Full-Brain Integration Exercise:
Mind Hacks for Success in 2022
In my books, I have identified three components to creating a successful life. These involve attending to direction, process, and community. Firstly, what we focus always on expands in our mind and behaviour. Creating positively oriented intentions and goals is an important part of extending effectively into life. (Focus on what you want — not what you want to avoid). Secondly, how we choose to live as we focus on achieving our goals matters immensely. It is in the gap between starting and achieving our goals (or solving our problems) that our lives truly exist. Choosing who we wish to be in the everyday moments is therefore of critical importance to the quality of our lives. Lastly, it is currently well-established that the quality of our relationships is one of the best indicators of well-being and feeling successful in life. Moreover, people don’t succeed in isolation. Their successes are made possible within a web of relationships that both, directly and indirectly, support their achievements. The same can be said for the success of the human species. There is earlier and more widespread evidence for care found in our evolutionary past than of violence. Attending to whom we choose to co-create with is, consequently, significant to well-being and success.
Forget Resolutions
Resolutions typically fail because they set us up for failure. We typically underestimate how much effort and time it takes to change a habit. Hint: It takes about 66 days for new neural pathways to become automatic. This requires daily committed repetition. Additionally, people tend to make a bunch of resolutions, each of which requires some heavy energy outputs to create change. People tend to overwhelm their energy systems and give up. Instead of resolutions, set goals with intentions.
Set Goals with Intentions
Intention-setting is more about creating a mindset to help achieve your goals. Instead of focusing on outcomes, intentions focus on the journey. If the goal is your destination, your intention is the vehicle you use to get there. Intentions are more general in focus (e.g., be more present, see the good in people, cultivate a healthy lifestyle) than specific (e.g., lose ten pounds). It is useful to write your intentions down and to start the day with your intention in mind. this orients your attention towards the correct direction.
Next, identify your goals to help propel you towards your future. Below I have provided you with a simple daily exercise that gets your brain focused on achieving your goals while identifying specific action steps you can take. It’s called the Full-Brain Integration exercise and incorporates, in a simple way, all three components of success that I have mentioned above. I learned this “full-brain integration” technique from Dr. Lee Pulos a couple of decades ago and have since expanded it to include all three components of creating success and more of the current brain science.
FULL-BRAIN INTEGRATION Exercise
Write down your goal: (Be specific; it must be something you wish to create rather than something you wish to stop or have less of).
Write down WHY you want to achieve this goal. What values is this goal consistent with? (Meaning matters)
With whom did you/will you share this goal? (Make it public and enlist your community of support)
Daily Exercise
Step One: 1–2 minutes Centering (Use any grounding or meditation exercise you like — or simply breathe slowly 5–6 breaths for 1–2 minutes)
Step Two: Left-Brain Focus
Identify one or two positive statements in the present tense regarding what you might say or hear as if you have already achieved the goal. Repeat these for 30 seconds.
Step Three: Right-Brain Focus
Identify an image of what you will see once you have achieved the goals. Visualize this image for 30 seconds as if it has already happened.
Step Four: Limbic System — activate emotional energy
Step into the felt sense of the emotion you will experience once you have achieved this goal. Feel it now for 30 seconds.
Step Five: Supramarginal Gyrus & Smart Vagus — Empathy and social engagement
Think about who (including but not only yourself) is benefiting from this success and how? Who has supported you on this success? Connect with this for 30 seconds.
Step Six: Prefrontal Cortex
Return to the present by focusing on one thing you are currently grateful for in your life. Feel the gratitude somatically. Do this for one minute.
Step Seven: Identify Action
From this state, identify one gesture you can do today that will move you closer to your goal.
Step Eight: Take Action (identified in step seven)
Bonus
I also invite my clients to consider using a behavioural posture and enactment during the exercise. This involves activating the “strong back, open heart posture (SBOH)” (representing confidence) and also pressing down on their toes, especially in step seven. Toe pressing while sitting in SBOH posture activates a behavioural impulse or felt a sense of forward propulsion that supports the conscious intention of taking action. In summary, this exercise highlight that extending effectively into life involves orienting attention towards life-affirming goals while attending to the journey and the people in our lives who can support growth and creation.
I wish you success and abundance, however you define it, for 2022 and beyond.
If you are interested in my books you can find them at Amazon, follow the link by clicking on the book title below. If you are interested, you can find the scientific references that support my assertions in the books.
I discussed the importance of attention and focus in this article. Check it out if you are interested:
