• April 26, 2024

Between your New Year's resolutions is lose weight ? If you are one of the people that each year has this purpose, but after two or three months you forget (in the best case) and return to them habits , you must know that the key to achieve it is in your brain.

Gary Marcus, psychologist at the University of New York Y author of the book "Kluge: The Random Construction of the Human Mind" , explains that our brain intervenes in the planning of our goals ; However, due to short-term gratifications, we usually abandon our New Year's resolutions, such as losing weight, in a short time.

Two different brain systems?

For decades, Dr. Marcus has developed his research on the reflex and deliberative systems of the brain . These different brain systems are always in conflict: the reflex wants to do things automatically, while the deliberative plans long-term plans. How can we make them collaborate?

According to Marcus, "if you have a objective , like "lose weight", is not specific enough for the reflex system, which in reality is the one that takes the reins.

In our daily actions, most of the time what we do is reflex, so the trick is to reformulate the long-term objectives and turn them into specific plans to cover eventualities of all kinds; plans that the reflex system can understand. In this way, we will be closer to getting our goals ", Such as New Year's resolutions.

10 actions to lose weight in the New Year

For the expert of the New York University, the human species is the only one that makes New Year's resolutions, which ends up leaving aside. The above is due to the tension between the reflections and the deliberate planning.
Deliberate planning is what you do for the New Year, and reflections do what you do almost all the time. "

Marcus proposes in his book a decalogue of actions to live better and fulfill our purposes and objectives throughout the year:

1. Consider alternative hypotheses
2. Rephrase the question
3. The correlation does not imply causality
4. Anticipate your own impulsiveness
5. Make plans to prevent any eventuality
6. Do not make important decisions when you are tired
7. Take distance from things
8. Try to be rational
9. Prioriza
10. Happiness is in the waiting room of happiness.

One last piece of advice from Marcus: "Do not limit yourself to fixing yourself objectives , make plans to prevent any eventuality, "in this way you can achieve your New Year's resolutions, as slim down or quit smoking.
 

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