Do you find you’re often living life on autopilot? Have you realised you’re functioning on autopilot almost every day? Sometimes life gets so busy that we do things without thinking. Letting our values, attitudes and beliefs dictate our life circumstances and events leads us to function without much thought, rather than living in the moment.
Running on autopilot rather than in the moment can lead to issues of over-reacting, under-reacting, reacting inappropriately or reacting too quickly. If you’re finding yourself responding to situations this way, you may be on a path to stress and anxiety, due to the likelihood of saying or doing something you’ll later regret.
Switching off autopilot
Autopilot is often present somewhere in everyone’s lifetime. Thus, it’s necessary to know how to switch off and avoid feeling stressed from regretting your actions. Here are three approaches to try:
- Try pausing in-between moments and remind yourself that you do have a choice! You’re allowed to react the way you always would or you can try something different. Pausing allows you to turn off autopilot and react in the moment.
- Counting to five before you speak could be a sure-fire way of cutting off autopilot.
- Thought-stoppers, such as an elastic band around your wrist, can work well to stop your thoughts and allow you to change your thought process. The elastic band works by snapping it around your wrist and the slight pain breaks your thoughts and stops your autopilot reaction in its tracks. Thought stoppers ultimately give you time to really think about your response and bypass an autopilot reaction.
Manual pilot
A recent survey has shown that 96% of people admit to living on autopilot. There has never been a more important time to switch off autopilot and live in the now. It’s time to live in the moment and no longer regret things we did or said in the heat of the moment due to autopilot.
If you need help switching off autopilot, speak to ActionCOACH today!
