Behavioural Flexibility -How flexible are you?

The more successful a person is in their life, the more behavioural flexibility they demonstrate. What is behavioural flexibility? If you are not getting the results you want, then behavioural flexibility allows you to change your actions. For example: A woman notices that every time she gets the 8.10am train to work, it is crowded and she does not get a seat. This upsets her because she allocates this time to read and cannot do this standing up. If she has behavioural flexibility, this woman will change her routine and get a train at another time when it is less crowded and allows her to have a seat and the opportunity to read: which is the result that she is looking for. Or the woman could change her attitude/thinking, continue to get the 8.10am train and instead of reading, she could choose to accept having to stand and listen to an audio book on her ipod; this would be another example of behavioural flexibility. Alternatively, if she lacks behavioural flexibility, this woman would continue to get the 8.10am and continue to be upset and frustrated every morning because she is missing the opportunity to read. Which choice do you think is going to be more empowering and more satisfying?

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” –Albert Einstein

If you are unsure about something that you’re doing in your life at the moment, ask yourself: “Is this action getting me the result that I want?”, and if it’s not producing the results you want, then you’ve got to have the behavioural flexibility to change your behaviour and do it differently. Now, how many times do you change your behaviour? Think about the answer to this question. You’ve got to be able to change your behaviour as many times as it takes to get the result you’re looking for. What result are you looking for? What action are you taking? What results are you noticing? If it’s not the results you want, what do you need to do differently?

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