Note from the “Ranch”
Show Low, AZ
In my last newsletter I talked about 5 specific elements of “scalable success”. We could just as easily label these elements of “behavioral change”. In fact, “success”, particularly replicatable, consistent, effective, and efficient success, requires “behavioral change” as its foundation.
Today I want to discuss the two most avoided elements of the five, and why they are both essential and why we avoid them.
First, what are these two elements? They are, repetition and feedback.
There is a saying that “practice makes perfect” and in fact that is not true. “Practice” makes “permanent”, but only “perfect practice” makes “perfect. The underlying element of “practice” is “repetition”. And in the same way, repetition itself does nothing more than make permanent. We get to choose, and must choose to “repeat” the things that bring us benefit. We must repeat “good things”.
To keep it simple, the reason “change” is hard for most of us is, we have all already been repeating “something” for years, and that pattern of “ something” is ingrained in our behavior, emotion, and even muscle memory. And, the “ something” is rarely the behavior that will provide us the best results. It is “easy” to do what we are already programed to do, but not so easy to do different things that will yield better results.
Did you know, it takes about 3 to 6 months, (or longer), of focused repetition for a new behavior to “write” its programs into our life? Specifically, it takes about 10,000 repetitions to implant a new behavior into our neural pathways.
Indeed, every person, every brain, is different. A lot of the determining factors rely upon whether or not your brain is already receptive to change. A brain receptive to change is actually a brain that has been repetitively exposed to numerous and beneficial changes over a lifetime. By experiencing frequent and beneficial changes repetitively over time, we have learned to process change faster. This of course requires that the changes we experienced to have been “beneficial”. If the “change” experienced brought pain, doubt, or discomfort, the opposite effect occurs.
You see, if we repetitively experience pain and or discomfort, we will learn to resist, even recoil from change. Over time we have actually taught ourselves that “change” is bad. We reach a point where we assume, even deeply believe, that it is better to stay where we are, no matter how broken that might be, because it is “safer” than experiencing some new and unknown “painful change”.
So, to develop our potential, we need more than just repetition, we need repetition of fundamentals that develop positive and pleasant outcomes.
Happiness is ultimately what everyone wants. What few ever realize is that happiness is a choice. It’s a choice of behavior and a choice of attitudes relating to circumstances and events. We have little control over many of lifespan’s circumstances, but we have total control over how we choose to view and accept them.
Another amazing thing is, the very process of “positive change” develops the mind to become increasingly positive and to also become increasingly creative.
If you have ever struggled with the ability to creatively enter some new task or explore some new idea, there is hope. By developing the consistent practice of “good repetition” the ability to be creative expands. You get better with age.
Lets look at seven factors relating to behavioral change.
1. Change can occur only when the brain is in the mood: Change is enhanced by behavior and circumstances. Learning occurs with focused attention and is inhibited by an intentional refusal to accept new experiences.
2. Change strengthens the connection between neurons engaged at the same time: The brain forms a model of the brain connections that contribute to a good try. Stronger and faster connections between neurons form through repetition and the feedback about the outcome of the try versus what the brain wants.
3. Neurons that fire together wire together: The brain strengthens connections between things that happen in real time and predictions of possible outcomes. The brain blends what happens and the predictions together and weaves its own explanation of reality that is the basis of new skills.
4. Initial changes are temporary: We must receive feedback on good versus bad tries. Emotional connections create more permanent memories. By use of feedback, negative results are separated from the positive results and faster improvement is acquired.
5. Brain plasticity is a two-way street: We can drive brain change positively or negatively. Unwanted bad habits continue because the brain has hard-wired itself through years of repeated behavior. To create change, we must literally rewire the brain with new and positive repetition that creates the results we seek.
6. Memory is crucial for learning: The brain creates predictive models about where it thinks it is going, models about performance during an attempt, and models that reflect cumulative learning of those attempts to create the desired outcome. The actions that are attempted and those that resulted in better performance must be remembered or learning cannot occur. As a result, those with better memories grow faster, however, the very process of positive repetition also increases the minds ability to remember.
7. Motivation is a key factor in brain plasticity: If you have a positive attitude going into the exercise of “positive change” the results come faster and last longer. Attitude builds deeper neurological networks, both good and bad.
So I hope this makes the reasons for the two elements of repetition and feedback more clear, and why we build these elements into our training and as a result, see amazing positive change in those we mentor.
If you are interested in discovering more, sign up for an invitation to one of our upcoming training events. At these events, we explain the entire process of building success and scalability in clear terms. You can register for the invitation here: http://poolnexus.pages.ontraport.net/let-me-know
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To your continued success,
Rex Richard,
Co-founder, Pool Nexus
