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Have you ever tried to do away with a negative behavior, only to not succeed? There is list of familiar problem behaviors that people often try to alter or eradicate using self-hypnosis or NLP. 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 unconstructive behaviors are the product of negative thinking. In other words, you think and motivate yourself into all of these behaviors. Or at least you think yourself into feeling tense, and that can trigger these behaviors. And since you think and motivate yourself into these behaviors, you can think and motivate yourself out of them as well. But in order to successfully think and motivate yourself out of these behaviors, you will need to know the "Motivation Formula For Success."

DESIRE: You're possibly reading this commentary for the reason that you want the motivation to change something about yourself. And that's opportune because the first component 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 wishes a change.

BELIEF IS REQUIRED FOR MOTIVATION: Before anyone can change a harmful behavior, that person must be motivated to do so. Merely desiring a change is insufficient.

Our motivation comes from what we believe. If we believe that something very important to us will get better or "become enhanced" if we modify our behavior, we will feel motivated. Conversely, if we believe that something very important to us will be in jeopardy if we don't make a change in our behavior, we will also experience motivation to make a change.

Some straightforward examples of these motivational beliefs would be:

If I lose weight, then I'll be able to get a date or find someone to love me.

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

If I improve my study habits, then I can graduate with honors.

TECHNOLOGIES THAT CAN CREATE THE BELIEFS THAT LEAD TO MOTIVATION: Neuro-Linguistic Programming - which is commonly known as NLP, provides methods that are able to immediately produce the element of belief. You can study more about this 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 defines the word "Decision" as making up one's mind / a verdict or judgment. When you believe an idea that gives you a powerful feeling of motivation to make a change, you will feel bound to make a decision to get rid of a negative behavior. Decision is the key that unlocks the door to taking action.

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

SELF-TALK: One of the reasons that most individuals fail to change or eliminate a negative behavior is because of what they say to themselves. Self-talk is significant because time and again it is part of what caused the negative behavior in the first place.

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

It is universal for people to tell themselves what they aren't going to do. Unfortunately, when we tell ourselves what we aren't 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 aren't going to do, in order to make sense of it our mind must make an image of us doing what it is that we want to stop doing. And when we see ourselves participating in a behavior, our mind compels us to create that behavior.

SUMMARY: In order to modify a negative behavior, we must first want or DESIRE to eliminate it. BELIEF is the ingredient that creates MOTIVATION. MOTIVATION is the drive that leads us to DECISION. DECISION is the impetus to ACTION. NLP is a technology that we can use to facilitate beliefs, motivation, decisions, and actions.

When we tell ourselves what we aren't going to do, we make a mental image of ourselves using the behavior that we want to eliminate. And that mental picture gives us a compulsion to create the unwanted behavior. So if we want to get rid of a negative behavior, rather than tell ourselves what we won't do, we must always tell ourselves what we will do.

To break the smoking habit (http://www.neuro-vision.us/Products/AudioQuitSmokingHypnosisTape.htm) say: "I can live without them."

To abolish cravings for high calorie foods or to give up smokeless (http://www.neuro-vision.us/Products/Quit-Smokeless-Tobacco-Hypnosis-CDs.htm) say: "I can live without it."

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

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