‘Different’ is the ‘Difference’
– Colle Davis
Senior Level Master Coach and Certified Hypnotist
30 years of experience in corporate work with executives.
Reserve your free twenty-minute Zoom call with me.
Your life will never be the same. 804-467-1536 EDT cdavis@mycoach.com
Most of our daily routines are just that, routine, same/same, and predictable. Our routines are a repeating set of behaviors we use at specific times during the day. So, wherever you are and whatever you are doing today is reinforced by daily rituals that are your behaviors.
To advance and progress in your life and make it more of what you want, or to change anything in your life, do something different. Do anything differently.
Change a morning ritual. Start washing or shaving on the other side of your body. The simple act of shaving is the best example. For those who shave, it is a process where little thought is required. You grasp the shaving instrument in your dominant hand, attack the exact spot where you always begin, and immediately start your process of shaving.
To make a positive impact on your life, start shaving on the opposite side of your face/body. If you use a bladed instrument, do not use the non-dominate hand for this, be careful, it is dangerous. For example, if your starting point is on the left side, this time start on the right side. A funny caveat is that this change takes most people a week or more to remember to make the change—sticky notes on the mirror help.
When putting on your underwear, start with your opposite leg first. No, it is not easy, and sorting for differences makes your world bigger and presents you with opportunities you could have never seen before. So please put a note in your underwear drawer and see how long it takes to change your life.
Here is a hard one. Put your shirt or blouse on, starting on the other side. This change is so different that you may have to think it through several times before grasping how you put it on.
For those who wear a wrist device of any kind, move it to the other wrist. For example, people who wore watches in the past saw time differently when they moved it to the other wrist.
Why does this work?
Any change forces your brain to process incoming information differently. The old way worked well, and now the brain needs to find new ways to make the new input work. This difference requires more energy, focus, and prompts the brain to look for other ways to incorporate the new input. It creates a new routine that integrates the changes, devotes less energy, and goes back to a fast idle.
Why would you want to change excellent habits that make your day easier? Because what you are doing is not giving you the outcomes you say you want in other areas of your life.
Our brain uses hard-wired sorting patterns. A habit does not need a sorting pattern, so the sorting goes away because the routine runs on its own. When anything disrupts the sequence, our brain must find different behaviors to achieve the outcome in a new way.
For those who commute, use a different route to work for a week or two, and your life will change. Your brain is forced to think through from the outcome, back to the beginning. It will find the most elegant solution to solve the puzzle. That is what your brain does best. Habits kill incentives and most levels of risk-taking.
Let’s discuss one other aspect of shaving for a moment. Starting to shave in a different location each time speeds up the process of brain training and enhanced risk acceptance. Doing anything new is a different behavior and requires energy. However, our brain uses all information in the least energy-intensive manner. That is why habits are so easy; they need no additional energy because we do not have to think about them.
The trick is performing the new behavior. Doing anything different produces new results; sometimes, we may not want the results, but the new sequences help. When our brain is given further information and required to develop ways to achieve the stated outcome, it amazes the most ardent doubter.
Career-wise: How can I use this information to enhance my career?
Investing in differences will make a massive difference in how you see the world. Opportunities will appear because you are now sorting for differences. Those who sort for differences are the most successful in life and business.
Choose one routine or habit to change and see how different behaviors trigger new ways of seeing the world. Gamers know this trick and use it all the time. Doing the same keeps you at the same level.
Adding or changing anything in the game advances you up the levels. In life, the same is true. Force yourself to do something different every day for a month, and suddenly the world you live in changes.
For example, by being kind, complimenting people, letting someone into your lane, holding a door for someone, shaving from the other side of your body, using a different cologne, not wearing underwear for a day (funny story, ask me about it later), or anything that makes you aware and requires a different response to the world.
The pandemic-induced isolation forced the opportunity to vary our routines. The ones that worked, we will keep. The rest will be looked back on with amusement.
The world will respond to your newfound way of being in the world. Your clients, boss, friends, family, and even your pseudo-enemies will know you are different, and they will not be able to tell what is different or why.
There is a book called Change Your Mind and Keep the Change by Grinder and Bandler. It is tough to read, I do not recommend it as light reading, but the title is right on.
The process of changing how the brain helps reach the outcomes you want is a lifelong pursuit. First, children experiment with their world to see how much they can get away with and not get hurt. Become childlike and have fun with the new world you have entered.
If what you want is important to you, creating new routines and habits is the fastest and least expensive way to get your outcomes. Although having goals is great, getting to those goals faster requires a subtle and elegant way to make the journey fun, engaging, and worth your time.
For more ways to impact the trajectory of your life, contact me, and I will give you some more ideas.
Colle Davis is a Senior Level Master Coach and Certified Hypnotist with over 30 years of helping corporate clients.
Reserve your free twenty-minute Zoom call with me, and your life will never be the same.
804-467-1536. cdavis@mycoach.com
In the meantime, stay safe and have fun.
