It’s the end of January. Have you already broken your New Year’s Resolutions?
There are a ton of reasons why New Year’s resolutions don’t always stick. One reason is that people often set goals that are too ambitious or unrealistic, which means they’re hard to maintain over a long period of time.
Also, some people just don’t have a clear plan or strategy for achieving their resolutions, so they stray off track, then they don’t see results and get discouraged… and lose motivation.
When you think about your resolutions, the first thing you should think about is the end result that you want to see, and then devise your plan of action. Your aspirations need to map your ambitions which means it’s not the resolution it’s that you need to hold to — The Resolution is often “the goal,” and it’s the system that you devise to get there. Say you want to lose 10 pounds, get a new job, or begin a new relationship.
Picture yourself 10 pounds thinner and think about how that person would eat. Would they reach for seconds? Would they eat chips while they watch TV? Probably not — at least not every day. Even more important than the resolution or the goal is the system you devise to realize your ambitions.
Everybody’s brain works differently. Some people are more visual while others are more auditory, or learn better when they write something out.
If you’re a visual person, try using visualization. This is a super powerful exercise because it allows you to use your imagination to tap into your creative subconscious mind and come up with new ideas and solutions. When you visualize yourself doing the things you want, you start to believe that it’s possible and take the necessary steps to make it happen.
A study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology found that people who used creative visualization to set goals and imagine themselves achieving those goals were more likely to be successful than those who didn’t use creative visualization.
A lot of really successful people like, Oprah Winfrey, Will Smith, and Jim Carey are all well-known proponents of creative visualization. In fact, they’ve openly credited it with helping them to achieve their goals. So you’ll be in good company.
Who knew that daydreaming could be so productive?
Another way to tap into your creative subconscious mind is through free writing or journaling. This is when you just put pen to paper and write whatever comes into your mind without judging it or worrying about grammar or structure — or even if it makes sense.
It’s a great way to access your subconscious mind and generate new ideas or insights. For example, if you’re trying to break a bad habit, you could write about the reasons why you want to change and the challenges you’re facing. This can help you uncover a new understanding of the cause of your bad habit and help you develop strategies for overcoming your challenges.
Here’s how it goes…
Pour all of your thoughts and feelings about the habit you want to break into your writing. For this kind of thing, it’s best to set a time for 10 or 15 minutes and make a rule that your pen can never leave the paper. Don’t pick it up to think. Just keep writing whatever comes in your head. If you can’t think of anything just let your pen make loops and doodles until you have another thought.
When the timer goes off, read what you’ve got. It may surprise you. It may bring up some emotions that you weren’t expecting. That’s all good.
Now, set the timer again and do free writing with possible solutions in mind, and don’t stop until the timer rings.
People like Maya Angelou, Jack Kerouac, and James Joyce were all known to use freewriting as a tool for creativity and self-expression all the time, and it didn’t turn out too badly for them.
Something similar to free writing is mind mapping. Mind mapping is a way to brainstorm and organize your thoughts visually. It’s like creating a map of your ideas, with each idea branching off from a central theme.
To create a mind map, you start by writing your main topic in the center of a page and then you draw branches off of it for subtopics.
Here’s a great example from Mind Tools on time management:
You can make it as fun and colorful as you want. You can also just use a pencil to draw connected circles. It doesn’t really matter. Do what inspires you. The main thing is that you explore new ideas and make connections between different concepts.
Here are some different ways you could use mind mapping:
- Brainstorming: You can use mind mapping to quickly come up with a lot of ideas on a specific topic.
- Organizing information: Mind maps can help you visually organize complex information, making it easier to understand and remember.
- Studying: You can use mind maps to create a study guide for a test or exam, or to help you understand a difficult concept.
- Problem-solving: Mind mapping can help you identify the root cause of a problem and come up with possible solutions.
- Decision-making: You can use a mind map to weigh the pros and cons of different options and make a decision.
- Planning: You can use mind mapping to plan a project, create a schedule, or set goals.
If you prefer to make a digital mind map, there’s a great site called Mural that lets you make as many mind maps as you want for free.
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “Two heads are better than one.” Well, why not up the anti and tap into the power of crowd intelligence while brainstorming?
Crowd intelligence is the collective intelligence of a group of people. It’s like a group of friends working together to solve a puzzle or figure out the best way to do something.
I belong to a writer’s group and I’m always amazed at the solutions that we come up with together to fix the problems in a script. One idea will feed into the next until we’ve come up with something that none of us would have come up with on our own — or at least not nearly so quickly. That’s crowd intelligence in action!
Here are two exercises to help get the ball rolling.
The first one is called, “SCAMPER:” This is an acronym that stands for seven different types of questions that can help you come up with new ideas. The letters stand for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to other uses, Eliminate, and Reverse.
For each of these categories, think of ways that you could apply the idea to the problem you are trying to solve.
There’s a free pdf in the show notes in case you want to have a visual reference.
Six Thinking Hats: This is a technique developed by Edward de Bono that involves looking at a problem from different perspectives. The “hats” represent different ways of thinking, such as the “white hat,” which represents the facts and figures; the “red hat,” which represents emotions and feelings; and the “yellow hat,” which represents the positive aspects of an idea. By considering a problem from different angles, you can come up with more creative and well-rounded solutions.
So, invite some of your smartest friends over, pour a round of your favorite drinks, and get to it.
Finally, meditation is another tool that can help you quiet your conscious mind and tap into your subconscious mind.
By meditating regularly, you can access new ideas and insights that can help you change your habits. If you’re new to meditation, there are tons of resources available to help you get started, like guided meditation apps or classes in your local community. I’m sure there’s a ton of stuff on YouTube as well.
I have to be honest, meditating is not my forte. I’ve tried but my thoughts are always whirling around my head like a tornado.
So you see, there are lots of ways to tap into your creative subconscious mind and use it to help you change your habits. Whether you try visualization, freewriting, mind mapping, brainstorming, or meditation, doesn’t matter. The main thing is that you use a system that resonates with you. They are all strategies that can be effective tools for getting to the root of your challenge and then plugging directly into your own creative solutions.
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