How To Stop Self Sabotage
I used to love to watch T.V. a lot. I used to love reading only magazines and I used to love to sleep a little more than necessary. It was very difficult for me to get stuff done because of these bad habits. A year ago I started to embark in a journey of change.
I felt ready to start doing different things and to challenge myself. It hasn't being easy, especially trying to work out more often, but one day I decided to turn the T.V. off and go to bed early. After having a good rested night I was able to wake up 1 hour before everyone else did (5:00am) and I drank water before having my coffee. I picked up a book and I was able to read without distractions before taking a shower and having breakfast. I was tired that night, but I felt good about the productive day I had. I did the same thing every day with the exception of days when we had family gatherings or parties to go to, so we wounded up going home late and therefore, we went to sleep later. After getting back on track from those days, I continued with my new routine and I was so surprised to actually crave to wake up early. I had time to read without distractions. This has become a new way of life to me and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world!
"When we start to form a new habit or to stop a bad one, there is a biological change on a cellular level," says Todd Herman, who is a leader in high performance and founder of thepeakathlete.com, a peak performance coaching and research company.
He teaches the concept of Biology of Change; that is the biological process that occurs in our bodies when we are going on a process of change. The cells receive information and they are constantly replicating themselves. They are used to getting the stress hormone, Cortisol all the time.
When we introduce a new habit, or try learning a new skill, the cells are getting new positive emotions with the new habits in the form of the hormones Dopamine and Serotonin. Since the cells are used to receiving Cortisol, they vibrate any time they get the positive emotions charged Dopamine and Serotonin and that is when we start feeling like giving up on our new habits.
The only way to pass trough this phase is to set trigger goals or micro-changes to help ourselves stick to our new habits. For example, when I started to wake up early, my trigger was to have peace and quiet to read. When I started to read, my trigger was to be able to pay attention without any disruptions. When I wake up and I immediately put my workout clothes on, I make myself exercise (I am still working on exercising more often). The transition from feeling resistance to the new habit to actually craving it or wanting to do more of it happens when the cells start to receive the serotonin and the dopamine hormones. They replicate and start to reject the cortisol hormone.
Feeling good about ourselves when we go trough challenges and don't give up is the best way to stop self sabotage and to nurture our brain, body and soul with good habits and striving to grow and to contribute to society with our new acquired skills or simply by being more positive to everyone around us
Let's stop self sabotage and continue to design the life we really want. A life worth living!
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