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How Your Brain Works (Mini Habits) – Lay Aside Every Weight

Goals & Priorities· Habits & Routines

10 Oct

We carry extra weight, former procrastinators, when we ourselves do things that work against us.  Often the problem is not our character – it’s the approaches we take.  If we use methods that cooperate with our brains we are boosted on our way.

In Mini Habits, Stephen Guise explains how our brains work so we can see why mini habits work for us.  I find this SO helpful! We can work in cooperation with our Creator to use what He has supplied so we can be faithful and fruitful.

  1. Neural pathways are communication channels in the brain.  When a habit’s pathway is triggered by a cue, you have the urge to do that habitual behavior.  (Wake up – Shower) Our brain prefers to perform habits because they have existing pathways and known rewards.  New behaviors have no neural pathways.  Therefore you have to deliberately, manually override the typical behavior.  The more you do, the more the baby neural pathway thickens until it becomes the habit. We want to create and strengthen chosen neural pathways with repetition.

  2. Think of the subconscious brain and the conscious.  (The brain is more complex, but this will serve us.)  First, the subconscious is the basal ganglia which recognizes and repeats patterns until it’s taught otherwise. 

    Repetition is the language of the subconscious brain.  The goal in forming habits is to change your brain with repetition.  The brain will resist, so we use repetition and reward. Repeat a behavior over time and your subconscious brain will automate it because it loves efficiency.  Automation is more efficient than continual decision-making.

    Next, the conscious brain is the prefrontal cortex (behind your forehead).  It’s  the smart “manager” that understands long-term benefits and consequences.  It has the ability to override the basal ganglia. It oversees repeater operations and steps in when something can be done better.  However, the manager gets tired and stressed.  To form habits, we repeat a behavior, which teaches the repeater part of the brain to like what the manager wants. Then the repeater carries on the desired behavior.

  3. The brain resists change. Big change requires big willpower. A mini habit is a low willpower Trojan horse that gains easy access into the brain’s control room. Guise’s brain outright rejected the idea of a 30 minute workout. He considered one push up.  “How pathetic.  One pushup isn’t going to help anything.”   But there was no brain push back.  He’d snuck in. So he did one push up – and a few more while he was there.  Thus began his journey.

The brain is slow – changing and stable.  That’s good. Patience  (that fruit of the Spirit) helps our brains make a change.  Repeating positive actions can make God’s gift of automatic behavior a great boost to our lives and goals.  

What new neural pathway (habit) do you want to grow? 

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2 Comments

« Will Power, the Good Guy (Mini Habits) – Lay Aside Every Weight
Small Steps to Big Change (Mini Habits)- Lay Aside Every Weight »

Comments

  1. Phyllis Sergent says

    October 10, 2021 at 8:16 pm

    REminds me of 2 Peter 1:5-8
    For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.

    Reply
  2. Beth says

    October 13, 2021 at 12:07 pm

    What a good observation, Phyllis!

    Reply

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BETH STERNE
Welcome! It's great to have you here. I'm a follower of Christ and a learner of new ways. By His grace, I am gaining victory over procrastination. This is where I share struggles I face and lessons I'm learning. Join me and other sisters as we put off procrastination and put on peace.

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"Beth’s procrastination talk led me to understand procrastination as a heart issue in need of God’s restoration not just a change of my ways. Beth’s personal experiences helped me discover practical ways to attack my own procrastination. As a result I have become a more loving wife, mother and friend who is able to use the gifts God has given me more fully. I highly endorse this talk and would love to hear it again and again."

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Julia F.

"Beth’s procrastination talk led me to understand procrastination as a heart issue in need of God’s restoration not just a change of my ways. Beth’s personal experiences helped me discover practical ways to attack my own procrastination. As a result I have become a more loving wife, mother and friend who is able to use the gifts God has given me more fully. I highly endorse this talk and would love to hear it again and again."
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“Beth’s presentation on procrastination was truly eye-opening. I knew I had a problem with procrastination, but never thought twice about how it impacted my relationships and showed God that I wasn’t onboard with His plan. I began to see each instance took away from being fruitful; I was living for myself! After this revelation, I have been working on procrastinating less. I can see places opening up in my life for more peaceful moments, more time with and for friends and family, and more time for God’s plan to unfold. It’s amazing to know there’s more to life for me than a life full of “should haves” as a result of procrastination.”

Carole S.

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Carole S.

“Beth’s presentation on procrastination was truly eye-opening. I knew I had a problem with procrastination, but never thought twice about how it impacted my relationships and showed God that I wasn’t onboard with His plan. I began to see each instance took away from being fruitful; I was living for myself! After this revelation, I have been working on procrastinating less. I can see places opening up in my life for more peaceful moments, more time with and for friends and family, and more time for God’s plan to unfold. It’s amazing to know there’s more to life for me than a life full of “should haves” as a result of procrastination.”
https://putoffprocrastination.com/testimonials/carole-s/
“After Beth came and shared about procrastination, many realized that it is possible through the Lord's power to stop putting off what God has called us to do. One mother finally started a blog and another posted a ladies; tea for her church months in advance so that ...she would not put off having it. Although I thought I was not someone who procrastinates, I realized I had some relationships that I needed to work on. Procrastination, I learned, is not just about getting things turned in on time, it's about listening to God and doing what He says to do when He tells you to and obeying God's Word.”

Rebecca F.

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Rebecca F.

“After Beth came and shared about procrastination, many realized that it is possible through the Lord's power to stop putting off what God has called us to do. One mother finally started a blog and another posted a ladies; tea for her church months in advance so that ...she would not put off having it. Although I thought I was not someone who procrastinates, I realized I had some relationships that I needed to work on. Procrastination, I learned, is not just about getting things turned in on time, it's about listening to God and doing what He says to do when He tells you to and obeying God's Word.”
https://putoffprocrastination.com/testimonials/rebecca-f/
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Beth Sterne - Put Off Procrastination
Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise! It has
no commander, no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
Proverbs 6:6-8
... you have put off the old man with
his deeds, and have put on the new
man who is renewed in knowledge
according to the image of Him who
created him.
Colossians 3:9-10

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