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Gregory Ciotti As admittedly wonderful and fascinating as the human brain is, it can also feel like the brain is out to get us sometimes. In some circumstances, our brain's natural reaction actually does more to sabotage than help. Here,Sparring Mind founder Gregory Ciotti explains how to combat your brain's own brilliance, overcoming the instinctual reactions which often have devastating effects on your long-term goals.
they had applied for fewer jobs they had been offered fewer jobs if they were able to find work, they had lower salaries. Why? Why could fantasizing about a positive end take a turn for the worse? Jeremy Dean, a psychological researcher at UCL London and the owner of PsyBlog had this to say about the researcher's conclusions: The problem with positive fantasies is that they allow us to anticipate success in the here and now. However, they don't alert us to the problems we are likely to face along the way and can leave us with less motivationafter all, it feels like we've already reached our goal. It's one way in which our mind's own brilliance lets us down. Because it's so amazing at simulating our achievement of future events, it can actually undermine our attempts to achieve those goals in reality. Our poor brain is thus a victim of itself. Again, this is not to say that visualizing goals is necessarily a haphazard strategy for achieving them, it's just that we need to be aware of the dangers of excessive fantasy. Instead of being entranced with what the future may bring, we need to learn to love the work here and now. Enjoying our day by day progress and realistic checkpoints' is a much more practical way to create our future; getting lost in grandiose dreams that focus on the ultimate end is not. As they say, don't give up on your dreams, but don't fall under their spell either.
were doing or had completed. She found that people were twice as likely to recall more detail about the tasks they had been interrupted in than in the tasks they had completed. What does this have to do with procrastination? Before we get to that, know this: in a study by Kenneth McGraw, participants were given a very tricky puzzle to solve with an "unlimited" amount of time. The thing is, all of the participants were interrupted before they could finish, and then told that the study was over. Despite being told they were done, nearly 90% of participants continued working on the puzzle anyway. What both of these studies teach us is that when people finally manage to start something, they are much more inclined to remember the task and finish it. The Zeigarnik Effect and the subsequent McGraw study assure us that the best way to beat procrastination is to start somewhereanywhere. Our brain has the habit of envisioning the impending huge workload of an upcoming task. It also tends to focus on the most difficult parts or sections, and this is where procrastination begins to set in: as we try to avoid the "hard work," we find ways to skate around it and trick ourselves into thinking that we're busy. Just starting though, triggers our brain in a different way. It's the same way that cliffhangersare utilized to keep us coming back to our favorite TV shows; we're primed to remember the last episode because the story was interrupted, and our brain wants a conclusion. It's the same with your tasks: start, and your brain will overcome the first hurdle. This seemingly small milestone appears to be the most important one to overcome if you wish to defeat procrastination. After starting a task, your brain will be more enticed to finish it to it's "conclusion." You also tend to see that it's not as big a mountain as you initially imagined, and that the work involved in completing this task won't be so terrifying after all.
50% more! On the flipside, the dieters that did think that they were in their caloric limit ate the same amount of cookies as those who weren't on a diet at all. Truly, our brain is geared towards a call of "Abandon ship!", whenever we come short of our goals. Don't let this happen to you! The best way to combat your brain from signaling Mission Abort!' after you've missed a short-term goal is to re-frame what just happened. Yes, you did fall short or maybe mess up this time, but remember the progress that you've made. With the diet example, you could look at all of the "good days" you've accumulated thus far: even if you fell after only a few days of starting your new diet, it's still an accomplishment to have started one and to have set long-term goals for yourself. Short-term lapses in your end-goal are not like a bad apple spoiling the bunch: you have gotten things accomplished so far and you need to stay focused on the long-term, not become distraught by a single mishap. Research tells us that this is the best mindset to take for misfortune and failure in general: your progress and achievements go so much farther than that slip-up; don't let your brain convince you that all is lost!
healthy breakfast, and then continue the rest of my day as normal." You are likely no stranger to feeling ashamed about getting off track; we've all been there. Having those "In case of emergency" plans help us to have a gameplan in case we do falter, and including a small penance' like I discussed above can help us get over it quicker. If you failed on your diet for a day and then punish' (again, just with a quick run) yourself by running in the morning, you can go about your day knowing that you got what you deserved, instead of sliding down the slippery slope of guilt through the rest of the day. So remember to include an "if-then" plan for your next big goalyou'll be able to beat back your brain's guilt over slipping up now and then and you won't have to ever "wing it" in case something goes wrong! How our brains stop us from achieving our goals (and how to fight back) | Buffer Blog
Gregory Ciotti is the founder of Sparring Mind, the blog that takes psychology and persuasive marketing and makes them play nice together. Download his free e-book on Conversion Psychology' for more research or follow Greg onTwitter. Buffer makes your life easier with a smarter way to schedule the great content you find. Fill up your Buffer at one time in the day and Buffer automagically posts them for you through the day. Simply keep that Buffer topped up to have a consistent social media presence all day round, all week long. Image remixed from Ioannis Pantzi and Leremy.