{"id":292,"date":"2012-10-14T00:56:17","date_gmt":"2012-10-14T06:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/?p=292"},"modified":"2024-01-09T10:58:53","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T17:58:53","slug":"going-to-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/going-to-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Going to War"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The War in Your Brain\"-\"<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Right now, as you read this, the nerves in your brain are battling one another for territorial command of brain space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, if you continue to read this (and all the other blog posts I write), you\u2019re helping one side dominate the other (the nerves associated with reading, learning and instigating).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Enemy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Who are these nerves fighting?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re fighting the multitude of bad habits you've accumulated over the years.  Things like smoking, comfort eating, spending money you don\u2019t have, staying home instead of going for a run, watching tv instead of writing\u2026the list goes on (and on, and on).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every single one of these actions represents a series of nervous system input (reaching for a cigarette, lighting up, inhaling deeply, etc.).\u00a0 The more consistent time you spend on an activity, the larger its brain territory becomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cIf we stop exercising our mental skills, we do not just forget them: the brain map space for those skills is turned over to the skills we practice instead.\u201d<\/p>\nNorman Droidge [The Brain That Changes Itself]<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of 20 years of bad eating habits, you have terrain completely dominated by the enemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Control the Territory<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every time we repeat a bad habit, it gains more control over the map.  The territory expands and the territorial lines strengthen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the flip side, you may have good habits you'd like to cultivate or new habits you'd like to start (workout more, eat healthier, learn a new language, write a book, start a business), but they control so little territory it\u2019s like trying to take over China as the commander of Monaco<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason it\u2019s so hard is because we\u2019ve had the habit of starting<\/strong> ground out of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re like most people, the habit of hiding replaced your natural instinct to start.<\/strong>  Instead of being encouraged to instigate, we became masters at hiding.  We\u2019ve had lots of practice too: hiding in the back of class; hiding from advanced placement; hiding by taking 7 years to graduate college with a bachelor\u2019s degree; hiding by going with the crowd, never trying to stand out, and never testing the limits of our own abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This habit of hiding (of avoiding starting at all costs) is costing us our sanity, our happiness, and our self-respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Brain Map Insurgent<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We want desperately to begin, to build good habits, but we\u2019re fighting decades of bad habit.  By now, our maps are almost entirely controlled by our bad habits.  Trying to reconquer the territory is a serious undertaking, something that takes more than a day and more than good intentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to take back control of your brain territory, you have to understand you don\u2019t have the upper hand, all momentum is in the opposite direction, and you will be fighting an uphill battle. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To take back territory, you need to play by the rules of the brain map insurgent:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. <\/strong>Start small<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t try to regain control over every territory at once.\u00a0 It won\u2019t happen.\u00a0 You\u2019ll lose focus and your bad habits will crush you.\u00a0 Focus on one specific area.\u00a0 Use the power of concentrated effort to break through enemy lines in order to gain a foothold before you move on to something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to eat healthier, manipulate your environment to make it easier.  Get rid of junk food.  Never go shopping for food hungry.  Only keep food in the house that you consider healthy (sorry, no hiding snacks).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first few weeks, focus all your effort on getting control of this territory before moving on to something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.  <\/strong>Be consistent<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The only way to break through enemy lines and expand friendly territory is through consistent, daily action over the course of 4 weeks.  That\u2019s right, 28 days.  This is the amount of time it takes for the neural pathways to strengthen and for the action to go from an activity to muscle memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 4 weeks, it doesn\u2019t mean that you stop doing the activity \u2013 and it doesn\u2019t mean the new muscle memory has become effortless habit.  It simply means you\u2019ve developed strong synapse connections, allowing you to more easily repeat the activity.  So keep going even after 4 weeks!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.  <\/strong>Expand topographically <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Brain maps are topographical, meaning the portions of the body\u2019s surface that are close together are mapped close together in the brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, when we perform an action that requires multiple motor movements (or multiple sensory inputs), the brain maps these neural pathways close together.  Running, for example, requires multiple inputs from various body parts, but the composite action is mapped locally on the brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can apply this knowledge by building good habits on top of other good habits.  Have you already created a habit out of waking up early?  Expand on this good habit by sitting down for 10 minutes to write before work.   Your brain will begin associating early rising with writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 28 days, expand topographically again: spend 30 minutes writing, or focus on making a healthy meal before you sit down to write, or after writing, go for a quick 15 minute run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Art of Instigating  <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Understanding the brain, how neural pathways strengthen and weaken, and how focus and repetition expand brain map territory, is the science behind what I talk about on this blog and the cornerstone to my concept of the art of instigating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The habit of starting is a real thing. <\/strong> There are very real neural pathways that develop your brain map territory, and the habit of starting (like the habit of working out or eating healthy) requires that we practice every day to maintain and expand that territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t develop the habit of starting, you won\u2019t be successful \u2013 period.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every single successful person in the world (whether you measure success in terms of money, fame, happiness, or by some other criterion) has developed the habit of starting \u2013 they\u2019ve made instigating<\/em> a way of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Empires aren\u2019t built in a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We build empires one day at a time, one habit at a time, one successful action at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Create the habit of starting<\/strong>, learn the art of instigating<\/strong><\/a>, and build the empire you\u2019ve always wanted to build.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t wait.  Start now.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The War in Your Brain Right now, as you read this, the nerves in your brain are battling one another for territorial command of brain space. In fact, if you continue to read this (and all the other blog posts I write), you\u2019re helping one side dominate the other (the nerves associated with reading, learning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[456],"tags":[248,268,328,329,368,418],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16547,"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions\/16547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}