I lifted the contents of this article (paraphrased) from one of Scott Adams’ Periscope presentations.  Scott Adams is a trained hypnotist and an expert in persuasion, marketing, and social psychology.

You can program your own mind to help you accomplish a personal goal.  Often, half the battle is getting yourself past the first step.  Personal discipline is a major hang-up for most of us.  These methods should be combined as much as possible.  They will overcome the “I just don’t feel like doing it” moments that keep you from becoming what you want to be.

• Write down your goal on a regular basis to create focus.
• Control your mental shelf space.  If you don’t intentionally fill up your brain with thoughts, it will fill up with random, unintentional thoughts.  Fill your mind with good thoughts.
• Learn something useful.  To determine if you are using your body and brain efficiently, consider the following:  If you have trouble sleeping, you may not have worked hard enough.
• Brains are association machines.  Treat yourself like a dog.  Give yourself a treat for doing something you want to become a habit.  Make that treat part of the habit.
• If you cannot talk yourself into doing what you should do, talk yourself into doing some very small step in that direction (get yourself a little bit pregnant).
• Give yourself permission to do the smallest portion.  You are building a habit.  You are not failing.  You kept your habit intact, even if you only succeeded in doing the first, small part.
• Create fake reasons.  If you do not have a good reason, give yourself a fake reason.  It does not matter what the reason is.  A fake reason is just as effective as a real one.  Your brain cannot tell the difference.
• Visualize the end result in your mind.
• Any behavior you want to do, associate it with something positive.
• Repetition needs to be part of every one of these methods.

You do not have to wait until you “feel” like doing something.  Use these methods to create a habit that will force you to succeed, regardless of how you feel.  You no longer need to be “in the mood” to succeed.  You can obtain your goals, with or without the cooperation of your emotions.

I believe in you!

~Sisyphus