I’m reading through The Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett at the moment, and today I chose Law 8: Never Fight a Bad Habit.

The chapter explores the habit loop and how our brains respond to the way we frame change.

For example, if you are a smoker who wants to give up, when you focus on “don’t smoke,” your brain activates the neural pathways associated with smoking.

When you focus on “I’m becoming healthier” you’re building new neural pathways entirely.

Bartlett references research by Tali Sharot – volunteers were given two buttons. One button earned them a dollar. The other button prevented them from losing a dollar. Even though it was the same net outcome, the volunteers who pressed the button for the reward did so much more quickly than those pressing to avoid loss.

The brain associates rewards with action. We’re wired to move toward what we want, not just away from what we don’t.

Real life brand example

This made me think of the Brand Consultancy work I did with Kirsty and Beau from We Breathe Success (formerly Believe in Your Breath)

At the time, they were looking at pivoting their business. They were moving away from the dramatic breathwork sessions where people worked through trauma, and shifting into business mentorship instead.

Different audience, different transformation, different business model entirely. And when you’re making that kind of shift, your brand positioning has to shift with it.

They had a program called Unfuck Yourself, and I told them this name wasn’t going to work for where they were heading.

Here’s why:

• It anchors people in the problem, not the solution

• “Yourself” positions the work as solo – they’re doing it alone which they weren’t

• The word “unfuck” implies something is broken and needs fixing

• It focuses the brain on what needs to be undone rather than what’s being built

• It asks potential clients to fight against something (the bad habit) before they even start

We looked at another option they were considering: We Breathe Success.

This worked so much better because:

• “We” = partnership and support, not alone

• “Breathe” = their unique mechanism, staying true to their methodology

• “Success” = the outcome and reward, what they’re moving toward together

Unfuck Yourself was the avoidance button – fight the bad habit, fix what’s broken. We Breathe Success was the reward button – build something new together.

Since making that shift – reframing the language from negative to positive, from problem to transformation – We Breathe Success has become an international multimillion dollar business.

The positioning change didn’t just make the brand clearer; it made the entire business easier to grow.

Now it’s your turn:

Look at your program names, your service offerings, the language you’re using across your brand.

Are you asking people to press the avoidance button or the reward button?

Are your words anchored in what they’re moving away from, or what they’re moving toward?

This is how building your brand makes business feel easier – when your positioning activates the part of your audience’s brain that says “yes, that’s where I’m going” instead of “here’s what I need to fix first,” you remove the invisible resistance before they even engage with you.

P.S. If you’re ready to work through your brand strategy (including those program names that might be working against you), I have payment plan options available for the Emmersyn Brand Retreat. DM me on LinkedIn and we’ll find a time to chat.

Speak soon