The first month of 2025 has come to a close. By this point, some of us have given up on our New Year's resolutions, while others are still holding on, and some didn't bother making any. After all, it can be disheartening to start with such good intentions only to see that enthusiasm dwindle a few weeks later.
Is there something specific you want to achieve in 2025? How do you envision this year for yourself?
Humans are fundamentally goal-oriented, which is crucial for our survival. We need goals to motivate us to get out of bed in the morning and cultivate the enthusiasm for life that keeps us moving forward.
While you can change direction or get out of a slump at any stage of your life and any time of the year, society often makes us feel that we must do this at the beginning of the year. Perhaps it's not such a bad idea to take this time to reset, slow down, and reflect on your life and the direction you're heading in.
Making changes, creating new patterns, and breaking old ones can be challenging. Discipline can sometimes be hard to maintain, but if you genuinely want to achieve something, you must prioritise discipline during the initial attempts. With time, this discipline can become a habit, eventually transforming into a lifestyle that no longer requires as much discipline.
Discipline is w
hen, at the moment, you are placing your future self's needs ahead of your own. You can view it as a delayed gratification. For example, going to bed earlier so you feel refreshed in the morning, eating healthier meals for sustained mental and physical energy and 'eating the frog' earlier in the day instead of procrastinating.
Most of our failures are due to future self-neglect, such as not planning ahead or staying out late the night before a big event, which can impact our overall performance.
We tend to get upset with our past selves, forgetting that what we are doing now impacts our future selves and that our past selves are still a part of our current selves.
Discipline creates habits. Habits are the pathways to achieving your goals. Therefore, forming new habits makes you more likely to achieve your goals. You're more likely to be disciplined if your goals really matter to you and have a strong emotional driver.
Chase Hughes, a behavioural specialist, talks about a "brainwashing formula" to achieve your goals. He uses the acronym F.E.A.R.
F - FOCUS
Clearly define your goal. Be as specific and detailed as possible. Concentrate on it and eliminate as many distractions as possible that distract you from it so that you can direct your energy toward your objective.
E - EMOTION
Strong, reoccurring emotions facilitate behavioural changes. Vision boards that can generate a strong emotional response can be very beneficial. Put things around you that remind you of what you want to achieve. Ask yourself what are the positive outcomes of achieving this goal and what are the consequences of not achieving this goal? Then, write down your answers.
Make it as sensory-rich as possible.
A - AGITATION
Change things around in your environment. Making things different signals to your brain that things are going to change. Change your environment, change your appearance, change your routine - whatever works for you. Perhaps this is why when we want to change our lives, we want to change our hairstyle ;). Disrupting that pattern makes it difficult for autopilot mode to take over and the old patterns of the subconscious mind - you're consciously changing your behaviour and habits. The brain has to be more conscious and begin to 'undo' the old patterns to create new ones.
R - REPETITION
Neurons that fire repeatedly form a bond, creating new neural pathways and habits. Consistently reinforcing specific thoughts and actions becomes a habit. Neurons fire and neural connections are made, hopefully aligning with the goals you set out to achieve. These thoughts, actions, and habits become ingrained in the new default setting.
Hughes' brainwashing' technique ... 'brainwash' yourself to achieve your goals by focusing your mind, attaching strong emotions, creating a sense of urgency and repeatedly reinforcing your objectives.