KNOW YOUR SELF
2 Dr Peter Steidl has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the author’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on subsequent purchasers. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the author has used his best efforts in preparing this book, he makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaims any implied warranties or merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. The author shall not be liable for any loss or any other damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
For information email Dr Peter Steidl at peter@12minutestoday.com
Copyright Š 2018 Dr Peter Steidl All rights reserved.
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Program Series Why ’12 Minutes’? It is very likely that you are a busy person who can’t just take hours out of each day to learn more about how your mind works and to then put this to good use – to deal with bad habits, stress, a willpower deficiency, to make major changes like losing weight, quitting smoking or working harder, or to boost your capabilities or develop new ones, like lifting your creativity or your ability to understand complex situations.
But while you may not be able to find hours every day to dedicate to such important challenges you would surely find 12 minutes. The important point is this: If you just spend 12 minutes a day – but make sure you spend 12 minutes EVERY day – you can make rapid progress with making the changes you want to make. You can learn more about how your mind works and put it to use addressing the challenges you decide to address. To make this possible I have selected information, experiments for you to undertake and guidelines that I expect – on average – to take you some 12 minutes a day. This, the Know Your Self program, is the foundation on which all other programs rest. Once you understand how your mind works, you will find it much easier to make the changes to your life you want to make. This, the Know Your Self program, is the foundation on which all other programs rest. Once you understand how your mind works, you will find it much easier to make the changes to your life you want to make. You should undertake this program first!
Once you have completed this program, you can undertake programs that address a specific challenge that is important to you such as the Willpower program Bad Habits program and more..…
Stress program Creativity program
Sessions 1 .......... You have TWO minds You have two minds, a DOING MIND and a THINKING MIND. This is the foundation for understanding how you think, feel and act,
2 .......... Which mind is more powerful – and why? When there is a conflict between your DOING MIND and your THINKING MIND, which one is likely to win and why?
3 .......... Your brain likes to take shortcuts The most effective shortcut is a habit! Developing habits is a great way to maintain any desirable behavior.
4 .......... What is driving you to do anything at all? When you have a great experience your brain releases Dopamine, the ‘feel-good’ neurotransmitter. Naturally, your mind tries to repeat the great experience which is driving you to act!
5 .......... How can Knowing Your Self help you to make the changes you want to make? Arguably the most effective ways of not only changing but maintaining a change are to train your brain, to create or activate relevant memories or to change the situation you find yourself in. 6 .......... Train your brain Science has delivered absolute proof that you can train your brain. In fact, it is not your brain that’s limiting you, but you are limiting your brain! 7 .......... Create or trigger positive memories Your DOING MIND thinks in images and emotions – to influence it you need to create or trigger positive images and emotions. Visualization is a great way of doing this. 8 .......... Change your situation Sometimes it is possible to change the environment around you, to create new
relationships or contexts to make it easier for you to succeed with any changes you want to make.
9 .......... Where to from here? How can you make use of what we have covered when you want to reduce or
eliminate chronic stress, boost your willpower, get rid of bad habits or boost your creativity? This final section delivers some answers and creates a link to
12MinutesToday programs that help you to effectively address these – and other – challenges.
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5 Know Your Self Program
The person you should know best of all is yourself. Yet most of us actually know very little about ourselves, especially what drives our actions. This is why it’s so hard to change our behaviour, whether that’s making difficult changes like losing weight, eating better, exercising more or
spending our time more wisely or if you want to address a challenge like quitting bad habits, eliminating chronic stress or boosting your willpower.
To turn bad habits into good ones, to stick with resolutions, to enjoy life more and do more, you need to first Know Your Self. This Program includes a number of experiments you can do to discover first-hand how your mind works.
“To get the full benefit from this program you need to invest time and effort into doing these experiments. They don’t take long and they are enjoyable – and it is really important for you do them.” This is the best way to understand why you feel, think and act the way you do, and this understanding will help you to build a more successful and enjoyable life. For yourself. The Know Your Self Program gives you a solid foundation for undertaking other programs that address specific challenges you may be facing, such as:
The Chronic Stress Program helps you manage and even eliminate chronic stress. The Willpower Program offers practical ways to boost and maintain your willpower. The Bad Habits Program helps you to break bad habits and develop new, desirable ones. The Creativity Program shows you how to boost your creativity. The Know Your Self Program consists of nine sessions. Your mind needs time to absorb and reflect on new material, so I recommend you never undertake more than one session a day. Otherwise you may find that you have gained some new knowledge but not improved your skills in managing your Self.
So take your time and make the effort. And when you have competed this foundation program feel free to select one of the other programs that address specific challenges. Simply go to (www.**************.com)
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Before You Start… I will be suggesting a number of experiments for you to undertake. It is important for you to undertake these experiments.
I can tell you about how your mind works and what is driving your actions. But you need to find out for yourself why you do what you do to give you the best chance of making meaningful changes to your life.
As Confucius allegedly said: I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
Orientation These symbols are used throughout this program to make it immediately clear what a section is all about:
A thinking experiment for
A checklist that asks you to identify
you to complete.
which items reflect what is happening in your own life.
Illustration of a particular point using
An important
examples from elsewhere.
‘take-away’ point.
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Session 1: You have two minds… What I will cover in this session:
You have two minds – one mind that does a lot of work in the background without you even knowing, and a second mind that allows you to think, observe and experience while you are fully aware of what’s happening. Because you have two minds you need to understand how they each influence your ability to make changes to your life, and what you can – and can’t - do about it.
8 Your mind does amazing work Have you ever thought about how all the organs in your body are managed? How come your heart keeps beating and even accelerates its contractions when your brain needs more oxygen while you are exercising? How come your liver, spleen, kidneys, digestive tract and all your other organs do their work day in, day out, without you ever thinking about them (unless there is a problem)? And have you wondered why you can’t simply tell your heart to beat faster or your kidney to slow down? You can’t make these changes happen just because you want to. Why not? What does this mean?
Conclusion You are aware of some of the things happening around you and you certainly are aware of anything you think about. But there are many, many more tasks your brain manages without you being aware of what’s going on or being able to influence them by just deciding to make a change.
9 Experiment 1: Who decides which memories to keep?
Ideally undertake this experiment when there are other people around you – such as at your workplace, in a tram or train compartment, a public space such as a waiting room at a train station or airport, a café, or any other place with people around.
Get comfortable, and then: Close your eyes (without first trying to remember what you see). Then, with your eyes closed, try to remember the details of the place you are in and the details
of the other people in that place. What is the room like – the colour of the walls, seats, tables; the pictures or posters on the walls; where the windows and doors are; what is playing on the video screens? What are the people wearing – the colours, fabrics, and styles of their garments and accessories? What do these people look like - their hair style and colour, facial features, body size and shape? What are they doing? What expressions do they have on their faces? Try to recall as many details as you can.
When you have finished open your eyes, look around and check what you’ve got right – and what and how much you have missed.
What happened? You will have recalled some things and not others, even though you actually ‘saw’ everything
around you. The important point is this: you did not consciously decide to put some things into
your memory and not others. Your brain made that decision without you being aware of it, and you had no influence over it.
This is quite remarkable. Every day you are exposed to millions of images, sounds, smells,
sensations - and every time you are exposed to something your brain decides what should be
placed into your memory and what can be discarded – but you have no idea that this is going on! Let’s take this one step further.
10 Experiment 2
Think about a friend, a family member or colleague for two minutes. What sorts of things come to your mind?
What happened? Most likely you recalled all sorts of past experiences, things you have seen, heard or participated in, that involved that person. Why does this happen? Your memories of all the experiences you have had with that person are linked together in your
mind, and when you retrieve one of these memories it may also activate other, linked, memories.
But just as you don’t decide what memories you will store away in the first place, you also have no influence over which memories are being linked up – you do not tell your mind to link certain
memories together. Nor can you decide which of these linked memories are activated when you trigger a particular memory, like thinking of a particular person.
Conclusion Your brain decides which of the many millions of possible memories to select and store, and
which of your existing memories to link this new memory with. And even though this incredibly
complex task is happening every second of your day, you aren’t aware of it and can’t influence the selection or linking of memories.
11 Know Your Self Program
12 Know Your Self Program
13 Conclusion The experiments and illustrations in this session demonstrate that there is a multitude of activities taking place in your mind that you are not aware of, and that you can’t influence by simply deciding what should happen.
This is your nonconscious mind, what I call your DOING MIND because while you are not conscious of what is going on there, your behaviour – what you actually do regardless of what you might be aware of thinking - is largely driven by this mind. (Further proof of this will follow!)
Of course there are many things you are very much aware of, such as reading this page or
consciously thinking about something. When you do this you are using your conscious mind, which I call your THINKING MIND.
So – you have two minds, a Doing Mind and a Thinking Mind. This is the foundation for understanding how you think, feel and act. In the next session we will explore what happens when you decide to do something with your
Thinking Mind but your Doing Mind is not on board – a situation that happens often, especially when we are trying to change our behaviour.
When there is a battle between your two minds, which one will win?
Important point
Give you mind time to process what you covered in this first session. Don’t make the mistake of thinking ‘That was easy – I may as well go on to the next session now!’
It is not just a matter of understanding, you need to give your mind time to process what
you have gone through. Sometimes it is a good idea to spend 12 minutes on the next day to go through a Session again.
Maybe do the two experiments again. Think about examples you can add to the ones I used to illustrate key points. Ponder other massive tasks your nonconscious mind carries out in addition to managing your organs and building your memories. And generally just make sure you are truly familiar with what you covered in this session.
And, importantly, sleep over it before you move on to the next session!