Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Climb Out of Your Rut

I recently read an article titled Coaching Outside the Box by Dave Krueger, MD. While the article was addressed to career and life coaches, the results of the study Dr. Krueger writes about can be applied to all walks of life.

The study took place at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. The idea was to get people to break their usual habits. Subjects picked a different option each day and behaved according to that option. For an example, if the subject was an introvert they might be required to behave as an extrovert for an entire day. In addition, each subject had to get out of their comfort zone and behave in a way other than their usual life pattern, twice a week – eating or reading something out of the ordinary for them.

Can you guess what the biggest change was for this group of subjects?

After four months it was discovered the subjects had lost an average of eleven pounds. After six months, most of them kept the weight off and some continued to lose weight. The focus of the study was not diet. The focus of the study was change and its impact.

It was determined that requiring people to break their routine causes them to think about decisions instead of choosing their habitual mode without thought. The process of actively making decisions, exercised the idea of choice and people began to extend the idea of choosing to their consumption of foods. As the subject became more and more active in making choices, they could decide what was in their best interest.

The pattern each of us uses to get through each day is the result of self-created programming and conditioning that we have created in adulthood. Think about it! If you are the programmer, then you can rewrite your program.

What can you change about your life? What rut will you climb out of? It could be something as simple as deciding that today I will be positive in all things, there will be nothing negative about me.

Think about how you can create something different in your life and what that something different will be.

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