Glen Falls Hospital 9th annual Cancer Survivor Celebration
Bob Davies
High Performance Training, Inc.
(949) 830-9192
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BOB DAVIES General Session Speaker: Glen Falls Hospital 9th Annual Cancer Survivors Celebration
Saratoga Springs, NY: “The 1.2% Factor-How one small change leads to large results.”
Saturday, June 02, 2018
I just presented to 150 cancer survivors and guests of the C.R. Wood Cancer Center, Glen Falls Hospital. What a receptive, terrific and appreciative group. A presenting problem that was shared by just about everyone in the room was how to get themselves to do the uncomfortable activities that were necessary for their health and wellbeing. It could be anything from getting up early and exercising to avoiding flour and sugar.
I gave the group 3 neuro-hacks. Three different ways to influence their brain activation and change what they paid attention to. This of course changes their actions.
All 3 interventions are designed to implement the 3 R’s, Reframe, Refocus and Redirect. Reframing involves changing the meaning that you give to the challenging event. When you reframe the meaning then you can Refocus your thinking. This means that you have created a new reference point or way of observing and interpreting what you are going through. You are then able to Redirect your behavior and actions.
The good news is that everyone can do this. We live in a quantum world where all possibilities are superimposed on each other in a wave state of energy until we select an observation and that collapses the wave state and becomes our reality and what we experience. To simplify, you and I are not victims to our circumstances and we can create our day.
The 3 neuro-hacks;
1. Don’t think-just do.
2. Stop and Flip.
3. Behavioral Contracting.
One: Don’t think-just do. This is brain activation. If you don’t think then there is nothing to stop you from taking the action that you intend to take. I don’t want to give up bread-is thinking. I’m tired-is thinking. You can stop that brain activation by stopping thinking. When you do that what you are left with is the guidance that is present with what you have planned to do.
This sounds like it is easy to do but it’s not the default way of being and requires a great deal of energy to implement. It’s not likely that you will be able to rely on this strategy long term.
Second: Stop and Flip. Our brain has five times as many neurons to perceive our threats and negatives than it does to perceive opportunities and the positive. We default to being negative. This strategy has three parts. First, notice that you are thinking negative and
inhibiting thoughts. Second, stop the thought, third, replace the negative thought with a positive compelling thought.
For example, my intention is to get up early at 4:30 am and go to the gym and exercise. When the alarm rings my thinking starts. I notice that I’m thinking about how tired I am and about how hard exercise is. Stop! Flip. The flip is to consciously think of a thought that compels the action. I use this, “100% of the time when I start my day off with a workout I have a better day”.
The stop and flip neuro-hack is terrific except for one thing-you won’t use it. How do I know? Because the area of the brain that would have you do this, the pre-frontal cortex, right behind the eyebrows, requires too much energy. Our brains have evolved to conserve energy. This is too energy intensive. We can’t count on this for a long term strategy either.
Three: Behavioral Contracting. The compelling human instinct that is wired into all of us is to avoid the highest level of perceived pain. We can’t compete against five million years of evolution. We will recognize and avoid the highest level of our perceived pain. However, we can accept this and tap into it.
Make a commitment. Declare a specific activity that you will do and then place a negative and painful consequence that will be enforced if you don’t do it. That’s a behavior contract. This works. You will be compelled to avoid the highest level of perceived pain which in this case is the penalty for non-performance.
I will wake up at 4:30 am four times this week and meditate for ten minutes and then got to the gym. No snooze and no checking emails. This is the specific commitment. Now for the pain leverage. If I don’t then I will not attend my daughters concert at the end of the week. That’s the painful consequence for non-performance.
Start off small and get yourself to take one action that you would not have ordinarily taken this week. Behavioral contracting will give you a new reference point, a new observation. Instead of thinking about the pain of the activity and avoiding that you will instead think about the pain of the consequence and avoid that. You still avoid but now you avoid by taking the desired actions! Don’t take my word for this, try it yourself.
The fantastic folks for the 9th annual cancer celebration meeting have been challenged. Have fun!
Coach Bob