The programmed mind is closed to opportunity - closed to change. Even when we badly want to achieve something new, our mind will work against us. We need to open our mind to change. Legend has is that the Buddha found enlightenment sitting under a tree doing nothing. Legend also has it that Isaas Newton made his most profound scientific discovery sitting under a tree doing nothing. For Newton, the apple dropped. Find your tree, sit down and wait for the penny to drop.

I cannot resist telling you today's customer service story! I had the misfortune of being caught up in the mayhem caused by the French Air Traffic Controllers' strike last week. My evening flight from London Gatwick to Geneva was cancelled. It was one of many - when I got the Gatwick all hell had broken loose.

I queued for two and a half hours to have my flight rearranged - that was OK, in fact, as you can imagine, it was entertainment or, in fact, an education. Armed with a new ticket, I had to queue separately for a boarding pass. That was OK too - they were doing their best to alleviate the misery caused by the French Public disService!

But my Customer Service Agent, Neil (real name) was not OK: "I can't check you in for a flight tomorrow" he told me. When I explained that I'd been asked to queue just for that purpose, he replied "Shut up, Sir, and let me do my job!" Turning to his supervisor, he asked if he could issue the required piece of paper: "You know you can, Neil" was the reply. "So, you're OK with that, I can go ahead with that?" he persisted.

But "Shut up Sir!" isn't the best bit - that was yet to come. Neil keyed by details into his computer, turned to me and in his best sing-song customer service voice said "Good evening Mr. Horton and welcome to EasyJet!"

Our mind and body is a finely tuned and highly efficient system. It is designed to ensure that we make the most of our surroundings - that's what evolutionary adaptation means - whilst maintaining an equilibrium in all things. The process of homeostasis ensures, for example, that our body's temperature is maintained within a very tight range. It ensures that we feel hungry and thirsty when fuel or rehydration is physically required.

But this evolutionary adaptiveness is now our achilles heel: modern human's sweet tooh derives from a time when food was scarce - we stocked up on sugary fruits while they were available - nowadays that evolutionary adaptation is one of the key causes of the modern epidemic of obesity. In the same way, our minds evolved to ensure that, by doing all our daily chores automatically, we could keep our ability to pay attention in reserve to ensure that we were alert to life-threatening danger. In the 21st century not only are there no man-eating (or woman-eating for that matter) tigers, our in-built ability to focus on danger is at the root of the modern epidemic of life-shortening stress.

Life is different now than it was 10,000 years ago but our mental software hasn't be appropriately updated. Today, our "evolved" brain gets in the way of us even doing what we've decided to do today. At a higher level, our brain is "wired" to maintain the status quo - so we miss the opportunities that stare us in the face - we only perceive what our mind is "wired" to expect. And, even when we do spot opportunity, we are "wired" to stay within our comfort zone - that's what today's video is about.

There are some people that I know who do things that normal people would characterize as "brave and courageous". These are people who - and I quote - "just know" what the right thing is to do to change their lives and the lives of those around them. This "just knowing" - often referred to as "gut instinct" is what our evolved mind does best - it's just that, normally, because of the noise in our head and the system-override that is designed to maintain the status quo, we can't hear our own gut instinct. And, in the absence of "just knowing" what the right thing is to do, we'll keep doing what feels comfortable... even if an idiot with half a brain can clearly see that it is most definitely the wrong thing to do.