Last week I talked about changing your mind and making decisions. This week lets go a bit deeper into making decisions. It’s estimated that the average person makes about 35,000 decisions in one day. Neuroscience tell us that our brains process new experiences by comparing them to previous experiences to assess whether you’re in danger or not. One of the roles of the brain is to keep you safe. Familiar/known choices are considered safe to the brain even if you know they aren’t good for you.
Here are some examples: - You drink two glasses of red wine every night to unwind yet red wine gives you hives. You’ve been doing this for years, so even though you get hives you keep doing it. It’s “safe” to just keep doing what you’ve always been doing. Who would you be without the wine each night? - You’ve been at your 9-5 job for 10 years. You know exactly what is expected of you. It’s easy. Yet even though you feel unfulfilled and it’s not a healthy work environment you stay at your job because it’s “safe.” Who would you be without your job? - You run 3 miles every day like clockwork. You recently noticed some pain in your knees and start to wonder if you should taper down BUT you don’t want to be seen as “less than” so you keep running in spite of the pain. Who would you be without your 3 miles each day?
While it may sound odd, in each of these scenarios whether you keep drinking your two glasses of wine, stay at your unfulfilling job, or keep running in spite of the pain, your brain is attempting at keeping you safe. When patterns in the brain are created over a period of time, those patterns become well-worn paths. HOWEVER, there is ALWAYS the option to walk a different path, take a different action. In fact you can teach the brain that just because something is familiar and “known” does NOT mean it is the best decision for you. If you have a feeling self-employed work would be more fulfilling for you, you know your skills could be put to great use through your own business, and desire full autonomy the path of The Non-Nine-to-Five™ may be right for you. Email me here to know more about the potential this new path can have for you. Seeing you Successfully Self-Employed, - Jen P.S: Here’s a beautiful celebration from Non-Nine-to-Five member Allison who just joined our community in October! “My goal on my last 30-Day Pre-Celebration Plan was to have 15 orders and I exceeded it by 18! This is much more than I’ve had in the past.”