grown certain things.
If you change clothes, cars, where you live, your job, your hair style, your relationships and friends, then surely it would make sense that you also need to change or update the programs stored at the unconscious level; on your hard drive.
Indeed, are your current programs supporting you and your business or are they sabotaging you and the life you would like to create for yourself?
This article was originally appeared in http://www.nydailynews.com
