Having fun with your brain

"what I am about to reveal, is how in just 5 minutes, you can achieve incredible things"

I really love making statements like that. Sounds like one of those late night commercials. Now if you'll just send me four equal payments of only $999 you will have all you ever dreamed of in just 5 lousy minutes. Ok, back to reality....

This is reality...in just 5 minutes you achieve incredible things! I've made this interesting little discovery. I want to talk about just two parts of your brain. The first is called, the amygdala region. Sounds impressive, and neither of us will remember the name, so let's just call it 'the go' part of your brain.

The go is designed for quick response. It will send blood rushing to your limbs so that you can make a quick response. For instance you see a commercial for a big fat juicy burger dripping with heart stopping fat and a super sized order of fries and the go says....must have now. The go is quick thinking and is in no way contemplative or reasoning. The go is very important, like for instance when you see an insurance salesman, the go moves your feet quickly as possible to the other side of street. No thinking required, just escape. The go is good, sometimes.

The second part (and much larger) part of our brain, I want to discuss is the in the frontal lobe is our know system. The know system is slow and contemplative. It is emotionally neutral. It is designed for thriving and not just surviving like the go system.

Ok, now let's get to the cool stuff like, how to use this knowledge to my advantage? Glad you asked. Let's imagine that you want to do one of the following; lose weight or quit smoking. Your go system, gets an urge to smoke or eat a piece of chocolate cake. The go fires off the thought, go for it and be quick about doing it. The go is in a hurry to fulfill your desire.

But in just 5 minutes we can shut down the go and fire up the know. Here's how it works. Tell yourself...ok, I can have what I want but I will wait for 5 minutes to do it. The go is very impatient and by making it wait just 5 minutes it will give way to your know system. And your know system, will start reasoning with you. Giving you thoughts like....I know that's not good for me, I don't really need that right now, or my health is more important than a stupid cigarette or that damn chocolate cake. The know is the smart part of your brain!

So by waiting just 5 minutes, we can put the know in charge and you have a very good chance that your know will win the day. Isn't that simple?

I've also discovered another way to use my 5 minute system. Let's suppose you are like me and are a procrastinator. Then just decide that you will start the task and you only need to do it for 5 minutes. That's all just 5 minutes. Here is what is likely to happen; first, you either do 5 minutes work and quit, or you just feel like doing a little extra once you get going. Either way you get something done and start moving forward. More times than not you end up doing more work. I've tried this and actually cleaned the bathroom!

Go ahead and print off the card I made above and carry around with you. Think of something you have been procrastinating on and commit yourself to just 5 minutes of effort. Take my word for it you will be surprised!

Or beat back those bad habits by just delaying 5 minutes, you can do it. Let the know system operate your life.

Eduardo

P.S. This message is just for men! Do not, I repeat do not let women see this article or they will be saying things like......come on honey, just do 5 minutes of cleaning in the bathroom, that's all. Don't say I didn't warn you!