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How To Stop Procrastinating Your Self-Change

Change is usually uncomfortable and is something your mind dislikes doing. Positive change brings personal growth and personal development. So why doesn't our mind like change, if it can be a positive thing for us?

Why does the mind feel uncomfortable when you need to implement changes in your life? Why does it try to resist it? In this article, I'm going to tell you how you can change your mindset and stop procrastinating your self-change.

Why Do I Procrastinate So Much?

To begin with, let me state a fact: your mind is the part of you that resists changes the most. Why is that?

Our mind has a mechanism that has served us very well in the evolutionary process we went through to survive here on Earth. This mechanism is called memory.

Why then do we store information in the form of memories? The reason is that, if a similar situation happens in the future, we should already have the data stored in the subconscious mind that tells us how we have dealt with it in the past.

This has worked out well because you have survived this far. So, your mind tends to apply the same processes that have worked in the past. It tends to resist finding new ways to solve a similar problem that you have already faced.

This is because finding new ways for a problem that already has a solution requires more energy and work than just using the solution it has worked in the past.

That's why we tend to repeat the cycles. When our mind identifies a similar situation occurring, it will always choose to implement a previous solution to it, instead of searching for new ways to solve a recurring problem.

Because this is an automatic mechanism, we are usually not aware of it. When we consciously decide to implement new ways that will serve us better instead of running the old habits, we bump into resistance from the mind.

The mind doesn't understand why it should find new ways to deal with a problem. Especially when it already has a solution that worked before, ready to be implemented.

How Do You Implement New Ways Over The Old Ones?

You need to establish a dialogue with your mind and rationally explain to it why the new solution is better than the old one. Your mind needs rational reasons and proof, and once you give sound reasons to your mind, it will accept that changes should be implemented, lowering its resistance. It will cooperate instead.

For example, suppose your work stresses you. You currently deal with your stress by turning on the television after work and drinking beer.

Does it work in reducing your stress levels? The truth is that, in your mind's world, it does work, because watching television and drinking beer reduces your stress from work.

But let's say that you want to establish a healthier way to deal with your stress. Now you want to start working out when you get home from work, but your mind resists it.

Why does your mind resist it? It does so because it has already found a way to deal with stress. It doesn't understand why you would want to work out instead of just relaxing in front of the TV, drinking beer.

So, you need to tell your mind why you are implementing the change. You literally say it out loud.

"See, I know you think that watching television and drinking beer is an effective way to reduce the stress from work. But I have found a better solution, which is working out. Why is it a better solution? Well, instead of poisoning my body, I will be releasing hormones such as endorphins and making the blood pump, and it's going to feel way better afterward than getting drunk and watching television.

Now can you help me implement this new way?" And your mind is going to do what you are asking it to do. Why? Because the conscious part of you is giving explicit instruction to your mind. So, the next day, you exercise for 15 minutes. Keep in mind that you're building your case here, and you don't want to overdo it and traumatize your mind.

Try not to focus on your performance in this first phase. You only want to show to your mind that the new way works better, so you do it for 15 minutes. What's going to happen is that you will release endorphins into your bloodstream. The purpose of this is to make you feel good.

Right after you finish moving your body, you assert to your mind:

"You know this feeling? These are endorphins - the feel-good hormone, being released in my bloodstream. Doesn't it feel good?

Doesn't it feel better than getting drunk and watching television?

You get the feeling of the endorphins in your bloodstream. And what a profound feeling this is!" And every day, you repeat the same process. And you give proof to your mind that the new way is better than the old way. And soon enough, you will convince your mind to replace the old way with the new method.

Conclusion

Never fight with your mind. It is not an effective way to implement change. Dialogue with it instead and tell it the reason why you want to implement changes.

You want your mind to become a cooperative component, so you can implement desired changes with less resistance. Having your mind on your side is the critical factor to implement an ever-lasting personal growth mindset, personal transformation, and creating a better version of yourself.

If you want to dig further in the step-by-step process to work on your inner-perception about yourself, I dive deeper into this subject in this presentation of The Holistic Mindset method. Here I share with you a unique mindset method that combines mental, emotional, spiritual and biological intelligence, so you can live up to your full potential in all areas of your life.