If You Could Change Anything What Would It Be?

The founders of Psychology originally thought that after our brains had fully developed physically during our early twenties, we were then unable to change and adapt our behaviours. Hence the saying “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

But the relatively new branch of positive psychology has been able to prove that we all poses ‘neural plasticity,’ regardless of our age. Neural plasticity allows our brains to continue to adapt throughout our lives, allowing us to change habitual behaviours.

Our Habits Run Our Lives

The trouble most of us experience when trying to adopt a new behaviour is due to our lives being almost entirely comprised of habits. Habits form when we repeat the same thoughts and actions regularly, which are expressed in the brain as connections between neurons.

The neurons are responsible for transferring messages from one part of the brain to another. When we perform a certain behaviour regularly it causes a greater number of neurons to become aligned to transport the messages more quickly. The speed of message transfer is what makes our behaviours automatic. It is what makes them habitual and difficult to change, creating the illusion they are fixed and unchangeable.

Difficult, fixed and unchangeable, that is, when you approach with only willpower as your method of change. Studies have proven that willpower is an exhaustible resource. As we navigate through our days, all the little decisions we make; choosing a healthy lunch, limiting coffee or cigarette break, etc. act as a drain. When our reserves run low our resistance to our old habitual behaviours falls over and we end up back where we started.

Only when we combine the benefits of a positive mindset with aligned values and beliefs, which support our desired behaviour, do we stack the deck in our favour.

What Is Cyclehacking?

Cyclehacking is the process of doing, learning and evolving with the intention of changing our thoughts and behaviours to create the results we want, and reach our full potential.

Why You Should Read Cyclehacking

Cyclehacking is based on the premise that if we find a big enough ‘why’, we will overcome any ‘how’, which was inspired by the words of Nietzsche, “He who has a ‘why’ to live for, can bear with almost any ‘how’.” We all have a big enough ‘why’ within us, but for one reason or another we don’t always live in alignment with it. Cyclehacking helps you discover your ‘why’ for being and become aligned with it. It is a combination of scientific based research into why we do what we do, and practical steps you can take towards reaching your full potential.

The book is split into to parts;

Part I – Planning to Evolve

The book begins by looking at how we spend our time, and asks whether we are living in alignment with what is important to us. The first three chapters focus on helping those who are unsure if their current direction in life is taking them to where they ultimately want to go. It is in the section you be able to discover what your ‘why’ for living is.

“If we do not change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed” – Chinese Proverb

I will send you the first three chapters if you enter your name and email below. You will also receive my weekly updates straight to your inbox.

Chapters four and five look at how our minds process information received through our senses to create our perception of reality. Our values and beliefs are responsible for what motivates us to act, and, determine how we feel about our actions. They are also responsible for who and what we are attracted to, and the circumstance and results we create in our lives. They typically operate outside of our conscious awareness, by becoming aware of them consciously, we can take control over the results we create.

Chapter six looks at the relationship between happiness and success and turns the traditional approach of; if you work hard, become successful, then you will be happy, on its head. Science has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that our brains function optimally when we are in a positive mindset – When we are happy first, we gain access to the full potential of our minds and as a result become more successful.

Chapter seven takes an in-depth look at how to set goals that are aligned with our values and beliefs, engaging the conscious and unconscious minds together, making our goals infinity more achievable.

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying we are not ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.” – Paulo Coelho

The decision to pursue our potential and to follow what we believe in will not be easy, it requires courage and a willingness to change. Change, however, is inevitable. Life is in constant motion, and choosing the status quo will gradually get more and more difficult with the passing of time. The difficulty will present itself as a lack of meaning, happiness and fulfilment. Cyclehacking is ultimately a process and a framework that offers a route through the choppy waters of change. Is it not better to actively engage in the inevitable process of change, by working towards what you believe in, than end up trying to avoid what you do not want?

Part II – Cyclehacking

Using the knowledge gained in Part I about what is important to you and how you are currently creating the results in your life. Part II details how, through the process of Cyclehacking, you can turn your goals into habits creating the behaviours and results you want on the way to reaching your full potential.

Chapter eight looks in detail at how we create habits and the importance of adopting new habits that support the achievement of goals. Thus, turning our goals into habits.

Chapter nine digs deep into ‘doing’ things differently. Turning goals into habits starts with following through and taking action. When setting goals we aimed high, when turning them into habits we start small. Focusing on making ‘marginal gains’ is easy to do and builds momentum. Marginal gains are adjustments to your thoughts and behaviours that are so small they are ridiculously easy to do, it is through the aggregation of these marginal gains, that significant changes are possible.

Chapter ten moves from ‘doing’ onto ‘learning’; the feedback loop of your actions. Learning is about paying attention to what happens when you take action. The learning is twofold; discovering what the next practical step is towards your goal, and learning about what your thoughts and behaviours are in relation to the area of life you are working on. Learning is a process of increasing self-awareness through adopting a beginners mind, combining practical knowledge with theoretical learning, and cultivating resourceful states.

Chapter eleven uses the ‘doing’ and ‘learning’ to ‘evolve’ your thoughts and behaviours and turn them into habits. Making changes and pushing beyond your limits will occasionally lead to overwhelm. Being ready for the overwhelm and failure inherent in evolving helps us to manage these changes efficiently and continue towards reaching our full potential. Having a plan ahead of time of how to recover when things don’t go to plan ensures recovery is fast, and captures valuable learning at the same time. We are wired through years of evolution as a species to be resilient and adaptable, maintaining a positive mindset allows us to tap into our natural ability to evolve. Chapter eleven looks at how to stay positive in the face of adversity.

Chapter Twelve is a look at how the unseen forces of the universe seem to conspire to help us when we set out in pursuit of important goals, and pour everything we’ve got into achieving them. It’s a light-hearted metaphor told as the story of my first attempt to run marathon.

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it” – Goethe

Introduction

Part 1 – Planning To Evolve

1. Do You Live A Double Life?
2. The Challenges Of Change
3. Your Life’s Work
4. How We Map Reality
5. The Power Of Beliefs And Values
6. Why Happiness Comes Before Success
7. How to set goals you will actually achieve

Part 2 – Cyclehacking

8. Turning Goals Into Habits
9. Doing
– The aggregation of marginal gains
– Focusing on marginal gains to maintain momentum
– What’s the next step?
– The power of one
10. Learning
– Developing a beginner’s mind
– The four stages of learning anything
– Combining practical and theoretical learning
– Mastering our mind
– How to cultivate resourceful states
– Meditation
– Journaling
– Using awareness to understand the ‘WHY’ of your habits
11. Evolving
– Overcoming overwhelm
– Turning failure into success
– Evolving habits
– Making habits stick
– Being human
12. The last four miles

Who Is Cyclehacking For?

I would love to say that Cyclehacking is for everyone, and that you should just make a donation and download it NOW! But, it is focused towards those who really want to fulfil their potential.

If you have habits you want to change, cyclehacking is for you.
If you are struggling to decide how to fulfil your potential and know something needs to change, Cyclehacking will be a perfect fit.
If you know what you want and are working towards achieving it, you will likely enjoy the content, and I feel confident there are a lot of useful ideas you will take away and put into practice immediately.
If you are struggling to find meaning, happiness and/or fulfilment from how you spend your days, then you will benefit the most from reading Cyclehacking.
If you are just curious about how you create your reality, how you form habits and how to change them. Then Cyclehacking is definitely for you.

How Much Does It Cost?

I thought long and hard about how to engage as many people as possible to actually read the book. I also want to raise money to build a school and give the gift of literacy to those who would not otherwise receive it. I wanted to make the decision to buy it a complete ‘no brainer’, in the end I decided to let you choose how much it will cost.

To download a copy, simply make a donation through my Virgin Money Giving page, and you will receive an email with a link to the download page.

This is the fairest option I can think of (and I am slightly bias), you can download the book for as little as £1, even if you don’t enjoy the book you can still feel good about helping to share the gift of literacy, and together we are one step closer to building a school. You can make a donation by clicking the link below:

When Is It Available?

The Book is available for download NOW!

Please Help Spread The Word

As a self published book, I don’t have the might of a publisher marketing it on my behalf, if you want to help me spread the word please share this page in whatever way works best for you.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me:

Email: fraser@cyclehacker.com
Twitter: @cyclehacker
Facebook: CycleHackerWorldTour

p.s If you’re still not sure, try the first three chapters for free: