Do you ever get a tug of war in your brain?

Maybe one part of your brain jumps at the thought of doing something different, but then the other part leaps in and talks you out of it?

As lecturers, we do smile at how our brains can stop us from doing something we want to do. We say that the subconscious mind, which holds the fight/flight part of the brain, is a professional procrastinator. It’s that fight/flight part of the brain that is looking out for your survival, so it hates anything that is new, that it hasn’t tried and tested previously.

Basically, if there’s anything new on the horizon, it doesn’t trust you to survive it – a throwback to historic times when danger was all around and, therefore, the survival instinct had to be on red alert a lot of the time!

So, when it comes to dipping your toe in the water to do something new, that subconscious brain can talk us out of it.

Let’s look at the facts.

If we do look at the reasons why we’re considering something new, we can work out if it’s a sensible idea. If we then move forward with our idea, bizarrely it’s the subconscious (the bit that procrastinated) that can feel the benefit and rewards of stepping outside our comfort zone.

Consider a lobster, yes, a lobster! Did you know that lobsters outgrow their shells? When they feel uncomfortable then it’s a sign to discard their old shell and grow a new one, a bigger one that they can grow into.

This is a great idea, yet humans can retreat into their existing shells if they feel uncomfortable. They can then stay stuck in that old shell. Whereas if we move forward and experience something new, we grow – and we don’t need to produce a new shell, we just get more confident.

So, become a lobster – only kidding! But if you’d like to expand your world and experience a very enjoyable growth, consider joining us on our next course. The feedback we get from students and graduates is that it is truly life-changing!