The best way to change any behavior is to create new pathways in your brain.

So I've been using Tony Robbins system of Neuro-Associative Conditioning.

Here's how it works:

1. I decide what I want: I identify my desired outcome. If I keep focusing on what I don't want, I'll get more of it. Usually what's preventing me from making a change is a belief I've adopted that linked more pain to making change than staying where I am.

2. I get leverage: Change is not a question of capability, it's a question of motivation. Therefore I must create a lever to associate massive pain with not changing now and massive pleasure to the experience of changing now. To get real leverage, I ask myself pain-inducing and pleasure-associative questions.

3. I interrupt the limiting pattern: I condition a new behavior over the old one. For example, I make dinner when I come home from work. Usually, I eat and watch an episode of my favorite show. Then when I'm done eating, I'd eat more and go over in calories. Now I eat for 10 minutes and FORCE myself to get up immediately and go for a walk. This interrupts my emotional pattern of wanting to continue eating and grabbing more food.

4. I rehearse it: If you continue to condition a new behavior, the neurological connection strengthens. After my walks, I reward myself with either envisioning myself succeeding again and again or my favorite zero-calorie Gatorade flavor.

5. I test it: I ask myself questions. Am I picturing and feeling enough pain and pleasure to stop now? Does this old behavior align with my values, beliefs, and principles? What am I doing to condition my new behavior?

Use these steps to change your thinking and behavior.