Memory Techniques -- New Behavior Generator

New Behavior Generator

June 19th, 2008

Here is an NLP technique I learned a while back that I have found very useful and extremely effective. It’s called the New Behavior Generator, and it’s something you can use to help you get motivated for something that you’d like to get done but don’t necessarily feel like doing.

1. Find a comfortable place to relax before beginning. Gaze off to your right and imagine seeing an “other you.” This “other you” will be the one learning this new behavior. Sometimes it’s helpful to imagine this other you in a bubble or on the other side of a glass wall to help you separate the “other you” from yourself.

2. Choose something you want to get done but don’t really feel like getting motivated to do. Something like balancing your checkbook or getting up early to exercise.

3. Imagine this “other you” enjoying the benefits of having done the activity. For example, imagine that “other you” feeling relieved at not having the an unbalanced checkbook hanging over your head or feeling invigorated and ready to start the day full of energy after exercising in the morning. Really make the images in your head vivid and compelling and specific.

4. Now imagine that “other you” actually doing the activity. Imagine him feeling motivated by everything you did in step 3, in other words feeling motivated by the benefits of the end result.

5. Next, step into that “other you” so that you’re experiencing the world through their eyes, ears, and other senses. And now experiencing everything from this 1st person perspective, repeat steps 3 and 4, and notice how good it will feel after having done the activity (i.e. balancing checkbook, etc.).

6. Finally, think of the next specific time you’ll be doing this action (for example, getting up tomorrow morning to exercise), and see yourself doing it easily and feeling super motivated.

I’ve used this exercise many times and had great success with it. For example, on my recent trip to New York and DC/northern Virginia, I wanted to get up at 6:45 to work out before starting our day. I did this exercise the night before shortly before bed, and without an alarm clock, I woke up at exactly 6:42 and bounced out of bed feeling super motivated to go do the elliptical machine for an hour. This is incredibly powerful and useful. I hope some other people find it as beneficial as I have.

(I learned this technique in the excellent book NLP: The New Technology of Achievement by Steve Andreas and Charles Faulkner.)

Posted in Jedi mind tricks

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