Incredible You! - Training Your Willpower - Changing The Nature Of Desire II

In the last article, we started to explore the nature of desire, and we saw that a lot of the time, things we think we want actually represent the path of least resistance. That is to say, it is easier to do something because it has become habit rather than us really wanting to do that thing.

So habit disguises itself as desire in our brains, the analogy used was like trying to carve out a new path to the top of the mountain in fresh waist-high snow, instead of just zooming down to the bottom where your bad habits lie.

So how do you do the equivalent of taking that wider arc to the bottom of the mountain, and then eventually carving out a new path to the top?

Well you can start by adding things to your day that make it seem a little harder. Depending on your physical state, this may be as simple as going for a walk, or run, or joining a gym.

It doesn't necessarily have to be physical either (though it has been shown that physical exercise is a great antidote to smoking).

The thing is to start in small steps, so if you find you take the lift when you get to work or a particular building you frequent, take the stairs instead.

If you always take the car on a particularly short journey which you could easily walk, then do so, or at least park further away (not so easy in some cities) than you would usually.

Creating New Habit Pathways

We will use smoking as an example here, however you can transpose this to any particular bad habit you are engaged in.

First of all analyse when you like to smoke, is it immediately after waking up? Or perhaps after meals, or when you go for a drink with friends?

Whenever it is, start to add a conscious delay into the routine. So for instance after a meal you may like to have a cup of tea or cold drink and light up a cigarette.
So instead of doing that, have your drink but add 60 seconds to the time you feel like putting it in your mouth, till you actually do.

Start to increase this delay little by little each time, so first you delay by one minute, then one and a half, then two, and so on. Before you know it you won't be smoking as soon as you finish your meal, which your mouth will thank you for, as it is particularly bad for it to do such a thing.

If you usually light up when you get to the bar and sit down with your friend to have a drink. Don't do it straight away, instead get it out the packet, hold it or even put it in your mouth, just delay lighting it for a minute or so.

By using this incremental tactic, you will fool your brain into thinking that nothing is really changing at all, but in reality you will be carving out a new neural path in your brain, the equivalent of digging a fresh route in that waist-high snow on the mountainside.

Why This Works - The Power Of Incremental Change

If you're like me you like to know how and why things work, as it makes it easier to take up a new activity. Pure and simply this works because as human beings we don't register incremental change.

Magicians and illusionists understand this and take advantage of it all the time. One of the most famous incremental change tricks of all time was performed by the legendary magician David Copperfield who famously made the Statue of Liberty disappear.

How did he do it? Simple, he placed his audience on a stage that was rotating at an incredibly slow pace. He showed them the statue, raised a curtain and then talked and did his showman thing for an amount of time.

In that time the stage slowly turned away from the statue, when it was time he dropped the curtain to reveal an empty space, everyone was wowed because no one felt the stage moving.

So remember, anytime you want to work towards anything that appears difficult to you, simply take it in little baby steps, and before you know it, you too can make your own personal statue disappear.

WHAT HABITS DO YOU WANT TO BREAK? OR PERHAPS YOU WANT TO FORM NEW POSITIVE HABITS; HAVE YOU EVER USED INCREMENTAL CHANGE TO CREATE A NEW LIFESTYLE? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!

Incredible You! Training Your Willpower - Changing The Nature Of Desire

Image: Jonatan Pie on Unsplash

Cryptogee