I spent several sleepless nights worrying about how many people I’d accidentally offended — and whether I’d have any subscribers left by the end of the week.

Despite having anti-virus software installed, my computer still managed to send an offensive viral image to everyone on my mailing list at the time.

But that’s a story for another day.

The interesting thing is, it’s not just computers that get infected with viruses.

Our minds can pick up viruses too. And unlike computer viruses, mental ones can quietly shape how we think, feel and behave without us even noticing.

What’s a mind virus?

A mind virus is something that corrupts your thinking and prevents you from doing what you intend.

Instead, you become hopelessly ineffective, and do anything but what you’d planned. It saps your energy and leaves you feeling at odds with your own integrity.

This type of mind virus becomes particularly prevalent when you’re thinking of objectives, goals or plans you want to put in motion.

If you’ve tried to do something in the past and failed, it’s easy to get caught up in that ‘failed’ mentality — which is, in fact, part of the virus. The more times you’ve failed, the more likely it is that you believe you’ll fail again.

This mind virus can be extraordinarily frustrating — and debilitating.

There’s a simple explanation for this failure

The rationale is that you’ve wired your brain to fail several times already, by not doing what you set out to do. You’ve created a neural pathway through your brain that, as soon as you start thinking about what you want to do, veers off on a completely random course of its own making — but out of your conscious control!

Let me illustrate this

Let’s say you plan to begin writing three times a week. You might decide to write a journal, a blog, a book, poetry, it doesn’t really matter. (This is only an example so just replace, ‘writing’ with any task that you’ve thus far experienced as less than successful.)

This is what happens next

You sit where you normally sit to start writing. You think about writing, but feel uncomfortable (having previously been unsuccessful). You stare at a blank page or screen and tell yourself off for not writing. Your self-rebuke makes you feel even more uncomfortable. You imagine further discomfort in the future.

You notice some tension building…

So then what happens?

You do something else.

You suddenly feel compelled to check your email. Or Facebook. Or Instagram. Or you desperately need coffee, tea, something to eat, to phone a friend.

Or sometimes all of the above!

Eventually, you go back to start writing again only to find yourself running the same email/facebook/Instagram/coffee/eating/phoning/ programme all over again! You have created a mind virus. (I know this because I’ve experienced the very same infection!)

It may even seem like procrastination

But it isn’t entirely procrastination. What’s happening is that you don’t have a mental programme for running the new (writing) behaviour that you desire. You only have the programme with the virus that looks something like this:

(Remember to replace ‘writing’ with whatever you want to inoculate against. For example, monthly accounts, exercising, ironing etc.)

• Think about writing.
• Feel uncomfortable.
• Sit in front of the computer.
• Feel even more uncomfortable.
• Think about writing something.
• Feel overwhelmed/panicky/lost.
• Talk to yourself negatively/beat yourself up about not writing.
• Check emails instead.
• Think about writing something.
• Feel overwhelmed/panicky/lost.
• Talk to yourself negatively/beat yourself up about not writing.
• Make a coffee.
• Sit in front of the computer.
• Think about writing something.
• Feel more overwhelmed/panicky/lost.
• Talk to yourself negatively/beat yourself up even more about not writing.
• Phone a friend.
• Sit in front of the computer.
• Think about writing something.
• Feel overwhelmed/panicky/lost.
• Talk to yourself negatively/beat yourself up about not writing.
• Go to Facebook.
• Think about writing something.
• Feel overwhelmed/panicky/lost.
• Talk to yourself negatively/beat yourself up about not writing.
• Etc

At this point, you’ve run the viral programme several times

And you still haven’t written a word (apart from possibly emails and Facebook messages). The problem is that the more often you run this corrupted programme, the easier it runs automatically. Every time you do this non-writing alternative, you’re wiring your brain to do it again, and again. That neural pathway is turning into a 6-lane motorway! And pretty soon you’re even further away from writing than before you first sat down with an intention to begin.

How do you get rid of a mind virus?

If you’ve already got a mind virus, it’s too late to prevent it — but you can inoculate for it.

Inoculation involves merely starting the desired programme in a different way, or from a different place.

Once you’ve re-run the new programme a few times, it will become a positive mind virus. The updated mind virus will outrun the old one, effectively killing it off. This means that doing what you set out to do will become more natural.

Let’s use our non-writing virus as an example again

The virus kicks in when you sit in front of your computer and think about writing.

So the best way to vaccinate against the virus is to start by not sitting in front of your computer and thinking about writing.

Try another start point

Here are some alternative ways to begin writing (but remember, writing is just an example — it could be anything you’ve thus far failed to do.)

1. Tell yourself what you want to write about while you’re doing something else (E.g. walking, washing-up). Record it on your phone.
2. Take your laptop to your local coffee shop and write there. Don’t drink your coffee until you’ve written at least three sentences.
3. Take your laptop outside, in the park, at the beach, a co-working space. Start writing there.
4. Write about how it feels to be unable to write. Write whatever comes into your head. (I once wrote a whole article in this way. It sounded like the ramblings of a lunatic on speed — but so many writers commented on how easily they could relate to it!) It doesn’t matter what you write, remember all you’re doing is inoculating against your virus.
5. Do something physical. Put on some upbeat music and start dancing. Keep dancing and then write about whatever springs to mind when the music stops. Or go for a walk/run/bike ride and write about what you experienced while you were out.
6. Write by hand with a pen on paper in bed/at the beach/on the bus/in the kitchen/standing up/lying down/kneeling.
7. Don’t write at all, just press ‘record’ and talk into your phone. Then transcribe what you’ve written.
8. Talk to someone about what you want to write (or imagine talking to someone). Record what you say and then write it down.
9. Look at one of your photos. Write about where it was taken and the events of that day.
10. Deliberately read something about which you know you’ll disagree. Write your thoughts and opinions.
11. Write a rant on a subject you’re passionate about.

Implementing these ideas will stop you running the old viral mind program that’s corrupted your intention. You can find ways of improving your writing later — i.e. once you’ve actually written something you want to improve! You can dream up many creative ideas for overcoming your own mind virus.

Any of those ideas will work for what you want to change

The key is to identify where and when the programme starts and then change the start point.

For example, when I spoke to a very competent NLP Master Practitioner, she told me that whenever she’d finished seeing a client, she’d immediately sit and question herself, then worry whether she’d done the ‘right’ processes.

This challenged her self-confidence

I suggested that as soon as a client left in future, instead of sitting and ruminating, she could put on some upbeat music, turn up the sound and dance around the room until she could say — out loud — five things she’d done well. Again, the idea is to vaccinate against the virus by changing the start of the programme — so the rest of the programme can’t ‘run’.

Changing your behaviour is under your control

• Recognise that just as you can change the programming of your computer, you can also change the programming in your mind.
• You can rid yourself of unwanted viruses, so your mental programmes run cleanly and don’t infect a whole lot of innocent people!
• If the mental programmes you’re running aren’t working — stop and do something different!
• Inoculating yourself will build your confidence and self-esteem.

Once you begin noticing what’s preventing you getting started, the antidote becomes easier to administer. If you need more help you might find my How To Change Your Mind eBook useful.

Did you recognise yourself here?

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If you’ve had one of these mind viruses yourself, I’d love to hear how you got rid of it.

And if you know someone with this problem, feel free to send them the link to this post.

Tags: Motivation and taking action, Self-confidence and self-esteem, Thinking and mindset