If you have kids, you will know that these little God-given cherubs hardly miss a thing. I marvel at how my eldest daughter shares my shyness around people, and I also marvel at how my youngest daughter shares my gregarious nature around people. I guess the safest thing to do, when we don’t want them to turn out like our less than stellar selves, is to present a picture to them that we hope they will follow, because follow, they will anyway. It’s an overused expression, but it’s about setting an example. 

We all learn by example and whom did you and I learn from?  – You guessed it… our parents, or caregivers. At the age of 53, I still do things that I started doing because I saw my parents doing them. Many of these are outdated and warrant revision. I used to sulk like my father does, and I used to be physically lazy, like my mother (can be) … until I decided to change.  

So if leading by example is a thing, then perhaps you can lead yourself into new behaviours, by setting a new example for yourself. 

Getting up at the crack of dawn, and grabbing your gym bag to go and work out, may be something you know could be good for you, but heck, your brain will rebel. Thing is, if you’re able to separate yourself from yourself, and let your body bolt out of bed, even before your brain has caught up to it, slip on your sneakers, and before the monkey mind has started to lure you back onto the sanctuary of the goose down duvet, …suddenly and miraculously,   you’re standing in the free weights section of the gym, doing something you know is good for you… voila, you’ve just set a good example for yourself. In a way, it then becomes possible to lead yourself by example, just like your parents did, only now, you’re the one calling the shots.

We assume that the brain is the leader of our actions and I would agree in a way. But the subconscious is also a follower and we can, through basic and assertive action, even unthinking action, literally assert ourselves over ourselves. Lead ourselves in a new direction. So the next time your monkey mind wants you to choose the path of least resistance, step out of your brain and into your body, and just go through the motions and know that your brain is watching, copying and pretty soon, it will be the one waking you up at 5h30 in the morning because now IT wants to get up and go. Set an example for yourself by just doing it… the other you will catch up in the end. Who knows, in the long run, it may just claim the idea as its own. 😉