We’re only days into the New Year, which means we’re only a few days away from Resolution Failure Day. Then, it’s on to the Regretful Tuesday, Shoulder Shrug Sunday, and back to the same ol’, same ol’.
That is, if we continue to fool ourselves into believing we can accomplish important things without challenge. I marvel at the human brain – all it can do, all it can help us do, and all it can keep us from doing. The brain keeps us alive and moving. We think, we reason, we feel. Yes, there are neurons elsewhere in the body; but without the brain, what they tell us goes unprocessed and remains unacted upon. The brain also allows us to rationalize, and that capability is perhaps the brain’s most devious one. For us to take on and conquer challenges, we need to be aware of and strategize to overcome our ability to give ourselves outs. If we don’t prepare and execute a plan to evade this pitfall, we will fail in our efforts to be better or different. In short, we need to:
1. Identify our objective and singularly focus on that outcome as success
2. Pick our path to that destination and eschew complementing the hard work getting there requires with rewards we’ve yet to earn
We kind of, sort of know this, yet we fall victims to ourselves time and again. Knowledge can help us here – understanding how the brain works enables us to consciously gain control. Here’s some key, research-based knowledge to help us choose and sustain a path toward success:
How a Plan B Can Obstruct Plan A (NPR Hidden Brain Podcast 11/10/15) —
Insight – Simply (if a bit harshly put), if we create too much of a safety net should we fail to meet what we say is our primary objective, we may be less motivated to pursue it.
Opportunity – There’s a benefit to putting all one’s eggs in the same basket to gin up the angst that may be needed to scratch and claw to get what we most desire. At minimum, if you do have a back up plan (and there are many circumstances where they’re warranted), try to find ways to stay as motivated as if you are operating without that safety net.
How Salad Can Make Us Fat (NY Times Gray Matter Column 10/25/15) —
Insight – The gist of this research is that, when we make what we think are healthy choices, we’re that much likelier to follow that choice with a less healthy or self-defeating one. Put kale in your shopping cart and you’re more likely to buy ice cream. Take a pill you’re told is a multivitamin, and you’re prone to exercise less and eat more. This is the same connection of action and reaction to purported riskier behavior when wearing safety items like bike helmets and the like.
Opportunity – In business as in health, the actions and reactions of the so-called licensing effect noted above aren’t necessarily equal and opposite. To try our best to come out ahead, the article references some tactics that may serve you well (extrapolated here to their business application):
Emphasize the process over the intended result. We may intend a bottom line profit of $X. The best path to achieving that outcome is to live the behaviors and practices every day that we believe will create and sustain a more profitable company. Merely tracking the numbers may well lead us to make decisions that negatively impact those numbers in the end.
Consider each decision in isolation. This is consistent with the Plan B caution – when we believe we’ll have a second chance to make a better decision, we usually make a poorer decision first. By holding ourselves to the higher standard in each instance, we increase the likelihood of making consistently better decisions.
Joe Walsh sang that we live a life of illusion (Surprisingly Good Advice from Joe Walsh). Help yourself by using this awareness to fight the urge to fall prey to your own delusions. Awareness brings opportunity; knowledge breeds power. Use your brain for good – don’t let it distract you into believing success comes easily … it usually doesn’t. With conviction, commitment, and effort, it not only comes, but can be sustained and replicated. That’s pretty powerful!
