It is helpful to simplify the brain into two distinct entities: the conscious (prefrontal cortex) and the subconscious (basal ganglia). The former is our Rider, and the latter is our Elephant. The Rider wants us to develop good habits. The rest of the brain is satisfied with things the way they are and doesn’t see a need to change. It likes its routines and the rewards associated with them.
The Elephant doesn’t do delayed gratification. He is a comfort junky, focused on the here and now. Relaxing, eating ice cream, and watching Netflix are a few of his favorite activities. He is the dumb repeater who doesn’t think about gaining weight while he enjoys a chocolate chip cookie or cancer while smoking a cigarette.
Our Rider is the one that thinks about the benefits and consequences of our actions. He is a great planner and thinker but not a great doer. He relies on the Elephant to get things done but isn’t strong enough to bully him. He has to convince the Elephant to want what he wants, or at least not put up more resistance than he can overcome.
The million-dollar question is how do we get the Elephant on board? How do we get him comfortable with change? The best approach is to reduce the size of the change. Shrinking the behavior down to something that will allow you to get past the brain’s gatekeepers.
When you make a big ask, your brain magnifies the task’s difficulty and tells the Rider, NO. The Elephant cannot see you now. Try again later, perhaps after he attends a Date with Destiney event with Tony Robins.
When you ask for a big commitment, your Elephant has to be super motivated or your willpower sky-high to force the big guy into action. Neither of these scenarios is likely to occur consistently, certainly not with the daily regularity required to develop a habit.
Shrink that commitment to something laughably small, and the gatekeeper lets you right in. And because you kept your request small, your Elephant won’t resist much, if at all, so your Rider will always have enough willpower to persuade him to take action.
Eventually, the gatekeeper will send you right in, saying he has been expecting you. As his comfort level increases, so will his confidence, and he will put up less and less resistance. And it isn’t just the Elephant that is getting stronger. Your Rider is, too. Your willpower, confidence, and self-efficacy are increasing, making the development of good habits and achieving better life outcomes easier.
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Small Changes, Fantastic Results
If you are looking for a simple, common-sense approach to weight loss that creates a strong-firm body for life, Lean by Habit is it! It contains everything you need to get in great shape. You’ll have eight free downloadable training programs to choose from based on your goals, a flexible diet, a habit tracker scorecard, and other execution-focused materials to help you succeed.
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If you are motivated to improve how you look and feel, the time to act is NOW! Don’t give your motivation a chance to wane and your excuses time to talk you out of it. When it comes to improving your life, there is no place better to start than with your habits, and there is no better program than this one to help you do it.
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This book contains:
- The Three-Step Process for Behavior Change
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