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Have you ever tried to do away with an unhelpful behavior, only to fail? There is a lengthy list of frequent problem behaviors that people often try to alter or eradicate using self-hypnosis or NLP. Perhaps the most common are: Overeating and weight loss; stop smoking; quit chewing tobacco; stop nail biting; increasing self-confidence; overcoming insomnia and sleeping better; improving memory; and managing stress.

WHAT THE MIND CAUSES, THE MIND CAN CURE: The motivation for our behaviors starts in our thoughts. If you stop and think about it, all of these destructive behaviors are the end result of negative thinking. In other words, you think and motivate yourself into all of these behaviors. Or at least you think yourself into feeling anxious, and that can be the origin of these behaviors. And given that you think and motivate yourself into these behaviors, you can think and motivate yourself out of them. In order to effectively think and motivate yourself out of them, you will need to know the "Motivation Formula For Success."

DESIRE: You're perhaps reading this article for the reason that you want the motivation to change something about yourself. And that is fitting for the reason that the first ingredient in the "Motivation Formula For Your Success" is that you must want or desire to change. If you have read this far, at least a little part of you wants a change.

BELIEF IS REQUIRED FOR MOTIVATION: Before anyone can eliminate an unhelpful behavior, that person must be motivated to do so. Merely wanting a behavior to change is not sufficient.

Our motivation comes from the things that we believe. If we believe that something very important to us will get better or "become enhanced" if we alter our behavior, we will experience a high level of motivation. Conversely, if we believe that something very important to us will be placed in jeopardy if we don't alter our behavior, we will also experience motivation to change.

Some straightforward examples of these motivational beliefs could be:

If I take some weight off, then I'll be able to find a companion.

If I kick my smoking habit, then I'll be healthier.

If I quit my nail biting, then my hands will look a lot more attractive.

TECHNOLOGIES THAT CAN CREATE THE BELIEFS THAT LEAD TO MOTIVATION: Neuro-Linguistic Programming - which is commonly known as NLP, provides strategies that are able to immediately create the element of belief. You can find out more on this topic by reading the articles "How To Get Motivated To Exercise Using Hypnosis And NLP" and "Motivation Theory - How To Quit Smoking Using NLP And Hypnosis For Motivation." These articles are both available in my free hypnosis research library.

DECISION: The dictionary definition of the word "Decision" is making up one's mind / a verdict or judgment. When you accept as true a thought that provides you with a powerful feeling of motivation to change your behavior, you will feel compelled to make a decision to eliminate a negative behavior. Decision is the key that unlocks the door to compelling action.

ACTION: The dictionary defines the word "Action" as an act or deed / to do or perform. When you take action it means that instead of just daydreaming about making personal changes, you will actually take steps to bring about your desired changes.

SELF-TALK: One of the reasons that people fail to change or eliminate a negative behavior is because of their self-talk. Self-talk is vital because frequently it is part of what caused the negative behavior in the first place.

I'd like you to consider this for a moment: Let's say that you want to quit smoking. Possibly the first thing that you are likely to say or think to yourself is: "I'm not going to smoke cigarettes any longer."

It is universal 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 compelling 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 don't want to do, or what we won't do, in order to make sense of it our mind must make an image of us doing whatever it is that we would like to stop doing. And when we see ourselves in a behavior, our mind gives us a compulsion to create that behavior.

SUMMARY: In order to alter a negative behavior, we must want or DESIRE to eliminate it. BELIEF is the ingredient that leads us to MOTIVATION. MOTIVATION is the drive that compels us to DECISION. DECISION is the impetus to ACTION. Neuro-Linguistic Programming is a 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 movie of ourselves in the behavior that we want to get rid of. And that mental picture gives us a compulsion to generate the unwanted behavior. So if we want to eliminate a negative behavior, instead of telling ourselves what we will not do, we must always tell ourselves what we will do.

To break the smoking habit say: "I can live without them."

To abort cravings for high calorie foods or to stop chewing smokeless say: "I can live without it."

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

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