WTF Igor!

WTF IGOR!!

If you've spent any time with me over the last 13 years, you have probably heard me talk about IGOR. Ugh, he is that loud, pesky voice that pops into your head to tell you all those shitty things about yourself: that you can't walk away from cigarettes or chocolate or alcohol or even drugs. The first thing I teach my clients is about that IGOR voice! We have to separate that IGOR brain from our LOGIC brain and learn how to deal with it! 

Has this happened to you before? You set a goal, you break down your steps, you begin to take action towards the goal but somehow you get de-railed? Or you start loosening your boundaries about what you know will help you to reach your goal? Why do we self sabotage after doing so well on a diet? Why do we listen to that voice?

Because it is the loudest voice you hear; because if you have never heard about the IGOR voice, you might actually believe the lies he tells you. IGOR lives in your amygdala - that little part of your brain that resists change  - at all cost! The amygdala keeps you in the box of what we already know. But if doing what we already know would help us to reach that goal, wouldn't we have reached that goal already?

Einstein defined the word "insanity" as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results", but that is exactly what your IGOR voice wants you to do. Doing something outside of "the safety box" is scary, especially to IGOR. But in order to reach those goals, we know we need to go there so how can we do this? How do we get this voice to just shut up and let us reach our goals without de-railing ourselves.

The first step is to have a WHY: a reason, a purpose, a result you are trying to reach.

Back in November, I had a "heart incident", not a heart attack but an incident that required medical intervention. My heart rate got stuck at about 165 beats per minute. I was simply not taking care of myself; I had become dehydrated and was working way too much. As I had previous damage to my heart, I was more susceptible to an incident like this. And…this was a big warning to me! I’ll call it the wake up call - I needed to take better care of myself!

This was a pretty big warning... and it should be enough for me to make those changes and stick with it! My reason was survival. Take care of your heart, Lorraine or you won't have one to take care of you.

I started walking on the treadmill every day for 30 minutes to improve my cardio. Then as I got more comfortable, I started to run again. I started slowly -  walk for 2 minutes, run for 1. Each week, I would add to the running time until I reached 30 minutes. Yup - running (not fast lol) for a continuous 30 minutes and man, did it feel good. Then we went on a holiday and I didn't run.

A week later, I got ready for my morning treadmill meeting and the conversation began: the chatter in my head was crazy... my IGOR brain and my LOGIC brain were literally duking it out!!

IGOR felt that because I had taken a break, I wouldn't be able to just jump back in and do things the way I did before the holiday. LOGIC was insisting that I could. Negotiations were starting... well, I can go back to sets of 5 mins and rebuild my stamina. Maybe if I keep the speed lower, I can achieve what I want. I hadn't even started the run yet and I was already talking myself out of it. I was manipulating my own boundaries to satisfy IGOR and his fears. This was the magic moment! I realized that IGOR was trying to sabotage me, again!

Not on this watch, IGOR! I dug in and said, “No way will I change my goal to satisfy what is in the box. I want out of this box!”

So how do we do that? We are aware that our amygdala is trying to bring us down, but we want to reach that goal.... how do we ignore those warnings from our brain?

I do it with evidence. My brain is a bit sciencey and loves to nerd out on studies and research. So I intentionally plant evidence in my brain that I can do it. I have done these things before and I did not blow up. I did not die. Therefore, I can do that again!

So when it comes to my runs and planting that evidence, I have a routine that I am working with. I switch daily from my long run to my short run. During my long run, I am working on the length of time that I am running. So now that I am running consistently for 35 minutes, my next goal is 45 minutes. On my short run days, I am increasing the speed. As I increase the speed, Igor tells me to shorten the length but I don’t listen to him now because I can go to the evidence log and say no. I have proof I can do it, and I will do it.

Another trick I use is one I learned from Mel Robbins a few years ago. When you notice that procrastination voice coming in, count backwards from 5 and take action at 1. Counting backwards is not a usual activity for your brain so it requires an element of focus - it will distract your IGOR brain and all of his complaints and let your LOGIC brain take control.

The trick is to take action at 1, otherwise it can leave a gap for IGOR to pop back in and try his manipulations on you again. Mel wrote an awesome book on this topic and goes into more detail in her "5 Second Rule, Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage" book if you want to read more about it.

So the next time your IGOR brain tries to step in and sabotage you, realize which voice is talking. Reverse engineer your steps to reach your goal and start by taking small steps to begin the evidence log, and when needed, launch your action using the 5 second rule. It's time to tell IGOR where to go!  

Here's to embracing holistic health and living a life of vitality

Lorraine