Learn a Simple Neurological Mood Booster

Who likes easy?

I know hard is where we build up our muscles.

BUT I do like the idea of a mix of easy, hard, and very little harder-than-it-NEEDS-to-be.

Life doesn’t have to be all about hard, sweaty, and grunts and groans for us to be succeeding.

Let’s sprinkle in a bit of easy with today’s tip on boosting our mood.

You know I am a fan of the idea that we can actually (self) create an elevated emotion state in our bodies, which causes a specific set of neuro-chemicals and hormones to be released throughout the body.

Re-enforcing the created feeling and supporting our overall health and well-being.

I want to take that concept, and a concept I read recently in a book by a Stanford behavioural scientist – BJ Fogg – called Tiny Habits (which I will review for you in a couple of weeks when I finish it).

Ol’ BJ talked about ‘CELEBRATION’ as a key to cementing new habits quickly (there is more to the formula, but I will share that another day).

He also made an interesting discovery.

He talked about a time in his life, where there was a family tragedy, while simultaneously experiencing a failing business venture, which obviously left him feeling pretty awful.

It was also affecting his sleep – which had a knock-on effect to his emotional state.

At the same time he was playing with the establishment of a new habit around flossing.

And for some reason, after he completed his new habit of flossing (which he has been working on for a bunch of days already), he decided to do something new.

He decided to celebrate his tooth flossing (very simply and easily) by saying “Victory!”.

That simple act, actually caused him to experience a ‘shift’ in his overall emotional state.

So he paid attention to it the next day and the next.

And he also encouraged other people to try it and see the effect.

Not surprisingly, many people had a similar experience.

The Reasons Why

Firstly, most of us (apart from any narcissists who are probably unlikely to be reading my stuff) are pretty rubbish in our ‘self-talk’.

We tend to berate ourselves for all of the things we did wrong, or forgot to do, or did not do to a world-class standard, etc..

We are REALLY good at focusing on what we did ‘bad’.

While being generally rubbish at noticing and CELEBRATING the things we do well.

Most days (for most of us) are a combination of stuff that went poorly, average, or pretty damn well.

BUT we have a BIAS to ruminate on the ‘bad’.

Which would be okay if we do that with curiosity and a conscious non-judgemental desire to learn and grow.

What would happen if we spent a little bit more time focusing on the ‘good‘ stuff?

Particularly immediately after it happened.

We would be firing and wiring our brains to associate doing the good stuff (good habits and behaviors) with an immediate celebration, and the release of neuro-chemicals and hormones that make us feel good.

This would condition us to WANT TO DO the good behaviours and habits, so we can have a cheeky dopamine hit.

As I said right at the start, we could also make this easy.

Want to know how I celebrate?

Mine looks like this:

I say “Nice one“, as I nod my head with a smile on my face.

It FEELS GOOD.

It is like a virtual pat on the back.

In action it could be:

• I finish doing my morning chin-ups and say ‘nice one’ as I smile and nod my head.
• I drink a green drink with lots of nutritious goodies and then finish it by saying ‘nice one’ as I smile and nod my head.

It is almost like the approval you desired when you did something ‘good’ as a kid.

Unfortunately – and why I think we have a bias to self-criticism – many of us got bought up by people who spent more time criticizing our ‘mistakes’, than giving approval for a job well done (which they likely learned from their parents, etc.).

Your Job (and homework)

IF you do some behaviour or habit that is good for you, THEN do your mini celebration.

Keep the celebration simple so it is REALLY easy to do!

Other words that might work include: “Sweet!”; “Bravo!”; “Done”; “You little ripper!” (Aussie addition ;-)); “Awesome”; “Victory”; and “Hallelujah” or “Amen”.

I like to add a smile as that physical act alone positively influences our biology.

Today and this week, give this strategy a whirl.

And you might just want to keep on doing it (forever).

In Summary

LEARN A SIMPLE NEUROLOGICAL MOOD BOOSTER

Who likes easy?

I know hard is where we build up our muscles.

BUT I do like the idea of a mix of easy, hard, and very little harder-than-it-NEEDS-to-be.

Life doesn’t have to be all about hard, sweaty, and grunts and groans for us to be succeeding.

Let’s sprinkle in a bit of easy with today’s tip on boosting our mood.

You know I am a fan of the idea that we can actually (self) create an elevated emotion state in our bodies, which causes a specific set of neuro-chemicals and hormones to be released throughout the body.

Re-enforcing the created feeling and supporting our overall health and well-being.

I want to take that concept, and a concept I read recently in a book by a Stanford behavioural scientist – BJ Fogg – called Tiny Habits (which I will review for you in a couple of weeks when I finish it).

Ol’ BJ talked about ‘CELEBRATION’ as a key to cementing new habits quickly (there is more to the formula, but I will share that another day).

He also made an interesting discovery.

He talked about a time in his life, where there was a family tragedy, while simultaneously experiencing a failing business venture, which obviously left him feeling pretty awful.

It was also affecting his sleep – which had a knock-on effect to his emotional state.

At the same time he was playing with the establishment of a new habit around flossing.

And for some reason, after he completed his new habit of flossing (which he has been working on for a bunch of days already), he decided to do something new.

He decided to celebrate his tooth flossing (very simply and easily) by saying “Victory!”.

That simple act, actually caused him to experience a ‘shift’ in his overall emotional state.

So he paid attention to it the next day and the next.

And he also encouraged other people to try it and see the effect.

Not surprisingly, many people had a similar experience.

The Reasons Why

Firstly, most of us (apart from any narcissists who are probably unlikely to be reading my stuff) are pretty rubbish in our ‘self-talk’.

We tend to berate ourselves for all of the things we did wrong, or forgot to do, or did not do to a world-class standard, etc..

We are REALLY good at focusing on what we did ‘bad’.

While being generally rubbish at noticing and CELEBRATING the things we do well.

Most days (for most of us) are a combination of stuff that went poorly, average, or pretty damn well.

BUT we have a BIAS to ruminate on the ‘bad’.

Which would be okay if we do that with curiosity and a conscious non-judgemental desire to learn and grow.

What would happen if we spent a little bit more time focusing on the ‘good’ stuff?

Particularly immediately after it happened.

We would be firing and wiring our brains to associate doing the good stuff (good habits and behaviors) with an immediate celebration, and the release of neuro-chemicals and hormones that make us feel good.

This would condition us to WANT TO DO the good behaviours and habits, so we can have a cheeky dopamine hit.

As I said right at the start, we could also make this easy.

Want to know how I celebrate?

Mine looks like this:

I say “Nice one”, as I nod my head with a smile on my face.

It FEELS GOOD.

It is like a virtual pat on the back.

In action it could be:

• I finish doing my morning chin-ups and say ‘nice one’ as I smile and nod my head.
• I drink a green drink with lots of nutritious goodies and then finish it by saying ‘nice one’ as I smile and nod my head.

It is almost like the approval you desired when you did something ‘good’ as a kid.

Unfortunately – and why I think we have a bias to self-criticism – many of us got bought up by people who spent more time criticizing our ‘mistakes’, than giving approval for a job well done (which they likely learned from their parents, etc.).

Your Job (and homework)

IF you do some behaviour or habit that is good for you, THEN do your minicelebration.

Keep the celebration simple so it is REALLY easy to do!

Other words that might work include: “Sweet!”; “Bravo!”; “Done”; “You little ripper!” (Aussie addition ;-)); “Awesome”; “Victory”; and “Hallelujah” or “Amen”.

I like to add a smile as that physical act alone positively influences our biology.

Today and this week, give this strategy a whirl.

And you might just want to keep on doing it (forever).

In Summary

Easy is good.

All you need to do – after completing something that is good for you – is a micro celebration (which might take all of about 3-5 seconds to complete).

Try it out.

If it works, and has a spill over effect … Nice one!

If you try it, and you feel it does not have a high enough ROI, then let it go, and no harm done.

(This practice would be great to trial over the next few weeks in preparation for me sharing the rest of the habit forming and behavioral change model of BJ Fogg’s).

My Parting word

I look forward to sharing with you the great work of BJ Fogg around the formation of habits and changing behaviours.

So keep an eye out for that.

I am not sure about you, but in the past I have been pretty ordinary at celebrating the stuff I do well.

But I love the idea that if we get into the habit of celebrating the good stuff – and feeling the neuro-chemical cocktail released – we actually look forward to doing the habit, so we can get the happy hit at the end (when we celebrate).

Let’s hard-wire the good-for-us stuff, and let the bad behaviours atrophy, due to lack of attention.

What are the word/s you think will resonate for you?

For me “Nice one” has a feel of cheekiness to it too, so it does not feel like blowing wind up my own butt (if you know what I mean).

Your homework now is to find a good habit or behaviour you already do (or have just started) and give this practice a trial run.

And that’s a wrap for today.

Have a micro-celebratory day and week and notice how that makes you feel.

Take care,

Carl

PS: Have you read or listened to this book yet? 18 Ways We Make Life WAY Harder Than It Needs To Be