I am often asked why repetition is important when trying to make a significant change in life.

To understand the answer to that question you must be aware of what it is that you’re really trying to change.

If you want to release weight, for instance, you’re not just trying to change your diet or exercise habits. You’re trying to change a paradigm—the ideas, beliefs and habits that are locked in your subconscious mind.

You can’t change your paradigm with self-will alone. In fact, there are only two ways to change it.

One is an emotional impact. That is when something hits you so hard that your life will never be the same. It’s usually of a negative nature, but it can also be something that is positive.

Repetition is the second way. It is exposing yourself to a new idea (or a new image since we think in pictures) over and over again. The point is not to memorize the information, but rather to impress the image into your subconscious or emotional mind.

But why do you have to keep repeating it day in and day out?

Because your paradigm is deeply rooted in you. It has been running the show for a long time and, believe me, it doesn’t want to change. So when you start eating carrot sticks or hitting the gym, your paradigm fights back with statements like, “Come on… one piece of bread isn’t going to hurt you” or “You’ve got too much to do to go the gym. You can go later.”

So you have to impress the new image over and over until it starts to take hold in your subconscious mind.

You see, at first the image is weak because it’s only in your conscious mind. It’s like a little sapling planted there. Repetition works to loosen the soil of the conscious mind and allow the new image to take root in the subconscious mind.

The more you impress the image into your emotional mind, the stronger it becomes. Eventually, the old image weakens and the new one replaces it, and you move into the vibration that the image creates. When that happens, you are in resonance with all that you desire.

But, you’ve got to be mindful of the ideas that you are planting. Unlike the conscious mind, the subjective mind is totally subjective. It accepts whatever it is given. So ANYTHING that you say, write or feel over and over again will eventually become fixed in the subconscious mind…

I remember as a little kid, when I was late for school, the teacher would have me write a hundred times, “I’m late for school. I’m late for school.” What she didn’t understand was that she was programming me to be late for school!

Repetition is the Mother of All Learning

Each day, you allocate a portion of your time to certain things. You eat every day. You wash your body. You get dressed.

Well, if you want to improve the quality of your life, start allocating a portion of each day to changing your paradigm.

Dedicate some time every day to building a new image in your mind. Read, write, listen to or visualize something that depicts the life you really want. Spending just 15 minutes a day will pay huge dividends.

And here’s something else I highly recommend…

Become an actor. Write a script that details how you really want to live, and then read it and re-read it. Memorize the script and then internalize it. Become the script. Become emotionally involved with it. And then, you’ll start to live the part.

There’s a very good reason that people say repetition is the mother of all learning. But, don’t believe what anyone else says. Give it a shot for yourself, and let the principle of repetition prove itself to you. I know you’ll be glad that you did.

To your success,

Bob Proctor