Reaching Your Goals – What is standing in your way?
Have you ever wondered why it is so hard to do the things you really want to do? Being curious on what your brain is telling you and what is stopping you from reaching your goals can help you achieve them. By understanding what is stopping you, you can move past it.
The primitive brain has 3 main functions:
- Avoiding pain
- Seeking pleasure
- Stay efficient
All living creatures have a primitive brain and it is how we all survive! Our brains main function it to keep us alive. What makes us different is our Prefrontal Cortex. When we engage our prefrontal cortex part of our brain we are able to make intellectual decisions and overcome the barriers our brain is telling us and move past them.
When we understand the brain, it makes sense that our brain is trying to keep us safe, doesn’t like to do hard things, change and rather just be lazy and watch Netflix!!!
To engage the prefrontal cortex we must be intentional. We must give our brain direction and remind our primitive self that our new path is safe. What thoughts come up when you think about what you want? Take a piece of paper right now and write down all the thoughts that come into your brain when you are thinking about your goal: Go to Europe for 6 weeks with my family.
- We can’t afford it. – Keeping us safe
- It will be too hard to get everyone there. – Stay efficient
- What will others think? – Keeping us safe
- Planning it will be too hard. – Stay Efficient
- What if it doesn’t work out? – Keeping us safe
- What about my kids, friends, sports and other activities? – Keeping us safe
Our brain likes to stay in the past and so trying something new your brain doesn’t have evidence it is going to work. It wants to keep doing what it has always done. Once we recognize what our brain is telling us about our goal we can engage the prefrontal cortex part of the brain. We can start to have intentional thoughts that help us reach our goals. Before Life Coaching my primitive brain told me all sorts of thoughts that kept me from reaching my goals and kept me stuck in fear and laziness! I thought something was wrong with me! I learned I was completely normal, I just needed to engage my prefrontal cortex and take control of my thoughts so I could reach my goals!
