"We are much more apt to accidentally cause an undesirable change in the subconscious
mind than we are to cause a desirable change on purpose." ("About Force of Habit"
website article.)
"A lot of bad habits came into being because the subconscious mind thought it was
doing you a favor."
"Most attempts to change habits are aimed at alleviating the symptom of the habit,
not at eliminating the root and cause of the habit. The symptom is only the outward
manifestation of the habit. It is an indicator that there is a problem. It is the
messenger, not the message."
Habit Change and the Subconscious Mind
Most people seem to approach habit change by thinking in terms of the conscious
mind. And control. They want to rely on their will and on conscious intention to
have a positive impact on their habits. Such approaches do have a certain small
rate of success in changing habits for the better. Sometimes the change is very
gradual. But most of the time it doesn't happen.
Most attempts at changing habits end in failure. Why is that? It is because most
ways of trying to change habits do not go after habits at their source. Most attempts
to change habits are aimed at alleviating the symptom of the habit, not at eliminating
the root and cause of the habit. The symptom is only the outward manifestation of
the habit. It is an indicator that there is a problem. It is the messenger, not
the message. The symptom is not the source of the problem. Getting rid of a habit
is best-and most completely-done by taking it out by the root, by getting rid of
it at the source.
So where is the source of a habit? The source of any habit is the subconscious mind.
To get rid of a habit you have to have an effect on the subconscious mind. So far
so good. As we have seen, it doesn't take any expertise or training to have an effect
on the subconscious mind. Toddlers do it all day long. So does everybody else. But
what kind of an effect are we usually getting? It's almost entirely hit-or-miss,
and quite often it is very deleterious-it is miss. Why is that? It's because we
aren't doing it scientifically. We're not doing it with a clear understanding of
how the whole mind works with respect to habit formation. We're doing it randomly.
Having an effect on the subconscious mind can be for better or for worse. A lot
of bad habits came into being because the subconscious mind thought it was doing
you a favor. So much for good intentions.
Conscious Mind and Subconscious Mind
So then, how are we going to intentionally have a planned and specific impact on-by
our definition of a habit-a "fixed," "unconscious," and automatic feature of our
psychic landscape that was carefully tailored to meet our personal best interests
and also created, shaped, nurtured, cherished and maybe taken out to dinner and
a show by the subconscious mind, which is now vigilantly and jealously protecting
it like a paranoid border collie that is the reincarnation of J. Edgar Hoover? How
are we going to do that by going after it with the conscious mind? In other words,
how are we going to have exactly the effect we want to have, and no other, by relying
on the conscious mind to do it?
The answer is that we're not. Most attempts at habit change end in failure precisely
because the conscious mind was sent on a mission to-among other things-tamper with
your internal security apparatus. Your mind isn't going to allow that. It's watching
you! And it doesn't sleep. (It really doesn't.)
We will accomplish habit change, but we won't do it by sending in the conscious
mind. Instead, we will communicate with your subconscious mind in such a way that
we will get the desired effect and no other effect. That desired effect is habit
change-even habit design. We will do it scientifically, not randomly, and we will
succeed.
We will succeed in changing habits because we know how to work directly with the
subconscious mind in a way that will get the desired effect and no other.
 | THINK RESPONSIBLY! |
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