"Part 4" Self-Image: What You See Is What You Get!

STEP 4: REINFORCE THE IMAGE DAILY… EVEN HOURLY

The fourth step is to re-program your mind by replacing the old image with the new image through repetition, repetition, repetition. Repetition is the mother of learning and the father of a new self-image. It took a long time for your current self-image to develop so you can’t expect it to change overnight. It takes at least 21 days of CONSISTENT effort for the roots of a new image to form and sometimes up to 90 days before the roots shoot up through the ground and become visible for the entire world to see. Remember, there is a gestation period for everything. Be patient and persistent.

Installing your new self-image is achieved by visualizing, reading, thinking and writing your written description over and over again, day after day, until the new image becomes reality. These four methods of reinforcement and repetition will burn the new image into your subconscious mind like data onto a CD.

Visualizing is especially powerful. Psychologists have known for decades that the human brain and nervous system can’t distinguish between an experience that is real and one that is vividly imagined. When you vividly imagine yourself the way you want to be, doing the things you want to do, these mental pictures are not only accepted by your subconscious as real, they are accepted as commands or instructions. Project your image onto the screen of your mind. Remember, it’s your movie, so you can project anything you want. Visualizing your perfect body image while you’re in a physically relaxed state is even more powerful because your subconscious is more impressionable when you're relaxed.

Thinking constructively also begins to dissolve the old image and solidify the new one. Your self-concept is influenced by outside suggestions, but the greatest influence on your mind is your own thoughts and “self-talk.” The conversation you have with yourself in your head every minute of every day maintains your current self-image and performance level, whether that’s enjoying high achievement or wallowing in the same old rut. Thoughts, like images, are commands to your subconscious. Once you realize this, you start getting very careful of what you think about. Watch those “I’ms!” Change your thinking patterns to match your new self-image. You become what you think about all day long.

Read your written goal at least twice a day; once in the morning and once again at night. These are the times when your subconscious mind is most impressionable. An incredibly powerful technique is to write your written description on a goal card and carry it with you everywhere you go. Every time you put your hand in your pocket and touch the card, it will make you think about your new image. Every time you get a chance, pull out your card and read it, mentally picturing yourself as if you were already there.

Re-writing your written description is even more effective at impressing your new image into your subconscious than simply reading it. Achievement expert Brian Tracy says that if you write out your goal statement on paper every day, changes will happen so fast, it will almost frighten you.

Click here if you want to learn more about how you can achieve the body of your dreams!

A FINAL WORD ON THE POWER OF THE MIND

You may have heard of these techniques before in self-help, goal setting or motivational programs. But admit it - you probably ignored them because they sounded too “cheesy” or just too simplistic to be effective. The irony is that the most profound truths in life are the simplest and most obvious ones. Don’t underestimate the power of these methods. There’s immense power in mental images. The formula is simple: Decide what you want to look like, project your new image on the screen of your mind (visualize), think about the “new you” constantly, create a written description of your new image and read it at least twice per day, (write it out daily for even more impact), then follow through with actions that are consistent with your goal. Your marvelous and powerful mind will do the rest.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:PSYCHO CYBERNETICS

PSCYHO CYBERNETICS was written by Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon and expert on self image psychology. After you read this book, you will understand self image in great depth and how your subconscious mind controls your behavior. You will understand why diets have failed you in the past and why you’ve had such a hard time getting yourself to work out on a consistent basis even though you know exactly what you need to do.

I recommend the original 1960 version, which is available in trade paperback for less than seven bucks. By the way, this book has sold 33 million copies, and has never been out of print a single day since its first release in 1960.

http://www.amazon.com/psycho-cybernetics

"Part 3" Self-Image: Act Out The Part!

STEP 3: ACT OUT THE PART

What you’ve done in the first two steps is literally to create a new role for yourself. You’ve written your own script. Now be like George C Scott playing General Patton. He didn’t just act. He became Patton - he lived the part. So do all great actors. Be an actor or actress and step into your new role. This will feel awkward at first. Resistance will well up inside you. People will criticize you and say you’re a crazy dreamer. It will feel like you’re lying to yourself. Continue to play the new role anyway. Fake it until you make it. Someone once said that most people live like they were extras in their own movies. Why settle for less when you can be the writer, producer, director and STAR of your own movie? Create the character and write the script exactly as you’d like to be and then play the part until the part becomes real. Take actions that are consistent with the new image you’ve created. Act the part. Do something every day that moves you closer to your goal. Get moving! Ask yourself, “What would a person with the type of body I want do in this situation?” Then do it. Act as though you were already the owner of your ultimate dream body. A very wise person once said, “Act as though I am and I will be.”

You must take action. I’m not suggesting a Pollyanna positive thinking only approach. Affirmations are an effective part of realizing your new image, but as motivational speaker Jim Rohn says, “Affirmation without action is the beginning of delusion.” In fact, Maltz pointed out in Psycho Cybernetics that the reason affirmations and positive thinking don’t always work is because they cannot be used as a crutch to the same old self-image. What I'm suggesting to you is positive thinking, positive visualizing, positive action AND the fourth and final step, positive reinforcement, are needed in order to change your old self-image. Stay tuned for; STEP 4: REINFORCE THE IMAGE DAILY… EVEN HOURLY!

Click here if you want to learn more about how you can achieve the body of your dreams!

"Part 1" Self-Image: Your New Self-Image

The part of the self-concept that affects your physical condition and ability to achieve your perfect weight is called the SELF-IMAGE. Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon and author of the best seller, Psycho Cybernetics, stumbled onto the discovery of self-image with his patients. Even though he had corrected physical defects and deformities with surgery, his patients often retained their old self-image and continued to see themselves as “ugly,” “scarred,” or “deformed” even though they appeared quite beautiful by society’s standards. As a result, they continued to behave as they always had; shy, retiring, lacking in confidence. This led Dr. Maltz to the conclusion that changing the physical image was not the real key to changes in personality and behavior. There was “something else.” That something else is the self-image. When the self-image is “reconstructed,” the person changes. If the self-image stays the same, the person’s behavior stays the same.

Emerson once wrote, “Of what use to make heroic vows of amendment if the same old lawbreaker is to keep them? Jesus taught that it is folly to put new wine into old bottles or a patch of new material on an old garment. People who don’t understand self-image erroneously put all their attention on changing their eating and exercise behaviors, but the problem with this physical-only approach is that it’s not addressing the SOURCE or cause of the behavior. The source of your behavior is your mental self-image. You are more than just a body. You are a body, a mind and a spirit. You will always act - and can ONLY act - like the type of person you SEE yourself to be in your mind. If you see yourself as an overweight person, you will behave like an overweight person. If you see yourself as a lean, fit and healthy person, you will behave like a lean, fit and healthy person. An overweight person usually doesn’t work out faithfully every day, so why is it any surprise that someone with an “overweight person” self-image would skip workouts? Their brain is programmed to skip workouts. Someone with an “overweight person” self-image usually doesn’t eat healthy, low fat, low sugar, low calorie meals, so why would it be surprising that they cheat on their diet and binge on junk food? After all, their brain is programmed to eat junk food. Is this starting to make sense?

To make a lasting change, you must work on the physical AND the mental planes. Of course you have to change your lifestyle, exercise and nutrition habits, but the real secret is not trying to force new behaviors, but changing the self-image, which controls the behavior. Put your energy on a new mental picture, and the new picture will create new behaviors. Best of all, the new behaviors that spring from a positive new self-image will come without as much effort or willpower because they’re hard-wired into every cell of your body. The “unseen forces” are now working for you instead of against you.

So, let’s suppose you have the self-image of an unfit or overweight person… How the heck do you change it if it’s so deeply embedded in your mind from years of conditioning?

There are four simple steps:

STEP 1: CREATE YOUR NEW SELF IMAGE

The first step is to choose your new self-image. You could say this is goal setting, but your self-image is not as much a “goal” as it is a PICTURE IN YOUR MIND. I was on a conference call with success coach Bob Proctor recently and one of the participants said her goal was to lose weight. Bob said something to her that really struck me. He said, “Have you ever noticed how people are always losing weight and gaining it back? Well, it’s because if you lose something, your subconscious mind will immediately begin looking for it. Instead, you have to release it and be at your perfect weight. And your perfect weight is a not just a goal, it’s a picture.” So what you have to do first is decide what you would really like to look like if you could have any body you wanted. See the picture in your mind. Make it clear, vivid and dynamic. Dream. Fantasize. You’ve been endowed with an amazing creative faculty called imagination. Use it - it’s the starting point of a new self-image and all lasting changes.

Many people get scared at this step and ask only for what they think they can get, not what they really want. It’s okay if this scares you a little. In fact, if your goal isn’t scary and exciting at the same time, then you’re not thinking big enough. Don’t sell yourself short. Ask for what you really WANT. Ignore anyone who tells you to “be realistic.” Take that "lid" off your mind and DREAM! Stay tuned for step two ; Create a written description of your new image...

Click here if you want to learn more about how you can achieve the body of your dreams!