How to Master Your Mind Habits

and Stop Your Brain From Running Your Life

Mind Habits can be a fantastic aid to your personal development success – or they can be a great hindrance.

We tend to switch between different mind habits. When we are highly motivated and focussed, our mind typically helps us, by giving us positive thoughts and emotions to keep us on track. Our brains give us confidence, strength, and even Swagger.

We feel unstoppable and hold strong positive beliefs about ourselves. Life is good – and we know we are going to win.

There is a downside to our mind's capability to "go with the flow", however. When things are not going so well, our brain habitually turns on itself and presents our “worst case scenario” thoughts as a present reality. We lose faith in ourselves, lose focus, and use our own power against us. We become riddled with self-doubt, can become depressed and down - and often wonder if we will ever see things in a positive way again.

The good news is – you can learn to condition your mind habits. This has two main benefits: first, you are more likely to stay in a positive state for longer; and second, it will also help you to get things back on track when you go through an inevitable down patch.

Here’s five ways to make your brain behave itself:

Master Mind Habits 1 – Know The Bigger Picture

To remain motivated and positive, you have to have something worthwhile you’re aiming for. When you are driven to achieve your goals, you begin to see the bigger picture in almost every action you take.

Obviously, to do this effectively, you have to have clear Goals. Compelling goals are unique motivators, as they give you a higher purpose and supply you with a drive to keep things on track. If your goals excite you, then they will help you to master your brain.

This is because when you know your Personal Values, and have Set Goals, your mind tends to behave itself more. Think of it as a payoff from your mind for taking the time to work out what you want to do with your life.

Another way to keep your goals front of mind and remain positive is by Visualising. When you visualise, you send a powerful target to your subconscious, and also summon up the positive feelings of success.

It’s practically impossible to feel down when you’re imagining your own victories. If you learn How To Visualise, and practice a few times a week, you’ll feel more enthused and confident every day – and be one step closer to mastering your mind habits.

Master Mind Habits 2 – Control What Goes In

All the visualising in the world won’t help you if you continue to fill your brain with depressing and fearful crap – namely, the news.

If you feed yourself on a daily diet of news stories, you’re likely to believe – especially at the subconscious level – that we live in a scary and unpredictable world, that we do not control our own lives, and that it’s really hard to make a positive difference.

This type of Media Influence is damaging to your brain. Start to limit your media intake – or abstain altogether. You’ll immediately feel more positive and in charge of your own thoughts again.

Master Mind Habits 3 – You've Succeeded Before

Another way to take control of your brain's processes is by reliving past successes. This can be quite tricky, so make a deliberate effort to take a mental snapshot of your life when you are feeling on top of the world.

Do this if you’ve just achieved something worthwhile, taken a step closer to your goal, or when you simply feel amazing.

You can borrow a technique from NLP to make this easier. Take a photograph of your life when your mind habits are exactly as you want them. Take note of everything that you can see, and commit it to memory. Crucially, also take note of what you can hear and smell.

Also, pay attention to your feelings inside. Identify them and realise that, if remembered, they can be replicated on demand. Just try to make this whole snapshot as detailed as possible.

The next time you begin to slip into negative mind patterns, call on this empowering snapshot and relive it – being sure to ramp up the feelings of success, and by making the colours brighter and the sounds louder. The positive state generated by this Submodality Exercise could be all it takes to get your mind habits back on track.

Master Mind Habits 4 – Quieten Your Thoughts

Another way to master your mind habits is by becoming a bit of a spiritual hippy – and starting to practice quietening your brain.

OK, so you’re not going to become an enlightened Zen master overnight, but the Benefits of Meditation are numerous and will help you to become at one with the universe – or, if this ain't your thing, feel more relaxed and positive.

If you are new to meditating (or have tried it and didn’t get very far), there are several ways to get Meditation Motivation. To begin with, meditation is simply sitting quietly and learning to focus on your breathing. It’s an easy way to chill yourself out, and trains your brain to behave itself at the same time.

It helps to use binaural beats, which powerfully lower your level of brain activity, and put you into a meditative state quickly and effortlessly.

You should also try to Be More Present - which means living in the moment, and not stressing yourself out with what happened in the past – or what might happen in the future. If you read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, you’ll get a better indication of just how futile it is to live any other way.

Whilst it will take practice, a combination of these techniques will put you on the path to mind mastery.

Master Mind Habits 5 – Keep It in Perspective

My final tip is a simple one – try and learn to keep your life in perspective. This is easier said than done, but it is possible to program your mind to stop taking yourself so seriously.

Things will always “go wrong”, and life has its inevitable ups and downs. You’ll fluctuate from massive successes to massive failures – and everything in-between.

It’s a part of life.

If you learn how to take the rough with the smooth, and not beat yourself up when things go wrong, you’ll be well on the way to mastering your mind habits.

If you can realise that your day-to-day experiences are unlikely to have a staggering impact on the stability of the universe as a whole, and that you have the power to change your reality if you don’t like the cards you’ve been dealt - you’re much more likely to maintain a positive and optimistic mindset, and you won’t get so down on yourself when things happen that appear outside of your immediate control.

If you try and enjoy every moment of every day of your life for the absolute cosmic fluke that it is, your mind habits will be a lot more stable and enjoyable. As soon as you cultivate the ability to laugh at yourself, you’ll have more fun and achieve your goals quicker, too.

So, in summary, know what you want and imagine yourself getting it. Take care of what you put into your brain. Remember your successes and relive them regularly. Learn how to quieten your mind and appreciate the present moment. And finally – don’t sweat the small stuff.

If you do all this, your mind habits will be more predictable and beneficial to you – which will help you to get what you’re dedicated to get.

Related Articles

Why Is Goal Setting Important?

Goal Setting Activity

Personal Values Development


The Power of Creative Visualisation

How To Visualise

Advanced Visualisation Exercises


Binaural Beats

An Introduction to NLP

NLP Submodality Exercises

How To Do An NLP Swish Pattern


Benefits of Meditation

Meditation Motivation

Being Present


Get Your Swagger Back



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