Self-Improvement Junkie?

The Secret is in the Science

If you are here, reading Mindful Monday, growing and evolving as a human is probably pretty important to you.

I’m guessing that like me, you are a voracious reader/workshop attendee/podcast listener.

There’s always a something new, right?

Even when it’s just tiny twist on something you already know – there’s always something that makes you nod your head.

And yet…

“This is not my first rodeo” is one of the most common statements I hear from people feeling stuck.

They’re frustrated.

Intellectually and emotionally, we gobble the stuff up. We relate, get excited and give it a try.

Then we get distracted.

Life gets in the way and the next thing you know you’re back in your old pattern until the next book, next workshop, next podcast.

Sound familiar?

Surprisingly, the secret to making it stick is so simple it seems boring.

Repetition.

Yup, that’s it. Neuroplasticity. Your brain and body learn by repetition.

But there’s a catch.

I’m not talking about once-a-day repetition.

If you want to shift your mindset – if you want to be more present every day, you need the kind of radical repetition that you use when you’re forced to learn a new technology.

Most of us never really learned to program a VCR or use that wretched scientific calculator that they made us buy in high school – we used them too infrequently. (Or in the case of the scientific calculator – barely at all.)

But we all know how to use our phones, drive a car, operate the software on the computer you use each day.

We learned these because we were immersed in them for huge chunks of each day and soon, they became effortless.

You have 12,000-60,000 thoughts every day and 80% of them are repeats. If you want to change them, you need to immerse yourself in new thinking. Understanding the concepts and being excited about them are simply not enough.

This Week: Radical Repetition Made Easy

Choose the thing you’d like to work on. If you’re not 100% sure where to start, I recommend a simple mindfulness practice (like One Stone). Mindfulness exercises will increase your brain’s ability to focus on what you choose – even when things are chaotic. A very useful skill to have as you take on the next thing you want to shift.
Keep it simple. Growth is really a series of tiny changes that build on each other over time.
Choose an anchor. (Something you already do many times each day – like checking Facebook, getting something to drink or worrying.)
Every time you experience your anchor, devote 10 to 60 seconds to whatever you’ve chosen to practice.
Repeat.