Last weekend we drove back to my hometown Whyalla for the netball grand final.

If you didn’t know, Whyalla is a country town four hours out of Adelaide. Whyalla is known for its Steel & Mining Industry, Cuttlefish Tours and ofcourse ‘Bottle and Bird’!

As soon as we got to Whyalla I could feel the difference in the pace of the town compared to Adelaide.

Country towns by nature are slower paced, they have a slower rhythm.

This makes sense because there are less people living in country towns. And people are energy. So less people living in a town means there’s less energy in the town.

If you’ve ever moved from the country to the city or vice versa you would have experienced this change in rhythm. Neither country or city is better than the other, they are simply different.

I am a country boy at heart, but I have grown fond of the energy of the city.

Today I want to teach you about a natural law that once understood and applied will change your life forever.

This natural law is called – ‘Hypnotic Rhythm’.

I first became aware of this law when I read Napoleon Hill’s book ‘Outwitting the Devil’. I believe this book is more important than his all-time classic masterpiece ‘Think and Grow Rich’.

It’s a must read.

The Law of Hypnotic Rhythm is one of the most powerful ideas I’ve ever come across.

Hypnotic Rhythm will either: 

 

I suggest you learn this law and choose the latter.

What is the Natural Law of Hypnotic Rhythm?

 

The Devil shares these definitions with Napoleon Hill in chapter five of ‘Outwitting the Devil’.

“Hypnotic rhythm is a natural law through which nature fixes the vibration of all environments… Hypnotic rhythm is the force that keeps everything in the universe under control and properly related to everything else… Nature uses hypnotic rhythm to make one’s dominating thoughts and one’s thought habits permanent.”

Any action you repeatedly do becomes a habit. Once the habit is formed it becomes a rhythm in your life.

I can best explain this principle through my experience of playing the piano.

When I begin to learn a new song I have to consciously think about every note I’m playing. It’s painful and frustrating. It doesn’t sound like music at all while I’m fumbling my way through the song.

Once I’ve played the notes enough times I start to memorise them. My fingers start to move without my conscious effort. I begin to play more fluently. The melody and rhythm of the song can now be identified by listeners.

After I’ve practised the song enough times I no longer have to consciously think about each note I’m playing. I no longer need to look at the sheet music. The song has become a part of me. A subconscious program. A habit. A rhythm.

The Devil goes on to say:

“Rhythm is the last stage of habit! Any thought or physical movement which is repeated over and over through the principle of habit finally attains to the proportion of rhythm.”

What influences Hypnotic Rhythm?

 

You get to choose your actions which ultimately become your habits. And these habits will solidify and become your rhythms in life.

Your actions are based on your thoughts and subconscious programs.

But what plays a major role in influencing your thoughts, subconscious programs and actions?

Your environment.

“Every home, every place of business, every town and village and every street and community center has its own definite, discernible rhythm.”

Most people don’t consciously choose their environment.

I didn’t for a long time. I lived in Whyalla because my parents decided to move us there when I was a kid. I played footy because that’s what the other kids did. I worked at the Steelworks because that’s where people in Whyalla worked.

None of this was my choosing.

I was influenced by the Hypnotic Rhythm of my environment.

And for a long time I was stuck in a rhythm that didn’t make me happy.

• • I was stuck in a rhythm of binge drinking every weekend
  • I was stuck in a rhythm of working in a career that didn’t align with me

Although these things were making me unhappy, the familiarity, habit and hypnotic pull of these activities kept me stuck for many years.

To pull myself out of the rhythms I was trapped in, I had to take responsibility for my life. I had to work out what I really wanted. I had to make my own decisions.

My experience of the Law of Hypnotic Rhythm

 

When I moved from Whyalla to Adelaide I experienced first-hand how powerful this law is.

In Whyalla, I had my own rhythms. I had my driving patterns. My gym routine. My footy commitments. My social outlets. The people I spent time with.

It was like clockwork.

This all changed when I moved to Adelaide.

I had no habits here. No rhythm. I got to start fresh.

It was uncomfortable at first.

I remember feeling so much fear and anxiety at the thought of signing up at a new gym in the city.

I had to use Google maps everywhere I went because I didn’t know the east side of the city.

I had to consciously THINK about everything in my life again!

The move to Adelaide completely broke me out of the Hypnotic Rhythm I had been living in.

And this was a good thing for me.

In my new environment I got to decide what new habits I would form. What new social activities I would get involved in. What my new routine would look like.

This has now become my new rhythm.

And this rhythm is moving me closer towards what I want in life.

Are you stuck in the Hypnotic Rhythm of your environment?

 

With the awareness of Hypnotic Rhythm and experiencing the power of it first hand I can now see why so many people struggle to break free from their old patterns or habits.

And why is this?

Simply put, “Environment is stronger than willpower.”

It makes it near impossible to break free from addictions, unresourceful patterns and habits when you’re living in an environment and surrounded by people who reinforce the rhythm you’re wanting to break free from.

For example, during the Vietnam War, 20% of American soldiers were addicted to Heroin.

The Hypnotic Rhythm of the environment they were in caught the soldiers in a dangerous habit. However, when the soldiers returned home, approximately 9 out of 10 soldiers eliminated their addiction overnight! (James Clear wrote a great article on this phenomenon)

This is because they were no longer in the Hypnotic Rhythm of their war environment.

The environmental cues to use Heroin were no longer there.

Conclusion

 

It’s not easy to break free from the Hypnotic Rhythm of your environment.

It requires:

1. Knowing what you want in life
2. Making the tough decisions to move towards what you want
3. Having the courage to let go of people, environments and activities that no longer serve you

The devil shares:

“Another way to state the nature of hypnotic rhythm is to compare with cement which sets itself to conform with any desired pattern and hardens into permanency with time.”

The longer you wait the harder it is to break free from the rhythms that no longer serve you.

 

What rhythms are you stuck in that you need to let go of?