My Brain Hurts…And it is only the 2nd Week of January!
Goal Setting, Habits and the Brain
It has been a week (well 10 days) of my 2024 Impossible Goal to write every day, and I have already fallen off and gotten back on.
I missed one day so far. I completely forgot. Didn’t even cross my mind that day. But that is what this goal is about- creating a new habit, a new way of being.
My old way of being was being someone who writes when the whim finds her, my new goal is to be a person who makes writing a consistent part of who she is. That takes time.
Forming new habits requires re-wiring your brain, and our brains are hardwired for survival.
In survival mode, the brain focuses on conserving as much energy as possible and on scanning the world for any possible threat to that survival.
Very noble of it, I know, BUT it can mean hard times for creating new habits! Here’s how:
1. Conserving Energy
Your brain wants to conserve energy at all costs because this will keep you alive longer. This is bad news in the habit-forming-and-ditching department because the brain will stick with its tried and true, well-worn neuropathways (it will do this subconsciously). So, if you want to avoid that pathway (quit a…
