By Neecey • 4 Comments
Why would you need ways to turn off your autopilot? Do you even recognize you are running with the autopilot switched to on? People live their lives in the perpetual belief that things are going to be better in the future if they struggle onwards now. This is not the case, since the way you think, feel, look and act right now is going to be very similar in five years. Take control and follow some of these ways to turn off your autopilot and start seeing what you are missing.
One of the major and most effective ways to turn off your autopilot is to understand that you are passively making excuses for inaction every day. The word “distraction” should even be renamed as "excuse." Get off your "but" means stop using sentences with the word "but" in them, like:
“I like him, but he would never go for me.”
“I have tried, but I get tired after ten minutes.”
“I know, but what if he hits me?”
We are tired all the time because we live in a highly commercial and instant gratification society. If we are not, then how come you do not cook a good and different meal every night in the old fashioned way? If we do not love instant gratification, then why do we look at text messages right away? Why are we fat? Not only are you under motivated because you are tired, you also have to take in to account your personal clock. Every 90 to 110 minutes you should take a 20 minute break. If you push past the drop in energy then you do not get it back until you receive your second wind, which in the working world is usually at ten minutes past four.
Getting in to the habit of doing something is the only solid way of keeping it up over a long time. Do not take up a diet with the goal of losing weight. Take it up so that you get in the habit of eating healthy. Incorporate it into your week so that it just becomes part of what you do. After a while the things you want will naturally start moving towards you.
This is another of the most powerful ways to turn off your autopilot. Actually plan what you are going to do today, tomorrow, next week, next year and for the rest of your life. It pulls you out of the past and out of the future and puts you in the present. Planning helps to show you that you will not afford your bills at the end of the month, so you may do something about it NOW. I would make a plan, BUT every day something happens and my plan has to change. Don’t forget point one about getting off your but. If every time your plan changes, then change your plan. Sooner or later you will start to incorporate these unexpected events into your daily plan.
Pretend that your goal in life is a big apple blocking a gate. You cannot get through it all at once, so you take a bite out of it every day, and every day you get closer to what you want. If you put even a tiny bit of effort into your goal every day, then you literally cannot fail because to fail is to stop.
If you can think it up, then you can do it. Various scholars could be pointed to who provide an explanation of probability, but think of this. We are told that we should follow our dreams, but “they” also try to limit our dreams. Here’s an example of an unachievable dream - If you are not over six foot then you cannot play basketball. That was an immutable truth until Tyrone “Muggsy” Bogues played for 14 seasons in the NBA at a height of only 5 foot 3 inches. We now know, anyone can play basketball. You can too!
I am a huge fan of the teachings of Napoleon Hill. The saying “have a goal and obsess over it” is not the point of the Napoleon Hill works, but as a summation of his message, it works. Here is a guy who shows you how to take your life off autopilot, and frankly, he says that people who achieve things do so because they become obsessed with them.
There’s no set time or age to take control of your life. Even if you run on autopilot you can have a happy, decent life. If, however, you want to follow your dreams and achieve a happy, fulfilled and successful life, by whatever criteria YOU measure success, you’ll need to switch off the autopilot and set to manual. Are you in control of your life?
Sources: Get Off Your "But" - How to End Self-Sabotage and Stand Up for Yourself by Sean Stephenson, Time Management by Eban Pagan, Succeed and Grow Rich Through Persuasion by Napoleon Hill, The Law of Success by Napoleon Hill, Grow Rich! With Peace of Mind by Napoleon Hill, The Magic Ladder to Success by Napoleon Hill, Napoleon Hill's Keys to Success - The 17 Principles of Personal Achievement by Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, How to Sell Your Way through Life by Napoleon Hill