Cognitive Dissonance + How to Create New Beliefs

<p><i>Cognitive dissonance</i>. It’s one of those big, fancy scientific terms you may have heard before but only have a vague understanding of what it actually means when you really try to think about it.</p><p>The official dictionary definition? Cognitive dissonance is “The state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.”</p><p>But in lay people's terms – and in terms of how to apply this concept to creating a life of freedom, adventure and purpose – cognitive dissonance is as simple as this: feeling like shit as you try to create a new belief.</p><p>Because to create a new <strong>result</strong> in your life, you need to create a <strong>new way</strong> of thinking. And that process feels...very uncomfortable.</p><p>The “cognitive” part of cognitive dissonance refers to the <strong>mind</strong> – more specifically, our <strong>thoughts</strong>.</p><p>It also refers to the <strong>dissonance</strong> that exists between two <strong>different</strong> thoughts in your brain that are occurring <strong>simultaneously</strong> (a.k.a. when who we think we are is different from what we are doing).</p><p>For example, that moment when you’re like <i>“Wait, I think of myself as a healthy person, but I’m drinking a bottle of wine every night.”</i> There’s cognitive dissonance there that makes us uncomfortable because two thoughts are clashing. In that sense, it can also be helpful in letting us know when things are <strong>out of alignment.</strong></p><p>But it <strong>isn’t</strong> as helpful when we want to create something new, and that something new is different from our current reality and belief systems.</p><p>Because when you have two thoughts that contradict each other in your brain, you are going to have mental discomfort.</p><p>Which (let’s be honest) feels like shit.</p><p>So here’s the rub.</p><p>Anytime you want to create a new result in life, you have to DO things differently which means you need to THINK differently.</p