Behavior

Once we know what we want to achieve and why, we can start working to get there. There are several ways to move toward our goal. One is to review your behaviors and make sure you are acting in your best interest. Either by changing the behaviors we already have to more beneficial ones, or by abandoning them outright.

In order to change what we have to what we want, we need to find the rational and emotional motivations that move us to action.

What is behind the behaviors?

A behavior responds to a motive, which can be biological or social. That motivation drives the behavior. When this behavior is repeated in a context and over a period of time, it becomes a behavior.

Prolonged repetition of a behavior creates a habit. Whether positive or negative. It is the result of a person's strategy to face a situation. Examples of negative habits can be a predisposition to procrastinate, to distract the mind with playful activities, or to resort to addictions.

One of the assumptions of Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) is that every behavior has a positive intention (for the person who executes it). In other words, it seeks to satisfy a need. For example, we generally seek pleasure or avoid pain, either consciously or unconsciously.

This behavior therefore has a meaning, even if sometimes it is not correct or productive. This allows us to interpret it and find what separates the behavior from the intention behind it. We can then look for new ways to achieve the same benefit without harming ourselves or others.

This intention responds to satisfying a need that may be masked. By discovering what is behind the motivations and behaviors, we realize the true nature of our interactions and why we behave as we do.

Without recognizing what is truly driving the behaviors that negatively impact our lives, we are only offering a temporary solution to a deeper problem.

Behavioral Tracking

The sequence of behavior is: precedent, behavior and effect.

The precedent is the trigger that drives the behavior. It can be internal, when our thoughts and emotions dictate what to do. For example, ignoring a certain sensation by avoiding it: using an addiction to ease pain or anxiety. Or distracting ourselves with playful activities to avoid thinking, or breaking things when we get frustrated.

In the case of external triggers, they are what we find in the environment. Observing them or interacting with them causes us to respond accordingly, for example reacting to criticism with anger, or relating the sight of food with food cravings.

These triggers serve as a warning to pay attention, because what comes immediately is the conditioned reaction, the already automatic behavior. These responses are difficult to control but if you learn to anticipate and identify what is behind them, you can begin to intervene.

Analyzing the effect or consequence it has, either internally or externally, also guides us to the real objective of the behavior. It directs us to the benefit, what motivated us to act in that way. What is the benefit? What do we want to influence, ourselves or someone else? What did we get? Recognition, respect, tranquility, power, affection, consideration, com