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What choices have you made today?
If you’re like us, you had to decide what time to wake up, what to wear, what to have for breakfast, and which work to start on first. We could continue this list, but it’s never going to end.
You have to make decisions continually, so how do you make them and how do they impact your life?
Many people listen to music frequently. It provides them with feelings of happiness, reduces anxiety, and improves their mood, but a recent study found that music also relieves pain.
Researchers in charge of the study invited participants with chronic pain to participate in an experiment. Chronic pain is described as any pain that lasts longer than 12 weeks. It can be debilitating, so any relief is welcome.
The scientists decided to study how choosing a preferred song, rather than different genres of music or musical elements, affects a person’s pain levels.
To observe this, the researchers created two versions of a musical track. One track was more complex than the other.
The researchers randomly assigned which track the participants would hear; however, the researchers also selected a random sample of participants who were told that they would get to choose which track they listened to. In reality, they listened to the track assigned to them by the researchers, but what’s important was that these participants had a perception of choice.
All participants were asked to rate their pain before listening to the track and again afterward.
Those participants who thought they had a say in choosing the track rated their pain much lower after listening to the track. In other words, their pain relief was greater.
The researchers also asked questions about how much they enjoyed the music. Participants thought both tracks were enjoyable, but there was no difference in pain relief when comparing one track with the other.
The only difference came about from giving participants the impression that they chose the track.
Upon further questioning of participants, the scientists also concluded that individuals who listened to music daily had less pain than those who didn’t.
The idea of pain is something that scares most people. It can prevent you from taking actions that could benefit your life.
How much more can you achieve by eliminating fear? Most likely, a lot.
Find out how to stop being scared by attending our training on Winning the Game of Fear.
Research about music choice and pain relief reveals that the power to make a decision affects your daily life.
If something as small as deciding what music to listen to can relieve pain, then imagine how much you can change your life by making the right choices.
What decisions have you made today? What were the repercussions for right now and for the future?
If you chose to have a chocolate bar and energy drink for lunch, it could have given you immediate energy. But that same choice ruined your plans to lose 10 pounds—in that case, it might have been better to have had a salad.
The same goes for all areas of your life: Your career, relationships, personal development, everything! The choices you make determine how close you will get to your goals.
Sometimes, we don’t realize how greatly our decisions affect us. Eating that chocolate was done with good intentions (gaining energy) but the swift decision didn’t consider how it would affect the future.
We make about 35,000 decisions daily so it’s no wonder some things fall through the cracks. Processing all that information requires energy and takes time—two things most of us don’t have.
It’s important to put more thought into these choices in order to create positive results.
For instance, waking up 15 minutes earlier could provide time for meditation which sets you up for a good day. Similarly, thinking before you speak makes it easier to control your words rather than regret what you said later.
The choices you make today train your brain and make it easier for you to make similar choices in the future. You want to make the right decisions and get positive results which means you need to take action today: You need to make better choices right away.
Making repetitive decisions develops habits, whether good or bad, that become part of your life. Breaking bad habits is essential so that you can start developing good habits.
Habits are formed when you make a choice to do something and commit to performing that action daily. The more you repeat that action, the more it changes your brain. After a while, your brain creates a new neural pathway which becomes stronger the more you use it.
Although you might think a decision is inconsequential, it has a great impact. You need to prioritize decision-making so that you can be better.
Even a small habit will do more good than having none at all. In this video, John Assaraf explains why this is the case.
Sometimes, you might look at someone and think they are lucky to have a great career, a good life, or a loving relationship but it isn’t luck. These individuals work hard to get what they want.
Successful people use habits to help them achieve their goals. They make decisions that push them forward and bounce back when they make mistakes. It’s the reason why you need to make better choices and build good habits.
It’s possible for you to have all the success you dream of, but you must be willing to put in the work necessary. It means setting goals, creating plans, building productive habits, evaluating progress, and celebrating milestones.
Habits can encourage fear or mitigate it. You want to do everything in your power to stop being scared of big or even small things so that you can live life to the full.
When you attend our training on Winning the Game of Fear, you learn how to use habits to stop being afraid. Reserve your space today!
Make a commitment to yourself today that you are going to make better choices. It’s the first step to becoming a better version of yourself.
It’s time to develop a habit that gets you closer to the position you want to be in.
Reflect on your current position and something you want to achieve in the future. Write down what you are thinking about. It could be to become fit, get a promotion, become happier—whatever you believe would benefit you best.
What you have written down is your goal. Next, write down how you are going to achieve this goal. You might need to do some research to find strategies for your specific goal, but there will definitely be something.
Add details to your plan like what you are going to do each day to get closer to your goal. It doesn’t have to be large activities; even small actions will make a difference.
If you are uncertain about what you can do to improve yourself, then have a look at the following list. One of these actions could be just what you need to do better.
Innercise™ can help you to release negative thoughts, rewire your brain, and achieve your goals. It’s a set of mental exercises that, when practiced frequently, improve your life by changing the way you think.
We have developed several Innercises™ and each one has its own purpose to stimulate your mind. You don’t have to do all of them (although it will benefit you greatly) so choose one or two to do each day and make that a habit.
A great Innercise™ to help make better decisions is creative visualization. With this Innercise™, you visualize what it would be like if you achieved a specific goal.
Doing so allows you to concentrate on the steps to success and primes your brain to think differently. In turn, you start making decisions to your benefit, getting you closer to the image you visualized in your mind.
Endless opportunities await you if you are willing to develop productive habits, but it’s normal to feel anxious about what might (or might not) happen.
Don’t let fear stop you from using those opportunities.
Find out how at Winning the Game of Fear—it will change your life! The reward is worth much more than the risk.
