People often ask me “Why can’t I achieve my goals?” They have often read lots of books, or taken courses or watched videos. But here’s the problem knowledge and insight is not enough to create lasting change in your life. In fact it’s probably responsible for less than 20% of change.
So what’s the other 80% to help you achieve your goals? The answer lies in neuroscience. When you come across some new information or an insight, a new neural pathway is formed in the brain. In order for that neural pathway to become hardwired, it needs to be reinforced. Think of your nerves as being like a plant. Say you have 2 identical plants. You watered and fed one plant and neglected the other, the nurtured plant would grow stronger and live longer. When a neural pathway is used over and over again, it gets more access to oxygen and nutrients, and in the white matter area of the brain, a protective sheath forms around the nerve, which significantly increases the speed of transmission.
So how do we reinforce a neural pathway and get better at achieving goals?
- Repetition. First you may need to reinforce the learning or insight over and over. Tony Robbins says “repetition is the mother of skill”. For example if you learn something new, read it multiple times. Maybe take notes or make a summary of the key points on a post-it note and put that note somewhere you’ll see it regularly. You could also teach someone else what you have learned or have a discussion with a friend or your coach. Every time you use that neural pathway it gets stronger and your brain becomes less likely to use an alternative but neglected, negative pathway.
- Get emotional. Most of our long term memories are formed when an event is emotionally charged. When you have a new insight or learning, get into a peak state… get excited about it. You could even turn it into an incantation. For example if you discover (like I did recently) that your discipline muscle isn’t strong enough, create an incantation… “I command my subconscious mind to be more disciplined” or “every day I am becoming more and more disciplined”. When you say it say it: Stand or sit in a power pose, say it out loud with emotion and then physically anchor it in (e.g. raise your fist, clap your hands or put your hand on your heart).
- Condition it: “Do it over and over again until it sticks”. This is different from repetition because it requires you to take action. If you wanted to get stronger biceps muscles you would not just work out one time. You’d work out regularly, increasing the reps, increasing the intensity or finding a new way of exercising your biceps that is more fun for you. It is the same with your goals. Write out your goals, review them daily, make them more compelling, find new creative ways to keep yourself on track.
- Visualize. Many professional athletes visualize themselves performing and achieving. Michael Phelps was an obsessive visualizer. In one Olympic final, his goggles filled with water and he swam the whole race blind. He had visualized the race so many times that he was able to complete the race and broke the world record. Visualize yourself achieving your goals. How will it feel? What will it mean to you?
So next time you find yourself asking “why can’t I achieve my goals?” think about what it takes to develop a new neural pathway.