Have you ever tried to eliminate a negative behavior, only to fail? There is a long list of common problem behaviors that people often try to change or eliminate. Perhaps the most common are: Overeating and weight loss; quitting smoking; giving up chewing tobacco; nail biting; increasing self-confidence; overcoming insomnia and sleeping better; improving memory; and managing stress.

WHAT THE MIND CAUSES, THE MIND CAN CURE:

If you stop and think about it, all of these negative behaviors are the result of negative thinking. In other words, you think yourself into all of these behaviors, or at least you think yourself into feeling stressed, and that can cause these behaviors. And since you think yourself into these behaviors, you can think yourself out of them as well. But in order to successfully think yourself out of them, you will need to know the "Formula For Success."

DESIRE:

You're probably reading this article because you want to change something about yourself. And that's convenient because the first element in the Formula For Success is that you must want or desire to change. If you have read this far, at least some part of you desires a change.

BELIEF IS REQUIRED FOR MOTIVATION:

Before anyone can change or eliminate a negative behavior, that person must be motivated to do so. Merely wanting a change is not sufficient. Motivation comes from what we believe. If we believe that something very important to us will get better or "become enhanced" if we make a change in our behavior, we will feel motivated.

Conversely, if we believe that something very important to us will be in jeopardy if we don't make a change in our behavior, we will also feel motivated to change.

Some simple examples of these beliefs would be: If I lose weight I'll be able to get a date or find someone to love me. If I quit smoking I'll be healthier and won't have to worry about cancer. If I stop biting my nails my hands will be a lot prettier. If I can improve my memory, I can graduate with honors.

TECHNOLOGIES THAT CAN CREATE THE BELIEFS THAT LEAD TO MOTIVATION:

Neuro-Linguistic Programming - which is commonly known as NLP offers strategies that can instantly create the element of belief. You can learn more about this by reading the article "How To Get Motivated To Exercise Using Hypnosis And NLP."

DECISION:

The dictionary defines the word "Decision" as making up one's mind / a verdict or judgment. When you believe something that gives you a powerful feeling of motivation to make a change, you will feel compelled to make a decision to change or eliminate a negative behavior. Decision is the key that unlocks the door to taking action.

ACTION:

The dictionary defines the word "Action" as an act or deed / to do or perform. Taking action means that rather than just thinking about making personal changes, you will actually take steps to bring about your desired changes.

SELF-TALK:

One of the reasons that most people fail to change or eliminate a negative behavior is because of their self-talk. Self-talk is important because very often it is part of what caused the negative behavior in the first place.

I'd like you to think about this for a moment. Let's say that you want to quit smoking. The first thing that you are likely to say or think to yourself is, "I'm not going to smoke anymore." It's common for people to tell themselves what they aren't going to do. Unfortunately, when we tell ourselves what we are not going to do, we are actually programming ourselves to do it!

SELF-TALK EXERCISE:

Say the following to yourself: I can't see blue. I can't see polka dots.

I'll bet your mind showed you the color blue, and then it showed you polka dots. That's because when we tell ourselves what we aren't going to do, or what we don't want to do, or what we won't do, in order to make sense of it our mind must show us doing what it is that we wish to stop doing.

And when we see ourselves in a behavior, our mind gives us a compulsion to generate that behavior.

SUMMARY:

In order to eliminate a negative behavior, we must first want or DESIRE to eliminate it. BELIEF is the element that leads us to MOTIVATION. MOTIVATION leads us to DECISION. DECISION is the key to ACTION.

NLP is a technology or "tool" that we can use to facilitate beliefs, motivation, decisions, and actions.

When we tell ourselves what we are not going to do, we make a mental picture of ourselves in the behavior that we want to eliminate. And that mental image gives us a compulsion to create the unwanted behavior.

So if we want to eliminate a negative behavior, rather than tell ourselves what we won't do, we must always tell ourselves what we will do.

To quit smoking say, "I can live without them."

To eliminate cravings for fattening food or to quit smokeless chewing tobacco say, "I can live without it."

To manage stress say, "I'm relaxed and calm, both mentally and physically."

To fall asleep quickly and overcome insomnia say, "I fall asleep promptly, and sleep soundly and restfully throughout the night."

Alan B. Densky, CH is a certified consulting hypnotist and NLP Practitioner. He runs the Neuro-VISION Video Self-Hypnosis website where he offers the free use of his NLP & Hypnosis Research Library as well as hypnosis & NLP CDs for motivation. Visit the site for free downloads of hypnosis & NLP MP3's and newsletters and the video hypnosis library