The Road Trip of Life – Part 12 – Getting Off of Autopilot and Making Adjustments

This series has really challenged me in my life. I have been forcing myself to do a lot of self examination and what I have found has not been very flattering. But I have come to a very interesting conclusion to this exercise.

Before I get into that if you have not read the earlier post in this series, I encourage you to do so. Here are the links:

Part 1 – http://www.lifetosuccess.com/2010/09/19/the-road-trip-of-life-part-1/

Part 2 – http://www.lifetosuccess.com/2010/09/20/the-road-trip-of-life-part-2/

Part 3 – http://www.lifetosuccess.com/2010/09/21/the-road-trip-of-life-part-3/

Part 4 – http://www.lifetosuccess.com/2010/09/22/the-road-trip-of-life-part-4/

Part 5 – http://www.lifetosuccess.com/2010/09/26/the-road-trip-of-life-part-5/

Part 6 – http://www.lifetosuccess.com/2010/09/27/the-road-trip-part-6/

Part 7 – http://www.lifetosuccess.com/2010/09/28/the-road-trip-of-life-part-7-obstacle-part-1s/

Part 8 – http://www.lifetosuccess.com/2010/09/29/the-road-trip-of-life-part-8-obstacles-part-2/

Part 9 – http://www.lifetosuccess.com/2010/09/30/the-road-trip-of-life-part-9-–-obstacles-part-3/

Part 10 – http://www.lifetosuccess.com/2010/10/01/the-road-trip-of-life-part-10-–-reading-the-signs/

Part 11 – http://www.lifetosuccess.com/2010/10/04/the-road-trip-of-life-part-11-–-the-power-of-focus/

So here we are, we are doing the necessary self examination that is required to live a successful life and we find ourselves way off course and we ask, “how has this happened?”

Well it is because we have let our auto pilot system guide us here.

We have lived with the wrong programming in our auto pilot system. We have been living on the wrong assumptions and philosophies. We have been using the wrong road map.

If you were trying to get around Boston, and you were using a map of Chicago, you will end up being very lost and confused.

The same applies with us and our minds, if we are seeking to be physically fit but the map in our mind is allowing us to eat Big Mac’s at McDonald’s for every meal, we end up out of shape and very unhappy.

If we are seeking to be financially independent, but the map in our mind is allowing us to spend every penny we earn plus a little more, we end up broke at the end of our life time.

This is why it is very important to unplugged our auto pilot as often as we can and examine the programming.

I will give you a quick example:

I have been fighting the battle of the bulge for most of my adult life. And I have been up and down in weight so often I feel like a yo-yo. I knew in my heart that I was out of shape and I constantly tried to get in shape.

I would do well for a time and I would get to a certain level of fitness and then it would all stop! I would start engaging in the activity that brought me right back up to the weight I was trying to get away from.

I got very frustrated with this!

Well this time around, I decided to use a program called Lee Milteer’s Habit Busting System, to see if I could make some lasting changes with this effort.

Well I was doing very well with my efforts and I had gotten down to a weight that I had previously achieved many times and I was very happy.

One day I was looking in the mirror and a little voice inside my head said, “Be careful… You don’t want to get too skinny!”

I was shocked… for two reasons:

1. I caught that little voice in my head.

2. I remembered where that little thought came from. As a kid I was teased relentlessly by my grandmother and aunts about being skinny and I hated it. I hated it so much that I showed them most of my adult life that I was not skinny!

I showed them… right????

This is how it happens, we develop voices in our heads that constantly talk to us and guide our actions… subconsciously!!!

I am happy to report that I have lost another 10 pounds from my previous best and I have developed habits both physically and nutritionally that I feel will serve me for the rest of my life.

The funny thing is now, if I find myself off course with my eating, I get the knee jerk reaction to get back on course instead of staying off course.

We can apply this in every area of our lives and I highly recommend that you check out Lee Milteer’s Habit Busting System , I think you will find it very useful to help reprogram your auto pilot.

As Always, Here’s to Your LifetoSuccess,

John Clark