The Power Of Repetition

The power of repetition is the mother of skill. Many years ago I wrote an article about the power of a repetitive thought. It was very popular and today I wanted to expand on the subject.

Even to this day, I stand by those words and in fact, in many ways I wrote about a subject I didn’t fully understand 100% but, now I realise just how accurate the article was.

Today I’m going to expand on the power of repetition a little because I believe it is incredibly important for me, you and for anyone wishing to understand their mind a little better, in order to live more consciously.

There is something very important you need to know. There is bad repetition, and there is good repetition. Also there is productive repetition, and there is counter-productive repetition. There is bad habitual repetition, and there is good habitual repetition.

The Power of Repetition

I got into bad habitual repetition of telling people how tired I was. I kept repeating it, and upon repeating it, I started to feel more tired because I was always focussing on it. Because I focused on it, the nature of the mind is such that I did actually become even more tired. Because I was even more tired, I told even more people and…well, you can kind of see where this is headed.

That was an example of bad habitual repetition. There are good habitual repetitions too. I tell myself how great I look everyday and….damn I look fine! 😆

Athletes often use mental rehearsals to improve their performance.

Whatever you repeat, has power; good or bad.

So my question to you is, what do you frequently repeat in your mind that has bad power?

The tiredness repetition was a major one for me and so I’ve stopped telling people that and, more importantly, I’ve stopped telling myself and repeating those thoughts constantly in my head.

Another common one I hear from clients is how much of a failure they are or how bad they are at something.

The Life Changing Fix

If you have something that you repeat to yourself regularly that has bad power, the good news is that there is something you can do. It’s a little complex, so stay with me.

STOP REPEATING IT!!

Only when you realise you’re doing it, can you consciously decide to stop, and replace it with something else.

I’ve spoken a great deal about relationships and dating over the past couple of years. A common one that single people repeat to themselves is, “I’m never going to meet someone”. Does that sound familiar? If you keep telling yourself that, you will never meet someone. Instead, focus on something else, maybe help others find love and just focus on that.

In the case of my tiredness and those repetitive thoughts, I stopped saying it to myself and I stopped telling others. When the thought crept into my head, I decided to focus on my higher purpose. I decided to focus on service and, whenever I did that, I would literally forget about feeling tired. I would still be a bit tired, but since I wasn’t ploughing all my energy into that bad habitual thought, I conserved the energy and was able to focus it elsewhere. When I focussed it on service, I felt inspired, and hence, energised.

Change

My apologies if you were hoping for a magic fix, but sadly they don’t exist. If you want a higher quality existence, it will require effort on your part.

These repetitions apply to your mind, feelings and actions. If you want a different result, look at your habits, your repetitions, and then change them.

Remember that repetition has power and it can be good or bad. When you catch yourself in the act of doing a bad one, stop doing it, and replace it with something better!

What do you keep repeating to yourself? Have you had success changing it? Let me know in the comments.