Why Knowing What to Do Isn't Enough

Why Knowing What to Do Isn't Enough: Unconscious beliefs can override intentions when people feel threatened, rejected, unsafe, or conflict-averse.

Most people know what they should do. They know they should set boundaries. They know they should say no. They know they shouldn't take everything on themselves. They know they need to communicate differently.

So why is it still so difficult to change?

This is the question Alfina has become particularly passionate about exploring through her latest work. She believes that the gap between knowing and doing is often driven by unconscious programming - deeply learned beliefs that can take over in the moments when we feel threatened, rejected, unsafe or afraid of conflict.

For Alfina, this isn't theoretical. Her own experience of overgiving and losing herself in the process forced her to understand what was happening beneath her conscious intentions. Her work now focuses on helping people recognise and neutralise the emotional charge around those unconscious beliefs, before developing new strategies for communication and behaviour.

This builds naturally on the philosophy behind Love Deliberately: that relationships are something we can become more conscious and skilled at, rather than simply something that happens to us. Alfina brings more than 20 years of professional experience as a kinesiologist, coach, educator and facilitator, alongside the lived experience of having to confront these patterns herself.

She can explore why intelligent, successful people can repeatedly behave against their own better judgement - and what becomes possible when the unconscious pattern stops taking the driver's seat.

About Alfina Lofaro

Alfina Lofaro, podcast guest

Kinesiologist, Coach & Author of Love Deliberately

20+ years Experience in education, coaching & kinesiology2 Amazon bestselling books2 Awards & grants won in 2026BA (Honours) Australian Catholic University, 2002

Alfina Lofaro is an author, speaker, kinesiologist, coach and leadership facilitator who helps people understand the unconscious patterns shaping the way they love, communicate and show up in their relationships.

Growing up on a 300-acre farm in rural Queensland as the daughter of Italian migrants, Alfina learned early that belonging could feel conditional - and that being good, helpful and dependable could be a way of earning love. For much of her life, she responded by doing more, giving more and becoming the person everyone could rely on.

It took years, and a painful chapter of her own life, for Alfina to recognise the cost of continually saying yes when she meant no, putting other people's needs first and giving away her time, energy and attention without realising what was driving the pattern.

That experience became a turning point.

Today, Alfina speaks to a powerful and often overlooked truth: knowing what you should do is not always enough to change what you actually do. Beneath conscious beliefs are unconscious programs that can influence how we communicate, avoid conflict, seek approval, tolerate unhealthy dynamics and repeatedly give ourselves away - sometimes one small yes at a time.

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