Have you ever had that feeling that you've got a virus? A general sort of malaise that's preventing you from applying your full power to the problem at hand, or that's holding you back from reaching your goals? Don't you wish there was a way to shake yourself free of this negative energy? It would be great if we had a built-in virus protection program, one that would warn us when a virus had alighted on our Life Goals Immune System, and then prompted us to get rid of it!

As part of my job many years ago, I supported users of Macintosh computers. When things went terribly wrong, I would be called in to make the computer behave properly.

Tinkering too much with particular kinds of problems could damage the hard drive, causing the loss of everything on it. Generally speaking, despite my repeated warnings, not many of my clients had backups of their data, so each situation had a very real element of risk to it. Every support call sparked the same feeling, a sort of excited anxiety, because each time I knew the results could go either way. I would either solve the problem or make it worse. Either I or the problem would win.

The first step in solving the problem was diagnosing it. What exactly were the symptoms? When during the daily usage of the computer did they occur? What steps did I have to follow in order to reproduce them? Luckily, computers are fairly straightforward, logical machines, and often certain symptoms can be linked to particular problems for which there are known answers. Human beings have this trait as well. Whatever mental virus you have has probably infected somebody else before, and that somebody can probably give you some advice on how to treat yourself to make it go away.

In the process of trying to reproduce the error in order to diagnose it, there was a real danger of making the drive totally unreadable. But, as with most problems, the best result will be gained by forging ahead, in order to come out the other side. I kept my fingers crossed on every support call, but in many cases, I would arrive at the Dreaded Blinking Question Mark.

If you're familiar with Macs, you know that a blinking question mark appearing on the screen means that the main hard drive cannot be read. This is terrible news. And if it wasn't there before I'd gotten there, that meant that if the drive was irreparably damaged, I personally had blown it -- and everything on it -- away.

Fortunately, I had learned that, much like a patient that flatlines on the operating table, a blinking question mark didn't always mean death. Over the years, I had developed and kept current a good collection of diagnostic and repair tools, and using these tools, I was able to bring virtually every blinking question mark back from the brink. But I could not have solved the problem without making it worse first.

How does this relate to creating possibility in your life? Simply:

In order to create the future of your dreams, you must first break the present.

In quantum physics, this is called decoherence. By disrupting the current pattern of your life, a new pattern can emerge. If your whole life needs a makeover, then by all means, decohere the whole thing. If you need focus on a particular area, then work to disrupt the familiar patterns there first.

Decoherence does not have to be violent, or crazy. It just has to be different. Different enough to cause the current waveform to break apart and dissolve, so that it may rise up in a different frequency.

How can you cause decoherence? By changing at least one thing. Let's say that you would like to lose some weight. If you drink Coke, perhaps you'll switch to Diet Coke. If that seems too radical, maybe you switch to C2, the Coke product that's half diet and half not. If you eat four cookies at bedtime with a glass of milk, maybe you eat two. With skim milk. If you don't have an exercise program, and the thought terrifies you, march in place for one minute each night in front of the TV. When that feels good, make it two. Over time, if you stick with your changes and do not add other behaviors that negate the changes you've made, your current health wave will begin to decohere, and the possibility of a new health wave arises.

If you make a commitment to breaking your present in order to create a new future, you will find that new changes will occur to you almost magically, changes that you can tolerate and are willing to stick to. The more things you change, and the more radically you change them, the faster the decoherence will occur. Soon, the momentum of the new system you are creating will take over, and the change will become seemingly effortless.

Take a moment to observe the differences between the life you're living now and the future you wish to create, and then pick something to break. Smash it as hard as you can without hurting yourself. And watch the possibilities arise.

About the Author:

Kim Marcille is an expert on the science of amplifying possibility into reality and helping people and businesses apply it to create change and improve results. A renowned speaker and consultant, Kim's 25-year background in business leadership ranges from Fortune 500 experience to small business ownership. She's founder of Possibilities Amplified, Inc., and author of the forthcoming, "Amp It Up! Secrets from Science for Creating the Life of Your Dreams." For more information, visit PossibilitiesAmplified.com or e-mail Kim@possibilitiesamplified.com. You may reprint this article if you include this byline and source box.