Start something new
I have given an answer in this article. Here I describe another answer. And I’m going to describe it using an example from health that hopefully anyone who cares about their health can easily relate to. Let’s say you’ve decided to slim down. You started eating well, exercising, getting enough sleep, and journaling your accomplishments. Visually marking your progress would motivate you and give you a way to measure progress. Maybe you ticked each thing per day. You were fine for a few days and even started liking all the non-stop ticks on the calendar. And you started noticing the effects of progress. So you ticked successfully for a few more days… which turned into weeks… And you started to feel a surge of energy, lighter on your feet, smaller in body, slimmer in the mirror…
…and then there came a point where you thought, ‘I’ve done a lot too good for me, so I can afford a treat. You’ve halted the rise and may have slipped into some of the old things you were doing before you started slimming down. At the point where you made the decision to quit, you may have felt, “I did too good for myself’.
Why the new feels weird
And here we come to the answer. The feeling of doing too well for ourselves takes us out of our comfort zone. And that is never pleasant for us humans. So let’s stop by going back to the old ways of touching our comfort zone. The familiar is comfortable. Outside of our comfort zone, we doubt: “This can’t be true, I can’t This good’, and we don’t recognize each other… ‘Who am I (will)?’ we may ask, feeling that this isn’t us!
Make the new the norm
The NLP way of taking us to a higher level is to make the state of being way too good for ourselves the norm. Making it the norm is practicing it until it becomes the norm. Practicing = acting as if the condition is way too good is the norm. Once we accept pretending that this state is the norm, we will be more comfortable with being “too good.” So we’ll keep it slightly longer. After just a few days, the feeling that we’re doing way too well will fade because we’ve practiced accepting it as the norm.
Of course we should treat each other, but maybe in a different or healthier way than the old way. And right after treatment, we should go back to pretending that what was far too fine for us days ago is now the norm. A week goes by and the ticks on the calendar are piling up. You will like the tics, yourself for self-control and your energy boost even more. In this way you can still manage a few days … which will turn into weeks … And after a month you will be well positioned in the new level. Some say it takes 28 days to form a habit…
… and keep the new norm
If you insist after 2 more months, the “new” level will become the norm and your body will even start craving that norm. Your old way of “treating” yourself will become uncomfortable and alien to you, and that will be a sure test that your “new” norm is now firmly established. The rewards will be immense, whether it’s in losing weight or in any other aspect of life.
If you are self sabotaging and really want to take yourself to a higher level but need help, let’s talk.
Thanks to Lucy SC
