This is the 1st of a 3 part series on change.
I am writing this the 3rd week in January and like always, I start to wonder how others are doing on their New Years resolutions (for those of you who made them). As one year winds down and another one begins, we make the standard, annual new years resolutions, usually around being healthier, i.e. weight loss through clean eating and/or hitting the gym. Maybe it’s picking up a new hobby such as painting or learning to play an instrument. Perhaps you vow to stop cussing or desire to start keeping a tidier living space. Regardless of what the resolution is, we use the new year as an opportunity to make resolutions because we want to be better. These resolutions are made with utmost sincerity. We are motivated, the holidays and the disruption in routines is behind us, we’ve got our game face on, we are really going to make something happen this year!
For the first 2-3 weeks, we are killing it! We can feel a bit of a shift within ourselves and it feels good! This year, it’s different, and then, uh oh, something unexpected happens. We wake up with the sniffles and decide we’ve been pushing too hard and should take a couple of rest days. And those rest days turn into a rest month and the next thing you know you have fallen off the wagon feeling guilt and shame because once again, you just couldn’t seem to make the lasting changes you really did want to make.
Rest assured, you are not alone. But why? Why is it so hard to make lasting change? There is not just one simple answer to this question. However, research has shown that one big reason is because we try to make changes with our conscious brain which is responsible for controlling only 5% of our lives. The odds really aren’t in your favor. It has nothing to do with willpower or desire. It has to do with the fact that our subconscious is running 95% of your life and unless you learn how to reprogram your subconscious, chances are you will not be able to sustain permanent change regardless of how sincere you are about everlasting change. Now, let me just say that by no means am I suggesting that you throw in the towel with your resolutions before February or that you don’t even attempt to be a better version of yourself. I’m simply stating why change is so hard in spite of your best intentions.
Good news is there is hope! There are several techniques you can put into play in order to help make lasting change. For the purpose of this blog, I will be sharing the need to become greater than your environment as one way to help sustain change.
Results of a study consisting of 10,000 participants showed only 4% were able to change through willpower, drive and force. The other 96% were not successful, with the environment being the dominant factor among the unsuccessful group. Why? Willpower is only present when we are thinking about it, it’s part of our 5% conscious brain. However, our environments are working on us, 24 hours, 7days a week. Our subconscious programming is playing a huge role in our inability to make change last.
So what is our environment? The New Oxford Dictionary defines it as the surroundings or conditions in which a person, plant or animal lives or operates. Anything we can see, hear, taste, touch and smell is part of our environment. Music on your phone, interior of your car or apartment/house, social and business networks, places you go, people in your life, your mind, body, feelings and emotions are all examples of what makes up your environment. All of these things are working on you whether you are aware of it or not.
So then if changing our environment helps create lasting change, doesn’t it make sense that you should examine your environment? What does your home look like? Does your dog need a bath? How’s your car looking these days? Could you live out of it because of all the clothes piled up in it? Is there food or half drunk water bottles tossed on the floor? What kind of friends do you have? Is there that one friend that cancels plans at the last minute or ditches you when you’re out? How about the coworker that steals your ideas or that isn’t part of the team? Pay attention to your surroundings and I would be willing to bet, there’s something there that could be improved upon and when you do so, you are now designing your environment in such a way that pulls you towards becoming the person you envision.
In addition, when creating your external environment, be sure you are reflecting your inner values and beliefs. Be aware of your values. Be aware of the things that consciously and subconsciously motivate you. Take note of your beliefs and feelings of certainty we’ve acquired through past experiences that drive our behavior. By looking at your values and beliefs, you can decide how you want to live and thus design your environment accordingly. When designing the exterior of your lives based on the interior of your life, it helps pull you into the person you want to become which is why you wanted to create change in the first place.
Suggestion for moving forward: Write down just one change you are looking to make, why you want to make it (what is your intention) and what changes in your environment can be implemented to support your desired change.
Until next time, keep flying forward…
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