A concept that has really moved me from surviving to thriving is the ability to make a decision the day or week or even month before and then stick with that decision.
This is a concept that I first learned when I was working on losing weight. The concept is that your prefrontal cortex can make amazing decisions in advance because that part of your brain is more future focused and able to think about delayed and long term gratification. Where your lower brain is more focused on immediate dopamine hits, avoiding pain, and being efficient, it is not the best in making decisions that set us up for success.
So with weight loss I could decide the night before what food I would eat the next day coming from a place that looked more long term and not immediate.
Have you ever been in the moment trying to decide what you should eat?
The amount of willpower you must have to override your lower brain is ridiculous. If I decide ahead of time that I will eat a salad the next day at Chick-fil-a then my choice is cobb or market. If I don’t decide ahead of time and make a decision in the moment it is much harder to make the healthiest decision for me. I am more likely going to be eating a chicken sandwich, with fries, and a sweet tea. Now sometimes I won’t get the sweet tea, because I want to be “good,” but you get the picture. In the moment you are fighting against your lower brain. You are getting signals for a quick hit and if you have had any negative emotion in your day at all, your brain really wants something to feel better. Typically food can get me there, or at least my brain believes that.
So, understanding that decisions in the moment are hard to make because you are dealing with the lower brain wanting to get it’s way and the prefrontal cortex (future you) wanting to get it’s way, is important for you to know what you are working with. Unfortunately we have taken our cues from the lower brain more often than not and it knows exactly which buttons to push to win. Some of you always give into your lower brain, and it knows that. It gives you the one-two punch and you give it the hit it wants, but that keeps you frustrated that you can’t make good decisions for yourself.
So, I want to teach you how to get in the habit of making as many decisions about tomorrow, today. I try and plan out as much as I can ahead of time because it frees my brain up to have more energy to work and create, and even dream. When I have a day filled with in the moment decisions I lose energy quickly.
A typical day
Alarm goes off, first decision…. do I get up, or push snooze?
Should I do my quiet time, workout, or scroll instagram?
What should I make for breakfast?
Am I showering or just going with my hair?
What am I wearing, do I have to get ready now, or I could I squeeze that in sometime else today?
When you are at work, lots of decisions in the moment, and productivity takes a hit.
Should I grab lunch out or make it at home?
You get it, your day is FILLED with moment by moment decisions and many of them are not decided ahead of time. Many of them are an actual dual between lower brain, and prefrontal cortex.
Present you vs. Future you… who will win?
I want to teach you how to set future you up for major success. Stop the decision fatigue. Decide as much as you can ahead of time and then just honor your decisions. Make decisions about your time and schedule and what you are doing when.
I like to do this on Sunday. The first thing I decide about is my free time, rest time, and sleeping time. Then when I am spending time with the Lord, and when I am working out. Next, when I am eating, and working. I break down exactly what I am doing at work for each hour. So when I show up to the hour I have already decided what is happening then.
We waste SO MUCH time in confusion. “Should I work on this or that, what do I feel like doing?” was a very common thought for me before. Now I walk into my week already having made that decision and I KNOW that I won’t feel like doing it. I expect my lower brain to make a fuss, but the decision has been made.
This concept works with your budget, your food, and your time. As many decisions you can make ahead of time will come from an amazing place. It will come from the part of you that is looking out for the future you. It will not be the easiest, or most rewarding decision. It will most often be hard to do, and gratifying in the future. It will require you to stop giving into the easiest and most comfortable thing. It will demand that you show up differently than you have before, but the rewards are amazing.
You will develop an even better relationship with yourself.
Knowing that you can decide something the night before and then actually pull it off the next day is an amazing feeling. You feel so proud of the fact that you kept your word with yourself. You will begin to believe and trust yourself for even greater things. You will begin to think about your future self more often and start living into who you really want to be.
You will stop living in the moment and putting out fires.
This kind of living will not be reactive. Things won’t be urgent and rushed. You will start living more peacefully and calmly. You will begin planning further and further in advance. You will know exactly what you are creating this week at work, at home, and in your personal life. You will begin to see and know where your time is really being spent.
You will start getting more done.
When you don’t use up your energy on the decision making you have more energy for the task at hand. I am able to get twice as much done just because I can get to work and not waste 10 minutes deciding what I want to do right now. You will look forward to beating the clock and getting things done faster than the time you allotted. When I plan an hour to write the blog and it only takes me 40 minutes I feel like I just made time. I now have 20 free minutes to get something extra tackled.
You will rest more.
I love deciding ahead of time when I am going to rest and relax because when I am working and my brain wants to relax I let it know when it will get the chance to do just that. I know that after 4 hours of hard work I am going to have that rest time to rejuvenate. Before I would constantly try and slack off when it was work time. I would scroll IG or FB and end up watching random youtube videos and not really getting work done. I then would still have the work to do and feel like later when it was down time, I had to catch up. Now I work when it says work (turn off notifications, silence my phone) and rest when it says rest.
You will become who you really want to be.
Making decisions continually and regularly from your prefrontal cortex is going to make a habit of tapping into the person you most long to become. The version of you that eats the way you want, saves the way you want, and spends her time doing what she most wants. This will take repeated practice and much trial and error and learning. But over time you will become her.
Learning how to decide ahead of time and then override the lower brain in the moment to honor that decision is a very powerful tool to creating the life you most want.
This is a concept that many of my clients are working on. Many of them have super huge goals and using their prefrontal cortex as often and as much as they can is something they are getting better and better at. Learning how to hear the lower brain and not give in is the other part of this that they are working on.
What would your life look like if you started making decisions ahead of time?
Who would you become?
Finding out with ya,
Angie
