How to program your brain to accomplish anything you want… anything
Do you know you are not your mind? Do you know you are more than just your brain and the thoughts on this? Your brain is a tool, the same way a computer is just a tool to accomplish certain tasks. Although the brain is far more powerful than a computer because it learns by itself and responds to emotions (yeah I know some computers do it too).
I program computers to do what I want, so, I’m a programmer. I usually develop software that is programmed to do certain tasks when a specific condition is met. In other words, “depending on certain inputs the software will provide outputs automatically”.
After more than 15 years of programming, suddenly one day I realize that you can program your mind to do whatever you want, i.e. loss weight, take action even when you are not in the mood, chase your goals, respond on a certain way when a certain event happens, etc.
I mean, I had already heard that you could program your mind, but it wasn’t until I started to read “how to get rich” books when I actually noticed that all of those books follow the same pattern: Start with your mind.
All of those books share one thing in common “Becoming Rich starts with a state of Mind”- Think and Grow Rich — Napoleon Hill.
That’s how I realized that if you can become rich by setting up your mind, then you can accomplish anything the same way.
“If it goes through your mind, it goes through your life” — Espinoza Paz
Here are the steps to program your mind to accomplish anything:
1. Believe in yourself
The Association for Psychological Science reports that you must believe in yourself to learn from your mistakes. Researchers studied the brain activity of study participants to observe what happens when someone makes a mistake. Participants were asked to identify the middle letter in a series of letters (like “MMM” or “NMN”). Participants repeated the task several times in a row. Researchers observed two reactions in the brain — one when participants realized they’d made a mistake, and a second when they went to fix the mistake. After the experiment, researchers asked the participants what they’d learned from their errors.
Here is where the power of believing in yourself came into play: Unlike participants with little self-confidence, participants who believed they could learn from their mistakes improved their performance on tasks they completed after they made the mistake. Those participants were also more successful at fixing their mistakes than their counterparts with little self-belief.
What is the lesson for how to believe in yourself? Realize that believing in yourself is a physiological process that impacts your brain circuitry, creating the ability to handle failures with grace and certainty.
Always focus on success and not in failure. When you are in a difficult situation, you should focus on thinking how to solve it, and not on how this affects you, or thinking that you won’t be able to solve it.
“If the problem can be solved why worry? If the problem cannot be solved, worrying will do you no good.” — Śāntideva
2. Remember often: you are better than you think you are.
Repeat this every time you see yourself in a mirror:
“I am more than I appear to be, all the world's strength & power rests inside me.”― Robin Sharma, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
Preferably repeat that phrase at least 30 times a day. When you are looking at a mirror, or when you are about to have a meeting or some important event.
3. Think Big.
The size of your success is determined by the size of your thoughts. Your thoughts define your beliefs, and your beliefs define your actions, and your actions finally define your results.
“I observe my thoughts and entertain only those that empower me” — T. Harv Eker
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts” — Marcus Aurelius
Whatever you truly believe you can achieve, it will inevitably happen.
“Ask, and it will be given to you” — Mathew 7:7–11
“Ask, believe, receive” — The Secret
4. Avoid excusitis.
Let’s say you want to lose weight and one day you pass the calorie ingestion goal. Your mind automatically will try to protect you from failure by popping out an excuse like “well you had a hard day, what’s the big deal”. When you give an excuse your brain releases a hormone that makes you feel better, hence motivating this unwanted behavior. Instead of giving an excuse, you should pay with interests, if you fail on your calorie ingestion goal one day, then the next day you should pay that debt, and also the day after that. By receiving this punishment as a consequence of not accomplishing your goal, next time you consider failing on a goal, your brain will remember the punishment and it will motivate you to reach your goal.
Typical excuses:
- It’s not going to work for me.
- I'm not as healthy as I wish.
- I'm too old to do that.
- I don’t have enough time.
- I’m not as intelligent as that guy.
5. SAVE the day
Try this every morning right after you wake up. This will help you to prepare your mind to be at their best; puts you in a positive mental state, bolsters confidence, kick starts your brain, encourages self-reflection.
- Silence.- Breathing, praying, meditating, or just sit for 5 minutes doing nothing and thinking nothing. The idea is to quiet your mind, block out the chatter, and start the day with calm thoughts.
- Affirmations.- You have to say out loud, i.e.: “I’m super healthy”, “I can do anything I set my mind to”, “I’m better than I was yesterday”, “I take action even when I’m not in the mood”. Find more samples here.
- Visualization.- Close your eyes and watch yourself driving that car you want, or being as healthy and fitness as you want to be, arriving at that business you are planning to start and working there.
- Emotions.- Imagine you win the lottery, imagine the best thing is going to happen today, imagine what it feels when you succeed. And feel it inside, feel it just like it is actually happening, feel the fire
6. Get inspired
Program your mind is not only about you, it is also about who you associate with, about your environment: what you read and watch on a daily basis. Make a point to seek out advice from others who have achieved your goals. Watch documentaries about people who have done great things in life.
Read inspirational quotes and write down your favorites. This way you’ll condition your brain to believe you can accomplish anything you want, just like they do.
7. Gratefulness
There was a cover story on the cover of Times magazine about super noons that were living above 90. Half of their longevity comes from their gratitude and emotional faith.
“Your brain really thrives on gratitude, if you can’t appreciate the things you already have, you are not going to be given the things that you really want” — Jim Kwirk
When you are grateful, the universe acknowledges that you appreciate what it has sent you, and it will send you more and more.
All you have to do is thank for 3 things every day. You can thank different things every day or you can repeat it if you want. It is also recommended to have a “gratitude board” and try to write 3 new things every day without looking at the things already there, this way when you completely fill the board, you will notice the things you are more thankful for.
I have to be honest, the first time I start doing these things I was thinking “what do I have to lose, let’s try”. Really soon (like 1 week after) I started to notice that I was more focused on the things that matter, prioritizing accordingly to the goals I have, actually finishing what I started, I even feel calmer within me and self-controlled.
I actually accomplished writing this article because my mind put me in front of the keyboard at a time that I usually eat snacks and watch tv (I swear to you this is true).
So, I’m pretty sure that if you do these 7 steps you’ll be programmed to act in a way that produces results, and not in a way that is comfortable for you. Your brain usually looks for comfort, but by following these steps you will feel a smooth transition when you pass from thinking what you should do, to actually start doing it and keep it going!.
