Manifesting Your Resolutions
A startling statistic is that only one in twenty, who make New Year resolutions, succeed in achieving their desired outcomes. If you are amongst the 95% trying to close the gap between intentions and action, practical neuroscience is your bridge to success.
Intentions are ongoing throughout the year. Perhaps people wait for the New Year to make changes, as it is a time-honored tradition and New Year’s Day is a symbol for a “fresh slate” or “new beginning.” Why not look at each day as the best day to be the best you can be, and to improve your quality of life?
It seems that most people tend to launch into making resolutions quickly and emotionally, without going through a brain-based approach that exponentially improves the success rate. It’s all too easy to make grand and noble resolutions; it’s another matter to experience success at keeping them. This is where guilt and embarrassment set in, particularly if you make your resolutions visible. Then, the process of making future resolutions becomes even more difficult and burdensome because you’ve programmed yourself with negative memory imprints.
It may be helpful to think about intentions as the “starting point” for resolutions. Visualize your intentions as filling Hoover Dam with positively charged water; as the potential energy builds, the pressure increases to the point where you need to release it (action). Saying aloud and visually documenting your intentions kicks your brain in gear to think, see, feel and hear (through your internal voice) the benefits and outcomes of your intentions. Your brain will consciously and unconsciously work on establishing goals and action plans if the outcomes are satisfying and sustainable. Natural repetition of the process strengthens motivation through neuroplasticity as you fill your “Hoover Dam Brain;” this renders willpower unnecessary. If natural repetition ceases, you can assume that the “value equation” of your intentions were sufficiently low; this is a gift from your brain and you can start over with a different set of intentions in a guilt-free manner.
The key to success is to stay with the “intention process” for hours, days and even weeks; you will go on autopilot if your brain is sufficiently motivated. It’s essential to document your thoughts and ideas; these building blocks are subject to review, analysis, change, removal and new additions. Visual documentation fuels repetition. Contrasts are made, below, between intentions that rarely succeed and those that catalyze action and success.
Intentions That Rarely Succeed
- Impulsive: These are statements or resolutions you blurt out, perhaps while in an emotional state. They are rarely written down, analyzed and processed logically or imaginatively.
- Low-Value: Your brain only engages voluntarily if there is high and enduring value. Willpower often loses the battle when the value equation is in question.
- Purely Selfish: It’s unlikely others will support you if they don’t receive some positive benefits themselves.
- Too Many: It’s better to triage your intentions/resolutions so you have adequate time to put your brainpower to work on completing one change before beginning another.
- Situational: You will be out of alignment if the situation that sparked your intention/resolution changes. It’s good to assess if what you want to change is something that will be satisfying for “all seasons.”
- Negative Mood State: Intentions established during a negative mood state are charged with negative energy. This imprint may block returning to the intention process in a calm and clear mental state.
- Not Visually Documented: The likelihood of success is multiplied when you visually document your intention/resolution process.
- No plan: When there is no plan, there is frequently the absence of action; when there is no action, there is no visible change.
Intentions That Succeed
- Positive Mood State: Create and process your intentions and resolutions while in a positive mood; this charges your “inner space” with positive energy that facilitates the intention process in a smooth and positive manner.
- High-Value Outcomes: High value outcomes keep your brain engaged and focused. If you lose interest quickly, it’s a sure sign that the value equation is low.
- Long-Term Benefits: Your brain stays engaged as long as there are favorable outcomes. Long-term benefits plus high-value outcomes are a sure-fire way to keep your brain working without having to call forth willpower.
- Mix of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Rewards: Intrinsic rewards include improved relationships, expressing and experiencing kindness, caring and doing the right things. Extrinsic rewards come and go and are insatiable.
- Repetition: Frequent visits with your intentions/resolutions strengthen them through neuroplasticity; you will naturally go into autopilot to achieve high-value outcomes, having long-term benefits and rewards.
- Other People Benefit: You will receive support and compliments from others, when your intentions do no harm and other people can experience your success. They will likely ask you, “How did you do it?”
- Create a Plan: Stay with the process of documenting outcomes, benefits and rewards before establishing action plans and measurable goals. You will know when you are ready to create the plan.
- Work the Plan: This is the simplest and most natural step because all the prior steps naturally catalyze action. You have now closed the gap between intention and action.
In conclusion, it’s never too late to make and manifest meaningful resolutions; there is no better time to start than now. Begin the process of thinking about your intentions; say them aloud and write them down. Keep adding thoughts, feelings, ideas, outcomes, benefits, beneficiaries, goals and action plans to your documentation. This “living process” is the real-world mechanism for change using intention-based resolutions. This practical neuroscience methodology is bound to be more successful and fun than the methods used by the 95% of people, who fail in making and keeping their resolutions.
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