In pursuing personal transformation, we often overlook a powerful tool at our disposal: embodying the very qualities we aspire to develop. True transformation begins not just with thought but with action. Instead of waiting to feel confident, strong, or capable, start acting as if you already possess these traits.
By behaving like you are the person you want to become, you signal to your brain and body that this is your reality. This shift in behavior creates new neural pathways, reinforcing the desired quality and making it a natural part of who you are. It’s not about pretending; it’s about practicing. The more you act like the person you want to be, the more you align with that identity, turning aspirations into lived experiences.
(upbeat music) - Hey, it's Dr. James Rouse. Welcome to the Change Agents Podcast. This is the place where personal growth meets human performance. Join me and the Change Agents community where inspired individuals unite to ignite their full potential and create extraordinary mastery. Good morning, it's James. It is so good to see you today. Thank you for your time. Thank you for energy, I'm deeply grateful to have the honor and the blessing of laying eyes on you. And I do hope and pray that this message finds you and all the people that you love. Peaceful, thriving, and very, very well. Let's just take in this beautiful morning. Maybe take a nice deep inhalation. Soften your belly, soften your eyes, soften your jaw. It's good to be alive. Great to see you. So this morning, I want to chat with you a little bit about an old school psychologist, William James, who is being brought to the forefront again by a guy named Richard Wiseman. Richard Wiseman is a psychologist as well. Who has been pouring over papers on transformation? What does it take to change? How does it work when you wanna actually develop new habits? What is the science behind lasting movement towards the person, the experience in life that you would most ideally like to have and be? Interesting enough, he's looked over 100 different papers on the functional elements of changing one's habits, changing one's self-image, changing the way we see ourself. And interesting enough, he has found out that one of the most powerful things that we do not typically do enough of is act the role of the quality that we'd most like to embody. Literally act like it's already here. Fascinating research, he also had a quote, and I'm hoping, see, I can play this together. It was the whole idea that I prayed for 20 years and waited for something to happen. And it wasn't until I prayed with my feet that transformation and the answer to prayer was mine. I think what he's basically saying is that prayer is awesome, we know it is, but there's something even more awesome as that is when we actually move towards take action, do the things we need to do to create and fulfill our life's mission, which is an action orientation. And according to Richard Wiseman's research, which is fascinating, he says that more and more that our brain loves the tendency towards action. It loves seeing us move towards something. It literally says, set a goal and act like this is already yours and your brain, your myelin, your nervous system, all this different work starts to come together and create the experience for you. And yes, if we continually act as if our nervous system starts to wire in a certain way through myelin, our brain starts to create spaces within itself to kind of, if you will, embody at a neurochemical level the experience of the person that we'd love to be really taking on those qualities. So it sounds awesome, doesn't it? It maybe sounds a little bit far out for some of us, but I've been doing this for a long time, I didn't even know I was doing it, but you can bet I'm gonna do this a whole lot more. There are some qualities that I would love to really bring into my life at a way that were so much more predictable. They weren't something that I had to work so hard at. I gave myself permission to act like they were already mine 'cause I'm a big believer. If it's in us as a thought, it wants to be in us as a reality. It takes a thought to manifest an experience. So here's the opportunity. What quality would you most like to embody? And are you willing to move your feet, act as if? Bring the qualities into your everyday experience, even for just a few moments as a practice, and over time that practice becomes a manifestation of the quality. Our brain, our body, our nervous system, the myelin starts to wire in a way that we start to become that way. Interesting. It's kind of like the idea that when we have work to do, we can either spend a ton of time digging back into our past and wonder why it hasn't happened, or we can get a shovel, we can get a hammer, we can get the nails, which is action, and start building the quality that we'd most like to have. Acting as if and believing as if it's already here, because when we act on it and play on it and pray on it, we are building it as we go. Thank you, Richard Wiseman. Thank you, William James. Beautiful stuff to consider today on this beautiful day. I do hope and pray that you are thriving, and I wish you well. Peace and love. Bye for now. (upbeat music) Thanks for listening. Together, I believe we can make a difference in our own lives and the lives of those around us. Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review to help us spread positive energy across the planet. Until next time, keep shining your life and being the change you wanna see and be in the world. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
