As you move into the New Year, or begin a new venture into chasing down your latest goal, I am sure you, like most, have new desires and wishes for different or better. That might be with eating, exercising, work, personal development, or another, but, regardless of what you want to improve on, there is one FACT certain: in order to get what you want, you’ll need to make intentional choices in order to achieve it. Before you jump into your new pursuit, I’d like to let you in on a little secret that has helped lots of people and companies understand how to get it easier! You need to understand first that your actions are simply a bi-product of how your brain makes choices. In order to take actions you want, you really need to pay attention to and understand why you make the choices you do, and it probably isn’t what you think. The second piece of information you need to know is that your emotions are driving how you make decisions, not logic. Let me explain: You see, our choices aren’t random. Rather it’s a consistent pattern. We gravitate toward what we feel will make us experience the most pleasure as we simultaneously move away from and try to avoid pain, unless you catch yourself (which you can now do)! Even when a decision involves only negative consequences, most often we look for the result that carries less pain. We are creatures who seek and find pleasure. We are always looking for ways to feel better. It is obvious then why we are vulnerable to choose in the direction of pleasure even when we know it is not the best choice. The choices we make will usually answer the question, “What will make me feel the best?” Now I’ll explain where the rubber meets the road between how we make choices and why the results we want always seem just out of reach. The new results we want require action we have NOT taken yet….otherwise, we would already have the result. New action then, requires us NOT to do something else that we had been doing. Here are some examples: Working out vs doing something relaxing like watching TV. Eating healthy vs just grabbing something “quick.” Reading a book that will help you grow vs glancing through a “no-brainer” publication. Your challenge: To move away from those more pleasurable or less painful events if they are moving you away from what you really want. Bottom line: In order to get results you want, you will need to take action on events that seem more painful than the alternatives. Period.