Links
introduction
21 Keys
Things to aviod
three ways to change
Prep Work
21 Catalysts
1 minute journal
21 Days: a How-to for rearranging your brain
You can change. You can be a better you. You can be the you you wish you were. You can be the you of your day dreams and your social network photo. You can rearrange your brain so that things you do automatically are the things you want to do
Hack your system . . .
Here’s what human experience, medical research and behavior studies all conclude about reprogramming your system: your brain controls what you do automatically, but our conscious choices about your actions are the code your brain receives to put thing into that automatic mode.
In short, your deliberate actions form your habits.
Running in automatic . . .
Most people run in automatic mode. We do what comes natural to us and we do it over and over again. It's called a habit. A habit is something we do automatically without even thinking about it. We form habits of all kinds of different ways. And there are good habits and bad habits. When you are child your parents had to teach you to brush your teeth, to bathe regularly and to style your hair. . Now you do those things most the time without even thinking about it. And those are good habits
But we also have bad habits. From biting your fingernails to procrastination to serious addictions, bad habits are hard to break. And to make matters worse, anyone who has ever made a New Year's resolution quickly realizes that forming new habits can be more difficult than breaking bad ones. But there is a way.
It all begins in your mind. Intentional thoughts become intentional actions. Intentional actions become repetitive actions. Repetitive actions become automatic actions. Automatic actions become habits. But how long does it take to form a new habit or break an old one? It's probably different for everyone, the fact is: you can rewire your brain.
Timeshift to 21 days in the future . . .
21 days from now your life can be different. It's true that it takes longer to form some habits, up to 60 days, and that it takes a shorter period of time to form other habits. But most researchers have accepted many changes can be made in just three weeks.
That's what this guide is all about. Each day for the next 21 days, you'll not only challenge yourself to quit a bad habit, form a new good habit, or do both by replacing one with the other, but you'll have a brain challenge – something to jolt your system.
Every day, should you accept the challenge, you'll do something you don't normally do. That's the catalyst. What's the catalyst? The catalyst is the something else that makes the big thing happen. In this process you daily challenges will be the catalyst for change.
What if it doesn't work?
What if it doesn't work? If it doesn't work, one of two things has happened.
Scenario one: you couldn't achieve your daily goals and nothing has changed. Don't give up. Try again. You can do this. The fact that you failed this time is just a story to tell later about how difficult it was to change your life but that you did it anyway. All great stories start with the challenge, lead to failure, and ultimately end in success. If success was easy, everyone would be successful. That's just not real life.
Scenario two:you achieved your daily goals but the behavior didn't stick. No new habit is formed or you didn't kill your old bad habit. You might need more time. Some things take up to 60 days, or in our case, 63 days. Repeat the process one or two more times until it sticks.
© 2011 – all right reserved - StudentReach