Reboot Motivation Hack: MENTAL CONTRASTING

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"You've just gotta visualise the outcome man! If you can do that, everything will take care of itself! If you can see yourself after 90 days, successfully Rebooted, then it will happen for you! I promise!"

Do you believe that? Everyone believes it, don't they? Everyone likes to rant and rave about the miraculous benefits of creative visualisation. Well, I'm here to pour an ice-cold bucket of reality over your head...

Creative visualisation is bullshit.

Don't take my word for it; read the extensive psychological literature that has been published in the past several years. Not only does visualising success not increase your motivation to accomplish your goals, it actually has a counterproductive effect!

"What the fuck? How does visualising a successful outcome decrease your motivation?"

Simple: if you spend your time imagining the successful outcome, your primitive, ape-brain is tricked into believing that you have already accomplished your goal! If you have already got what you want, then what is the point of striving for it? Why exert the effort?

The human brain, at its core, is stupid and primitive. It is a kluge of irrational, contradictory impulses, tendencies, thoughts and feelings. Get used to it.

BUT!

Just because creative visualisation doesn't work, it does not therefore mean that all forms of visualisation are useless!

THE GOOD NEWS!
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Visualising success alone might not work. But, if you visualise your successful 'end state', and you also visualise where you are at right now, and then you visualise both at the same time, that is in a league of it's own.

It's called Mental Contrasting. It does have a track record, and has been successfully tested and validated in double-blind studies.

Visualisation (END STATE) + Visualisation (CURRENT STATE) = MOTIVATED AS FUCK!!

HOW YOU CAN USE THIS TO REBOOT
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I am going to break this whole process down for you. Why? Because that's just the kind of guy I am.

Step 1 ~ Think about your wish. Mine is "I wish to go 90 days without PMO/MO/O." Contemplate it for about 10-20 seconds.

Step 2 ~ Think about 2-3 positive outcomes associated with that wish. For me, these would be having more time to do constructive things, increased confidence with the ladies, feeling more manly. Try and see these outcomes in your mind's eye: what does it feel like in your body? What can you see? What can you hear? What thoughts would you be thinking? Try and make it as vivid as you can, but don't worry if you don't get it to where you want it the first few time. I still struggle with it myself!

Step 3 ~ What are 1-2 obstacles that stand in your way of achieving these outcomes? Think back to your current state. What is it in you that could prevent you from achieving your wish? Mine would be cravings and loneliness. Visualise these obstacles. What do you see? What do you hear? Where are you? What feelings are in your body? What thoughts are running through your mind?

Step 4 ~ Now, make an If > Then plan. This is called setting an Implementation Intention. Basically, you plan in advance what you will do to overcome your obstacle. For example, for me it would be "If I crave PMO/MO, then I will surf the urge without resisting it until it evaporates."

Step 5 ~ Now, visualise the process of implementing this If > Then plan and eventually realising your outcomes. For me, I'd visualise the cravings arising while I'm at my computer, then me pausing and surfing the urge. Then I'd call to mind (at the same time) Ideal Me three months later with a bright smile and a confident stride, having just posted a long success story of my successful Reboot from PMO/MO/O!

THAT'S IT!
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That's the long and the short of it. Effective visualisation that actually increases your motivation to succeed in a simple and straightforward five step process.

Now, what are you waiting for? Get to it!

Carpe diem, brothers and sisters,

BingeArousalAddict.