Last
week we explored one of the most powerful NLP presuppositions for
understanding habits & other behaviours. This week we're going to look at
some practical ways that you can increase your power to break the habits you
don't want, & build the ones you do want. In this article, we're going to be
exploring the impact of accountability & leverage.
You
may already be aware that I recently stopped drinking coffee. I'm a member
of a group of men who meet each week to support each other in being the
best we can be, & so I asked them to help me with my goal of breaking the
coffee habit. After some discussion, this is what I agreed: For any day that
I drink coffee, I have to pay £50 to the group for them to do with what they
will.
That's
£50 for every day I drink coffee!
Do you
think I've had any coffee since then? NO!
This
is called getting leverage on yourself, & it's very powerful.
Do
this quick exercise:
1) Think of between 1 & 3 things that you'd really like to
get or
experience. These could be “treats” that you've
already been
saving up for, or something you already
enjoy from
time to time.
Here
are some examples:
-
A
meal at a favourite restaurant
-
A
trip to an amusement park
-
A
special holiday
-
A
new playstation
-
A
new stereo
-
etc
2) Think of between 1 & 3 things that you really don't like
the idea of,
but that you would be willing to do as a
forfeit if
you had to.
Here
are some examples:
-
Having to clean your friends' toilets
-
Paying £50 to a political party who stand for everything you're against
-
Taking a cold shower
3) Choose some habit you'd like to break or a new habit
you want to
create.
Here
are some examples:
-
Stop drinking coffee / smoking cigarettes / surfing the web / watching
TV etc
-
Start making juice / eating healthily / exercising / playing guitar etc
4) Choose one of your treats as a reward you can give
yourself once
you've (broken or created) the habit for a
relevant
period of time (Eg. 3 months)
5) Choose one of the “punishments” as a forfeit if you
either do the
thing you've said you won't, or not done
the thing you
said you would.
One of
my friends wanted to get into the habit of starting conversations with
women, but he suffered from “approach anxiety” - he got scared every time he
saw a woman he was attracted to & talked himself out of talking to her. So
he gave me a £20 note, & said that if I picked out someone for him to talk
to & he didn't approach her, I got to keep the £50. All of a sudden, he was
able to approach every woman I picked out.
This
is an example of accountability. Buddy up with someone else who wants to
create new habits, then support each other. You can schedule a phone call
for the beginning of each day, or even agree to send each other a text
saying what you're committing to. When you know you're accountable to
another person, it can add a lot of power to your commitments.
By the
way, there are a variety of videos & articles to help you break old habits &
develop new ones on the “other” salad website,
http://www.mynlpresources.com/subscribe. When you join,
you'll also become a member of a supportive community of like-minded people
who can help you to achieve your goals.
We now have space to accept another 400 members
onto the site and the first 300 have already sold. We're going to keep the
membership fee low for the first 400 people, then we'll be closing the doors
to new members again for enhancements later in the year.
When we relaunch in the new year, it will be at a
premium price, but when you join today, your membership fee will remain at
its existing level for
LIFE!
So if you don't want to miss out, & want to get access to the world's
coolest, most powerful NLP learning community (including a forum with some
of the world's top NLP trainers), go to
http://www.mynlpresources.com/subscribe
today & join now.
Have a great week!
To your success!
Your friend
Jamie
Jamie
Smart
Jamie Smart
CEO
jamie.smart@saladltd.co.uk
jamie.smart@saladltd.co.uk
"Once You Truly Feel Secure in Yourself, You Can Really Start Experiencing The Kind of Relationship(s) You Desire"
On
Saturday 22nd November, I’m running a powerful one-day workshop exclusively for
women, called Better Relationships with NLP. This workshop will help women make
positive transformational changes in their lives. I've just released a video about this training and you can see it on the webpage
along with the full details of the training
here