Years ago when I worked in an investment firm, I often wondered why even though all my clients received detailed advice to help them accomplish their goals, less than 50 per cent actually carried out the recommended steps. In addition, only a very small percentage of those who started the process continued until they had achieved their objectives.

Could I have done more to assist those who fell by the financial wayside? Could I have done a better job in finding workable solutions for my clients? My determination to help people achieve evoked my desire to learn about the factors required to bring about lasting change in their beliefs and behaviours.

With more experience in money coaching, I now recognise that there are various underlying reasons that can block persons from actualising their dreams. Although counsellors can make suggestions and show them practical ways to fix their financial problems, the reality is that the decision to take corrective action can only come from within.

Are you willing but weak?
There are many persons who truly want to adjust negative traits or adopt positive habits, but feel frustrated when they struggle against an unidentified force that seems to immobilise them. In their minds and hearts they desire change, but for some reason, it is almost impossible for them to perform the required tasks.

Are you having economic challenges or finding it difficult to achieve a major financial goal? Do you already know what you need to do to improve your situation? Have you already identified personal motivators that are prodding you to act? If you have all these elements in place, yet still find it hard to get going, then perhaps you need to dig a little deeper for your solution.

The science of achievement
In my search to find out more about the process of change, I discovered the work of Anthony Robbins, an expert in the field of peak performance. Robbins dedicated many years to researching the psychology of personal achievement, and is highly acclaimed for his work on scientific considerations in understanding human behaviour.

One fundamental concept that Robbins outlines in his best-selling book, Awaken the Giant Within, is that there is a single driving force that “impacts every facet of our lives, from our relationships and finances to our bodies and brains.” The force that motivates us to act, or to hold back, stems from “our need to avoid pain or our desire to gain pleasure.”

Pain and pleasure linkages
Robbins explains that your brain uses various experiences to form associations in your nervous system which are called neuro-associations. If you touch a hot stove, the pain you feel will indicate to your brain that this is an activity to avoid. Robbins asserts that the things which your brain links to pain and those it identifies with pleasure will ultimately determine your attitudes and actions.

Pain or pleasure linkages are not only physical, as our emotional experiences can play an even more significant role in determining our outcomes. For example, feelings of rejection or ridicule that may have occurred when you tried to sell cookies in your neighborhood as a child can lead to painful associations that will hinder you from being successful in your sales job as an adult.

Change can happen in an instant
So if you’re struggling to achieve your financial goals, perhaps your brain is ‘wired’ to avoid the very success that you so desperately desire. Despite your efforts to break free of your limiting thoughts and behaviours and to do what you intellectually know is right, the neuro-pathways inscribed in your brain will ensure that you fail every single time.

Fortunately, Robbins reveals that it is possible to change this negative process; in fact he declares that it can happen in an instant. This can be done by utilising the science of Neuro Associative Conditioning (NAC), which can “condition your nervous system to associate pleasure to those things you want… and pain to those things you need to avoid, in order to succeed consistently.”

Six steps to change
Robbins’ NAC procedure involves six steps. First, you need to be specific about what you want and determine what is preventing you from getting it. Next, you need to create a sense of urgency that compels you to follow through with your plans. Robbins then describes how to dramatically interrupt the negative behaviour pattern that is holding you back.

To ensure that you don’t regress, you have to identify an alternative way to get the “same pleasurable feelings without the negative side effects” of your past behaviour. For lasting change, you must use reinforcements and repetition until your positive action becomes a habit. Finally, you need to test what you’ve done to ensure it will always work in the future.

To make the best use of Robbins’ methodologies to effect change, you need to be committed to the process of absorbing and acting on his recommendations. There are many available resources from Robbins and other practitioners of neuro-conditioning strategies, so I encourage you to research widely to learn more.

Originally published in The Daily Observer, April 25, 2013

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Cherryl is a money coach and business mentor, and founder of Financially S.M.A.R.T. Services. See more of her work at www.entrepreneursinjamaica.com and www.financiallysmart.org. Contact Cherryl