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Progress is never made in an instant but through many intentional decisions and changes over a course of time. Determine to set your heart in a direction that will daily prime you with new and fresh ideas. Believe in your ability to achieve greatness and begin applying the new perceptions you are committed to learning every day.
Don't let yourself get overwhelmed. Take ONE STEP at a time.
You can customize your new approach in a manner which will not interfere with your current obligations or commitments. Working on goals and inspiring change can be accomplished by exchanging the mundane for the purposeful.

Excerpts and insights* from Chapter 1 of "Your Journey to Greatness Through Routine: A Guide to Creating a Success Routine"
Book Contains:

• 7 Actual Case Studies
• The Brain Science Behind Habits
• Retraining Your Brain Through Cognitive Restructuring
• Heart Science, Energy and the Law of Attraction
• Powerful Principles of Influence and Greatness
• Tips and Tools to Build Your Success Routine

*Certain portions have been added to actual book excerpts by the author.
LEARN MORE AND PURCHASE THE BOOK at http://michellesteffes.com/book

Support the show

Michelle L Steffes is a Certified Speaker, Corporate Trainer, Executive Coach and Author of two books: "Reframe & Rewire" (also available on Audible) and "The Machine Inside Me." Discover more and contact her through her website, IPV Consulting.

Send us a text

If we are very honest about our schedules, we will discover opportunities to become more intentional about the way we live, how we think and who we become.

FIRST ASSIGNMENT:

Create a Master List (downloadable online) with two columns: One personal and one professional. Remove from your mind, all obstacles and inhibitions. Then write out who you wish to become and what goals you want to accomplish. Perform this task by forming three separate categories in your list making:

1. Personal Development
2. Professional Development
3. Material Goals or Gain

Then think carefully and prioritize the items in each list beginning with the one that will take you the farthest, the fastest. Then begin each week with the top 3-5 on each list and think about how to break them down and schedule time to accomplish them. Just writing them down and reviewing them consistently increases your odds of accomplishing them by 1000%!

*Remember, you spend 8 hours sleeping and 8 hours working. This leaves you with 8 hours to work on your development and growth goals
Examples:

1. If you drive a meager 12,000 miles per year and you exchange what you currently listen to in the car with educational material, in 3 years it is equivalent to 2 years of college.

2. If you spend only 20 minutes per day reading topics of interest, it equates to 20, 200-page books per year. Choosing to work on yourself instead of watching TV or spending time on social media is only one of many ways you can create drastic change.

Excerpts and insights* from Chapter 1 of "Your Journey to Greatness Through Routine: A Guide to Creating a Success Routine"
Book Contains:

• 7 Actual Case Studies
• The Brain Science Behind Habits
• Retraining Your Brain Through Cognitive Restructuring
• Heart Science, Energy and the Law of Attraction
• Powerful Principles of Influence and Greatness
• Tips and Tools to Build Your Success Routine

*Certain portions have been added to actual book excerpts by the author.
LEARN MORE AND PURCHASE THE BOOK at http://michellesteffes.com/book

Support the show

Michelle L Steffes is a Certified Speaker, Corporate Trainer, Executive Coach and Author of two books: "Reframe & Rewire" (also available on Audible) and "The Machine Inside Me." Discover more and contact her through her website, IPV Consulting.

Send us a text

Human physiology teaches that when we allow fear or stress to overcome us, two hormones are released: Adrenaline and Cortisol. Adrenaline is a superpower of sorts and it is typically the reason people indulge in extreme sports or horror movies. The “high” they experience from the adrenaline rush can be addictive. In cases of true emergencies or life-threatening circumstances, adrenaline provides surges of power that are somewhat super-human in nature.

However, to the level we allow stress or fear to overtake us on a day to day, the same amount of cortisol will be released. When this happens, it will paralyze portions of the frontal lobe in our brains. This frontal lobe is referred to as “the executive center.” The entire response is called, “fight or flight.”

In situations where we are authentically in danger, the release of these chemicals can be lifesaving. Think of the mother whose child is trapped under a car in an accident. She will do anything to save her child. She runs over, picks up the car, almost effortlessly, and pulls her child to safety. She was able to do so because of the supernatural strength provided by the adrenaline. At the same time, the cortisol paralyzed the reasoning portion of her frontal cortex so that she would not consider the fact that she cannot pick up a car. This is also true regarding soldiers on the battle field or when we are threatened and need to make decisions without time for reasoning. However, if cortisol is allowed to remain in our brains too long or at levels that are too high, it can create a life of senseless self-destruction, with the debilitating symptoms of chronic stress.

Stress related issues:

 Inadequate sleep
 Poor eating habits
 Emotional distress
 Reduced attention
 Decreased perception (Brain Fog)
 Loss of short term memory
 Reduced learning receptivity and retention
 Difficulty communicating, clearly
These symptoms are a result of:
 Decreased regulation of cortisol
 Increases in glucocorticoids
 Cellular changes in the hippocampus
* Source: Women’s Health Network

Excerpts and insights* from Chapter 1 of "Your Journey to Greatness Through Routine: A Guide to Creating a Success Routine"
Book Contains:

• 7 Actual Case Studies
• The Brain Science Behind Habits
• Retraining Your Brain Through Cognitive Restructuring
• Heart Science, Energy and the Law of Attraction
• Powerful Principles of Influence and Greatness
• Tips and Tools to Build Your Success Routine

*Certain portions have been added to actual book excerpts by the author.
LEARN MORE AND PURCHASE THE BOOK at http://michellesteffes.com/book

Support the show

Michelle L Steffes is a Certified Speaker, Corporate Trainer, Executive Coach and Author of two books: "Reframe & Rewire" (also available on Audible) and "The Machine Inside Me." Discover more and contact her through her website, IPV Consulting.

Send us a text

Understanding some basic knowledge of brain functions and the neuroscience behind forming habits empowers you to take action with less reservation. When you become aware of cognitive response, you’ll realize how plausible it is to re-wire or retrain your brain, creating new neural pathways and ultimately new mind sets.

The only caveat is your willingness and determination to persist no matter how you may feel or what circumstances try to dissuade you. Most of us have heard that we can alter a mindset within 21-30 days. Interestingly, this philosophy stems from what is called “neuroplasticity.

Over the course of your lifetime, many ideas, thoughts, beliefs and skills have entered into your mind creating new neural pathways and neural networks. These neural networks are the composition of your sub-conscious. The process of growing neural pathways and networks has been going on since even before your birth until now.

Each time you are exposed to something new, your neurons begin the growth of what’s called “dendrites.” The dendrite is a pinkish brown protein substance which will grow and lengthen until it connects with the axon of another neuron. This process occurs as a result of electrical impulses in the brain targeting specific sections of neurons, often based on previous beliefs or concepts. From infant to adult, each time we learn something new, we are creating new connections . Each connection is called a synaptic connection. A fully grown adult brain can have as many as a thousand trillion synaptic connections.

Networks of neural pathways are related and will determine how we think, how we process and how we perceive our world around us. The more thoughts you have about a particular subject, idea, issue or skill, the more neural connections will form, creating multiple networks in your brain bent in each direction. Whether positive or negative, you have built each and every network in your brain over a lifetime. Think of the many influences you have been exposed to including ideals, education, tragedies, people, and things. In many cases, if something painful has happened in our past, we will have grown a large network in that area due to thinking on it for weeks, months, years and even decades.

Excerpts and insights* from Chapter 2 of "Your Journey to Greatness Through Routine: A Guide to Creating a Success Routine"
Book Contains:

• 7 Actual Case Studies
• The Brain Science Behind Habits
• Retraining Your Brain Through Cognitive Restructuring
• Heart Science, Energy and the Law of Attraction
• Powerful Principles of Influence and Greatness
• Tips and Tools to Build Your Success Routine

*Certain portions have been added to actual book excerpts by the author.
LEARN MORE AND PURCHASE THE BOOK at http://michellesteffes.com/book

Support the show

Michelle L Steffes is a Certified Speaker, Corporate Trainer, Executive Coach and Author of two books: "Reframe & Rewire" (also available on Audible) and "The Machine Inside Me." Discover more and contact her through her website, IPV Consulting.

Send us a text

However, the reality to remember is that you did not create the negative neural networks overnight, so you will not alter them overnight. Although it takes 21-30 days to begin the necessary changes in perceptions, it can take up to 3 cycles, or 63-90 days to develop into a sustained habit. (Source: Switched on Brain, Caroline Leaf) Also, in cases where the networks are deeply connected with many other networks, it can take much longer to alter. For real and lasting change, it will require a long-term commitment with constant and consistent changes over an extended period of time.

If you are willing to follow through with the suggestions made in this book and commit to retraining your brain daily, dramatic changes can be made at an accelerated pace. In fact, for those networks which are fairly recent, you may find it quicker and easier to create desired changes. It’s often those networks which may have begun much earlier in life, which can take much longer to reverse and finally transform.

In case after case, it has been found that, ALL networks, therefore all habits, can be changed if you are willing to stay with it regardless of how long it may take.

In an effort to help you understand how this process works, I offer this simple example:

Let’s say you travel to Europe to stay for 30 days. If you are from the Western world, you will have to learn how to drive on the left side of the road instead of the right side of the road. At first it will seem incredibly awkward and somewhat terrifying. However, after approximately 3 weeks of daily driving, it becomes more natural to you. Why? Because, your brain has stopped the electrical impulses from “feeding” the neural pathways containing the data which programmed you to drive on the right side of the road. At the same time, your brain developed new neural pathways to program you to drive on the left side. However, upon returning to your homeland in the west, you will find yourself feeling awkward all over again because you must reverse the entire process. The only difference you may find is that, since your deepest connections or networks are developed in driving on the right, reversing the synaptic connections will take less time and seem easier than when you were in Europe learning to adopt a new habit for the very first time.

An interesting take away in this example is that you will likely feel quite awkward when first beginning a new habit or success routine for change. This is why the majority of the population will give up on New Years Resolutions after only about 2 weeks. If we are to accomplish real change, we will have to commit to daily change over a minimum of 3-4 weeks before we will notice convincing results.

Excerpts and insights* from Chapter 2 of "Your Journey to Greatness Through Routine: A Guide to Creating a Success Routine"
Book Contains:

• 7 Actual Case Studies
• 8 Downloadable Tools
• Assessment Questions at the End of Each Chapter
• The Brain Science Behind Habits
• Retraining Your Brain Through Cognitive Restructuring
• Heart Science, Energy and the Law of Attraction
• Powerful Principles of Influence and Greatness
• Tips and Tools to Build Your Success Routine

Support the show

Michelle L Steffes is a Certified Speaker, Corporate Trainer, Executive Coach and Author of two books: "Reframe & Rewire" (also available on Audible) and "The Machine Inside Me." Discover more and contact her through her website, IPV Consulting.

Send us a text

As with anything you want to grow in, it will require a sacrifice of your time and energy.

• If we determine to lose weight, we will have to change our eating habits and lifestyle.
• If we want to gain a degree in college, it will require we apply ourselves diligently, taking time for classes, studies and exams.
• And if we want to be promoted in our jobs, we have to work hard, learn our position well and go the extra mile.

Try to look at this endeavor as a "school of success." If you want to take your life and your career to the next level, you will need to . . . .

• Be deliberate and methodical in managing your time
• Stay committed to daily learning and growth
• Set measurable goals and take steps to complete them
• Develop a vision and use it to keep your focus
• Be open to changing or adding new habits and routines
• Maintain a resolve to Do Whatever it Takes!

The whole process begins when you “feed your brain” exactly what it needs to grow and avoid those things that cause it to feel fearful, doubtful or uncertain.
One philosophy I find very useful in doing whatever it takes is to keep telling myself, "If you are too comfortable, you are not growing." If we are truly honest with ourselves, we find that it is in the uncomfortable moments of life, we can look back and see the most growth as in the example listed earlier about driving in Europe

Sometimes we jump in not fully assessing what it takes to achieve our goals, the advantages or the challenges. When we acknowledge these things ahead of time it helps us to become better prepared instead of walking blindly or being blindsided by the unexpected.

Excerpts and insights* from Chapter 2 of "Your Journey to Greatness Through Routine: A Guide to Creating a Success Routine"
Book Contains:

• 7 Actual Case Studies
• 8 Downloadable Tools
• Assessment Questions at the End of Each Chapter
• The Brain Science Behind Habits
• Retraining Your Brain Through Cognitive Restructuring
• Heart Science, Energy and the Law of Attraction
• Powerful Principles of Influence and Greatness
• Tips and Tools to Build Your Success Routine

*Certain portions have been added to actual book excerpts by the author.
LEARN MORE AND PURCHASE THE BOOK at http://michellesteffes.com/book

Support the show

Michelle L Steffes is a Certified Speaker, Corporate Trainer, Executive Coach and Author of two books: "Reframe & Rewire" (also available on Audible) and "The Machine Inside Me." Discover more and contact her through her website, IPV Consulting.

Send us a text

What do you do when you arise in the morning? What time do you start your day? Do you find the beginning or your day energizing and positive or hurried and negative? Perhaps it’s time for a change.

Years ago I made a decision that influenced me to really begin looking at my routine, my habits and my vision from a different perspective. I was no longer “just interested” in going to the next level, I was committed. This mind shift is the foundation for drastic change.

At that point, I began a “Morning Power Hour” which altered my state of mind and infused me with a sort of “super power” which was the foundation to multiplying my business by 200% in only about 6 months!

My Morning POWER HOUR!

Building a brand-new routine takes discipline, commitment and perseverance.

When I first developed the morning portion of my success routine, I determined to awaken 1.5 hours earlier each day (4:30am) and create a sort of “power hour” filled with exercise, prayer, affirmations and insightful podcasts. The mental exercise prepared me to start my day with an outstanding mind set. While the physical exercise empowered both brain and body to become more alert, creative and clear. Within only a few weeks, I noticed more energy to tackle the day as well as relief from brain fatigue and brain fog.

Both physical and biological evidence proves that physical exercise triggers the pituitary gland which then floods our bodies and our brains with endorphins. This produces a sort of “energized mental high.”

In fact, studies have found that a good dose of endorphins can be 200 times more powerful than morphine. (covered in greater detail in later chapters)

However, in the beginning, it was not easy at all. For the first month, I stood sleepy-eyed in the bathroom arguing with myself and wanting to go back to bed. Sometimes, I even succumbed to the temptation, convincing myself that sleep was more important.

But after approximately 3-4 weeks of persistence, I began to really notice the difference and my “why” (vision) became bigger and bigger. The combination of my “why’ (vision)and the new habit that was now forming helped me to stay determined to stick with it despite how I was feeling on any particular morning.

As a result of this “power hour,” I grew my business 200% in only 6 months! Today, years later, I still keep this incredibly valuable routine M-F every week and I love it!

Never give up, the payoff is worth it!

Excerpts and insights* from Chapter 2 of "Your Journey to Greatness Through Routine: A Guide to Creating a Success Routine"
Book Contains:

• 7 Actual Case Studies
• 8 Downloadable Tools
• Assessment Questions at the End of Each Chapter
• The Brain Science Behind Habits
• Retraining Your Brain Through Cognitive Restructuring
• Heart Science, Energy and the Law of Attraction
• Powerful Principles of Influence and Greatness
• Tips and Tools to Build Your Success Routine

*Certain portions have been added to actual book excerpts by the author.
LEARN MORE AND PURCH

Support the show

Michelle L Steffes is a Certified Speaker, Corporate Trainer, Executive Coach and Author of two books: "Reframe & Rewire" (also available on Audible) and "The Machine Inside Me." Discover more and contact her through her website, IPV Consulting.

Send us a text

"You cannot control your future but you can control your habits and your habits will determine your future." - Myles Monroe

In addition to your daily power hour, there are many things you can add to your daily routine that will empower you. Each moment must be intentional with habits that will push you into your destiny. Habits such as gratitude, compassion and reading (or audio books) can completely alter how you feel about yourself, launching you into a greater tomorrow.

Excerpts and insights* from Chapter 2 of "Your Journey to Greatness Through Routine: A Guide to Creating a Success Routine"
Book Contains:

• 7 Actual Case Studies
• 8 Downloadable Tools
• Assessment Questions at the End of Each Chapter
• The Brain Science Behind Habits
• Retraining Your Brain Through Cognitive Restructuring
• Heart Science, Energy and the Law of Attraction
• Powerful Principles of Influence and Greatness
• Tips and Tools to Build Your Success Routine

*Certain portions have been added to actual book excerpts by the author.
LEARN MORE AND PURCHASE THE BOOK at http://michellesteffes.com/book

Support the show

Michelle L Steffes is a Certified Speaker, Corporate Trainer, Executive Coach and Author of two books: "Reframe & Rewire" (also available on Audible) and "The Machine Inside Me." Discover more and contact her through her website, IPV Consulting.