The Faces of Motivation And Your Personal Success – Part I

Personal Develpoment, Personal Performance No Responses »

May 312011

I’m currently reading a home-study course/book on Positive Motivation by Kennon Sheldon, PhD. What’s amazing to me is the more I research and learn about human potential, the more I know I don’t know.

Normally when we think about motivation we think about being excited about doing something or not. Well, if you want to reach your personal goals and achieve personal success on a regular basis, you’re going to have to comprehend and use all aspects of motivation.

An initial question that is applicable for the “positive psychology of motivation” is what can we do to be productive, efficient, effective and happy? Basically, what can we do be able to reach personal success and feel good about it? Our lives are filled with a never-ending variety of things to do and experience. To the greater extend we create these choices of experiences. So the question is, how can we, through our motivated behavior, create experiences that are happy, fulfilling, and productive as possible?

Over the next couple of weeks I plan on highlight the key aspects that I discovered. I hope that this will assist you in taking control of your motivation so that you can reach your peak personal potential and personal success.

There are four aspects associated with motivation – the whether, what, why, and how of motivation

The Four Questions of Motivation:

To what degree are you motivated to act, expend effort, or other resources in pursuit of a goal? Decide whether or not you are motivated.
What is it you are motivated to pursue? What is your goal or desired outcome?
Why are you pursuing this goal?
How will you achieve your goal?

Understanding the “Why” and “What” of Motivation – An Introduction to Self-Determination Theory

According to Wikipedia Self-determination theory (SDT) Self-determination theory (“SDT”) is a macro theory of human motivation and personality, concerning people’s inherent growth tendencies and their innate psychological needs. It is concerned with the motivation behind the choices that people make without any external influence and interference. SDT focuses on the degree to which an individual’s behavior is self-motivated and self-determined.

The SDT approach to motivation, pioneered by psychologists Ed Deci and Rich Ryan, is centrally about the “what” and “why” of motivation, supplying powerful concepts for understanding positive (and not-so-positive) motivation.

Two types of “positive” motivation based on SDT are intrinsic and identified motivation.

The Significance of Intrinsic Motivation

SDT is built on the concept of intrinsic motivation, that is, the want to do something just for the experience itself. Intrinsic motivation is everywhere – it is seen when people are doing a jigsaw puzzle, when they are making love, when they are trying to master the art of flower gardening, and when they are absorbed in a fascinating work project.

Intrinsic motivation is present in babies just learning about the world, and provides the impetus for much of people’s cognitive development afterwards; from the teen years through old age. When we are intrinsically motivated we are fully engaged, pushing the limits of our current abilities, and often experiencing states of “flow,” or being the “zone” where we are totally absorbed by optimal challenges (such as learning a new piano piece, mastering a new computer program, or striving for victory in a hard-fought tennis match). Intrinsic motivation is a big part of what makes life worth living!

In light of the benefits intrinsic motivation offers some questions come up.

Does it matter whether we enjoy our daily activities?
Should we care if we or our employees are happy at work?
Does it matter if we are or students thrilled by their homework?
Does it make a difference if learning to play the piano is a fun self-selected activity, or pushed on us by our parents?

The answers to all these questions are:

YES…It absolutely maters!

The Significance of Identified Motivation

You can’t lose what you never had — so maybe your intrinsic motivation wasn’t undermined in the disliked course, because you never had any in the first place!

Maybe nothing could ever induce you to enjoy opera, ballet, or watching foreign films. Even so, might you at least have come to see the topic’s importance, even if you still didn’t enjoy it? For example, the ballet you originally hated, maybe you began to see the athleticism in it and you started to find how they trained and then incorporated some of their training into your routine.

Maybe you did come to realize that there were aspects of watching ballet that were useful, and found these motivating, even if you never rose to that intrinsic level where the class was inherently fun. This subtle difference represents a whole different type of motivation.

The Dark Sides of Motivation

To keep a “balance” if there are two “positive” types of motivation there are also two “non-positive” types as well. They are external and introjected motivation.

The Problems with External and Introjected Motivation

External motivation is easy to understand: these are the activities you are forced to do, for which you see little value, and are not particularly fun (this should not be confused with external goals which will be disused later). Redundant paperwork, some required trainings at work, attending regular meetings where nothing is ever accomplished – these are just a few of these often aggravating activities that are the products of external motivation.

Introjected motivation is similar, only in this case it is you, yourself, who is doing the requiring, pushing, and guilt-tripping. You can probably call to mind activities that you thought were neither enjoyable nor very valuable, and yet felt you “ought” to do them, or “should” do them. Chances are you dragged yourself off to complete them just the same as if there had been a supervisor, military sergeant, or concerned mother looking over your shoulder. Both of these types of motivation involve some sense of unwillingness, of being controlled by forces one does not fully own and endorse. Introjected motivation is not as problematic as external motivation, because at least we have begun to internalize the motivation into our sense of self.

The Motivation Continuum

The “why” of motivation can be expressed as a continuum, ranging from the “lowest” – amotivation (helplessly going through the motions), next to external motivation (feeling one’s behavior is caused by the environment), then to introjected motivation (feeling one’s behavior is caused by a conflict inside the self) then to identified motivation (feeling one’s behavior is caused by the enthusiastic self) and fianlly to intrinsic motivation (feeling that one’s behavior is caused by the enjoyable nature of the activity itself).

Motives toward the “higher vibration” level (intrinsic) are more internalized than motives to the “lower vibration”, and tend to be more positive and beneficial for peoples’ performance and well-being. Ideally, over time, one will be able to internalize all of one’s motives, so that one feels fully self-determined in whatever one does.

In fact, several published articles show that this tends to happen automatically as we get older – we learn to “own” what we do, and learn how to avoid situations or resist influences that seem to force us to do what we cannot own. This same natural internalization process also occurs in children — studies have shown that teenagers tend to do non-fun behaviors (such as picking up their room) for more internalized reasons (“I do it so I know where my stuff is”), compared to younger children (“I do it because mother will punish me if I don’t).

In addition, there are three “extrinsic” motivations, in which a person acts not for the inherent pleasure of acting, but rather, to get some distinguishable consequence. Also, there is also a distinction between “autonomous” and “controlled” motivations, in which a person does or does not support the behavior. In addition, not all extrinsic motivations are challenging, since identified extrinsic motivation is autonomous and internalized, despite not being enjoyable.

Summary of Motivation Types

Amotivation - The state of lacking the intention to act. In this state, a person either won’t act at all, or will ‘go through the motions’, lacking any specific purpose or intention.
External Regulation – Activities are done purely to satisfy some external demand. When doing externally regulated activities, people typically feel controlled or alienated.
Introjected Regulation – Behaviors are still performed to achieve a reward or avoid a punishment, but these things are internal; for example, to avoid guilt or anxiety, or to boost the ego with pride.
Identified Regulation – This reflects a conscious valuing of a behavioral goal – they are activities people identify with, that are seen as personally important.
Integrated Regulation – An identified regulation has been fully integrated into the self. It has been brought into congruence with the other values and needs a person has.
Intrinsic Motivation – An activity is carried out purely for the inherent satisfaction of doing so.

OK…I hope you find this topic as fascinating as I do and see how the different types of motivation will affect your level of personal success.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below

7 Errors of Intrinsic-Extrinsic Motivation (psychologytoday.com)
Kristin Neff: The Motivational Power of Self-Compassion (huffingtonpost.com)

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Lost Your Motivation For Working Out? Here’s How To Get It Back!

Athletic Performance, Personal Performance, Physical Strength 2 Responses »

Jan 272011

If you’re like most people, you workout either in the early morning before work/school or late afternoon. Often this is tough enough, but if it’s cold, dark and damp outside, well that’s a whole other story. At times is seems the bed is so much more warm a cozy then normal. These conditions can challenge even the most highly motivated individual.

Motivation—I presume you understand what this implies, correct? Athletes frequently use phrases such as “drive,” “desire,” or even “going after something with intensity” to explain or even define their motivation. They think of this as a motivated behavior that will bring them closer to peak personal performance.

We frequently believe that motivation happens completely from within the person (intrinsic), that a person is born with the “desire.” It’s important understand that motivation is really a function of both the person (an individual) and the circumstance (extrinsic). Which means that, to improve your motivation, you’ll want to address both the ‘you’ part of the process, i.e., what motivates you? why do you exercise? What are you training for? and examine the situational elements as well, i.e. the gym, your coach, your training partner and yes…even the weather. Both of these factors play a major role in your motivation.

Let’s look at a few methods to “keep your fire of desire burning” during inclement whether, the off-session and generally anytime you feel someone poured water on your embers.

1 – Vision, Goals and Maps

Many times athletes and individuals will workout with consistency, but unfortunately see minimal results. They train day-in and day-out thinking their doing good, yet often they’re simply going through the motion. When this type of mindset sinks in, it’s difficult to remain inspired since they really don’t have a specific ‘destination’ in mind.

Let’s use a driving example to illustrate this point. An individual get’s in their car and wants to go somewhere, they don’t know where they want to go, so the drive aimlessly around and simply meandering about without goal or objective…and they end up nowhere in particular. Let’s now compare this with the driver, who has a specific purpose, they want to get to 611 5^th Avenue in New York City. In addition to a known destination the drive also has a map to get there. She’s focused and purposeful as she gets behind the wheel. She knows exactly where she wants to go – Saks Fifth Avenue (sorry guys) and she knows exactly how she’s going to make it happen…when she wants to arrive…and she wants to do when she gets there. This makes for a very motivated driving and shopper, right?

Similarly, the athlete who has a specific objective in mind is definitely going to be more purposeful and motivated to get the job done. Especially when he has a crystal clear reason and vision for exactly what he’s going to be doing during each and every workout session and where those sessions will eventually lead him. Coincidently, this also applies to ALL areas of a person’s life.

A motivates athlete has:

A vision – to win the competition
A series of goals – the workouts
A map – what he/she will be doing during the workouts

To keep the fire of desire burning, create a vision, identify daily training goals and the route our going to take during the workouts (what you’re specifically going to do)

2 – The Power of Reinforcement

I know a martial arts dojo which maintains an attendance chart for the younger students. For each practice session attended, the keiki athlete was given a sticker. After two weeks of practice, if they received eight stickers they were given a reward. Equivalent techniques are utilized by parents as well as teachers to encourage suitable behavior in children, the reward for “good behavior” servers as great motivation for youngsters.

So…if it works so well for others, why not consider using this motivation technique for yourself? Rewards aren’t just for kids…or is it Trix are for kids

If you’re battle with getting out of bed when it is dark, cold and damp, or believe it’s OK to miss a practice “just one day” because there’s always tomorrow how about coming up with a reward that will motivate you to get your butt out of bed, i.e. going to see your favorite movie after five quality training sessions, going out to dinner, etc.

If this doesn’t work, perhaps a swish pattern can be used to change the picture in your mind. If you’d like to try a swish pattern let me know, I definitely can change your unmotivated picture to an inspired vision for you.

When you use the reward system always be extremely specific with what has to be accomplished. Commit to paper what you must do, how frequently you must do it and push yourself…after all this is also mind training, isn’t it? Once you’ve accomplish your personal goals…or goal, reward yourself with something of value and that’s meaningful to you. Buying a pack a gum just won’t do it. In the event that you don’t achieve your personal goals, don’t say “I was close. I’ll reward myself anyway.” Use your mental strength and hold back the reward and dig deeper next time and achieve your goal for personal performance.

3 – Look Around You

How much do think about your training environment?

Most likely…not much.

Before you start training next time look around, are there elements in your environment that you can change to provide more enthusiasm? Often it’s the straightforward changes that produce major and favorable impact on your motivation. Here are a few examples to get you thinking: For those with a home gym, do the walls inspire you? How about hanging few posters or writing some powerful affirmations on the wall? Hey, this is your room, your can do what ever you like to motivate yourself. Then there’s my favorite, playing some very powerful music like AC/DC, Metallica, Rob Zombie…to name a few. You can even add some mirrors to check out your progress…er…form.

Do you train alone? Getting a training partner can bring a positive change to your motivation. After all, will you really stay in bed knowing your partner is waiting for you at the gym? If you have a training partner, let them know things they can do and say to enhance your motivation.

This is not a one-way street so make sure you ask the same of them. What about something as simple as putting together a CD with songs that will motivate and get you energized as you drive to the gym? Or even setting “partner” goals.

Write your long-term goals on a piece of paper and tape it where you will see it prior to a workout or training session—in your bathroom, on the refrigerator, in your car—to serve as a reminder of why you do what you do.

And then before your training session, take a few minuets and visualize yourself having a great workout.

It’s important to do the “little things” in order to succeed in achieving your personal goals, you’ve heard the expression before, “Inch by inch, anything’s a cinch.

If you know you have an early morning workout, go to sleep early, don’t stay up late and watch Jay Leno. Lay out your workout clothes the night before. Put the coffee pot on auto-brew so the aroma of a freshly brewed pot will entice you from the bed.

Share your goals with your coach (like me), family or friends, but only those that will support you. Ask them to hold you accountable and don’t get mad when they challenge you when you didn’t work out today…this is part of being accountable and responsible.

We’ve all experienced those days where the last thing we want to do is get out there and put in the effort to have a good training session. We’ve also experienced those positive feelings that come with completing a great workout once. And most of us have also shared moments where we have been able to do something spectacular in a training session, i.e. personal performance record, 1 rep. max, or similar. When you have those days when you feel completely jazzed after your workout…anchor it! This way when the day comes when you’re not so excited about training just fire off the anchor and bam! You’ll be back in sate.

If you need assistance in dynamic goal setting, mental training, swish patterns or understanding about setting and firing anchors, contact me, I’d be glad to help.

There are so many things you can do to enhance your motivation. It just takes mental strength, a determined mindset and bodacious personal goals. I encourage you to take control of yourself and your environment; this will give you the best chance for personal success and peak personal performance.

Fitness Coach, NLP and Personal Performance – Part II (warriormindcoach.com)
The Mindset of Confidence – Part II (warriormindcoach.com)
Mental Strength Training and Goals For Athletes (warriormindcoach.com)

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Mental Strength Training and Goals For Athletes

Athletic Performance, Mental Strength No Responses »

Nov 162010

Recently, I received an email from an athlete looking for resources to guide him in the “how” of mental strength training. He indicated that he knows a little about various mental strength skills and the importance of them, but has trouble actually performing the techniques.

I’ve heard this type of comment from a numerous coaches and athletes. It also confirms the opinion of many athletes – mental strength/mental training /sport psychology concepts are fairly easy to understand (concentration, self-confidence, goal setting, or motivation) – but they often are perceived to be difficult and tough to put into practice.

Think for a minute about a wide receiver in football who yells at himself to “C’mon…focus…before your blow this game” after dropping a critical pass in the end zone. Can this athlete, who says he “knows” about focusing and the importance of keeping his mind in the game, effectively implement a refocusing strategy in the middle of a playoff game? He knows that he should, but can he…or better yet, does he?

Ask yourself this…”Have I learned and developed my mental strength training enough for my success at [name you sport and position]), or does the above story of the wide receiver have some truth in it for me?”

One of my goals is going to address the action part of the mental strength training and less on the “knowing” part. Oh yea, did you know that the three deadliest words a person a can say, “I know that.” We’ll get into how to apply specific mental strength skills in to action so that you’ll be prepared and ready to reach your peak performance.

Let us begin this session with the skill of goal setting. Yea, yea, yea…I can hear you already…not another session on goal setting. So, let me ask you, if you’re really good at goal setting can you tell me exactly what do you want, how will you know you have it and what’s stopping you from getting it, and all the steps necessary to archive it?

Didn’t think so…and that’s OK. I’m here to help you.

You see, most athletes already set goals…kind of…so the challenge is not in setting goals. Rather, the challenge is in setting the correct goals that will influence behavior—setting effective goals. To do this, we’ll apply scientifically-derived goal setting principles. Research on goals tells us that the following factors consistently enhance the effectiveness of goal setting (1):

Goals should be specific (versus • general or “do your best” types of goals)
Goals should be moderately difficult so as to challenge
Short- and long-term goals should be set
Goals that relate to both outcome (e.g., Win, achieve a specific time) and the process of performance (“explode out of the blocks”) are important, but performance goals are controllable
Set goals in practice and competition
Goals need to be recorded and evaluated

That seems like a lot of things to think about and incorporate and there’s a simple acronym that will help in setting goals: SMARTER

S = Specific (and keep it simple and positive)

M = Measurable (it must be meaningful to you)

A = Achievable (is this something you CAN do?)

R = Realistic (is this goal really reasonable taking into account all areas of your life)

T = Time bound (when are you going achieve this goal)

E = Evaluate (document your results, are you making progress towards your goal?)

R= Revise (if you’re not making progress, or not in the time frame revise your goal or your actions in obtaining it)

The following exercise is one way of how to “do” goal setting effectively. Keep in mind that there is no best way to do this, but there probably is a best or certainly better way for you. Your job is to adapt it to your unique situation.

While you will read quickly through the following section, it is meant for you to come back to when you have time and can really put some thought into your responses.

1. Write down your season goal.

Notice the first word—WRITE. Commit this to paper to make it “real” and also enable you to honestly evaluate this and ensuing goals. Is your goal challenging yet realistic for you to accomplish with hard work and dedication? Is it positive? That is, is it’s something you want instead of something you DON’T want. If you are like most athletes, you did not hesitate in knowing your long term goal. But are your daily, weekly and monthly goals written down too? By writing down the subsequent “short” term goals and achieving them you’ll automatically achieve your long term goal.

2. Identify the primary skills and abilities you have and will need to achieve this goal.

Your long-term goal may be to win State or qualify for Nationals, but what is needed to accomplish this? Many athletes and coaches only focus on what’s missing. This tends to unconsciously emphasize that the athlete is not good enough. There will ALWAYS be room for improvement and to focus only on those areas can create doubt in the athlete.

Make list (yes another list) of all the qualities you possess in relation to your goal. Keep adding to this list and read it everyday. If you don’t think you have any ask a teammate, a coach or a fan. They’ll be able to give you a ton!

Now on to the areas of improvement…some skills and abilities you may need could include developing greater strength, increasing flexibility, improving a specific aspect of technique or enhancing our emotional control during games.

List, specifically, the things you can and need to do to develop these skills and abilities. For example, suppose you need to develop core strength if you are to achieve your goal of running a sub-11 seconds 100 meters. You will need to identify the specific core exercises and proper progressions to develop this strength. It may be helpful to solicit input from your coach as to specific skills and abilities that will lead to long-term development and success.

4. Based on this goal breakdown, identify one thing you are going to work on today to help you reach your long-term goal. Then, do the same tomorrow and the next day.

Is the goal for practice specific enough such that you (or your coach) will know if you accomplish it? While your daily goal may seem far removed from where you want to be at the end of the season, it is a necessary step to get there.

Goals, when set effectively, can provide direction, enhance training motivation, and build confidence as you see success and improvement (that may otherwise go unnoticed). OK, now it’s time for you to get to work on the “doing” of setting goals.

References

1. Weinberg, R. & Gould, D. (2007). Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

OK, let me hear from you athletes and their coaches….how do you use goals to achieve peak performance in the comments below.

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Action vs. Delay – Part II

Mental Strength Coaching, Personal Develpoment No Responses »

Sep 072010

: Image via Wikipedia

This is a follow-up to Part I of my post on Action vs. Delay

My coaching, ICA, has been such a great inspiration and source of information for this post, I’d like to thank them again!

In order to achieve a goal and personal success, we must be ready willing and able to take action. Without consistent and persistent action, the goal will not be achieved. It is for this reason that action is at the heart of my coaching practice.

Action is described in the dictionary as ?”the process of doing something in order to achieve a purpose.” Action is extremely powerful and is the catalyst used in my coaching to create change and personal empowerment. It is important for us to recognize that nothing happens without action. In order for us to achieve different results in our lives, we must DO things differently.

To create change in our lives and move forward in achieving personal success, we must take action. We can spend our entire lives dreaming, thinking, planning and preparing to accomplish our goals, but without action, those goals and dreams will never be anything more than a desire. It is true that we must first know what it is that we want to accomplish before we can move forward but in order to get from point A to point B, our success essentially comes down to acting on our knowledge and plans and taking the steps necessary to move forward. By taking action, we create the movement that is necessary to make things happen.

If we look at action as an accelerating force that moves or pulls us forward, we can also look at delay as an accelerating force that pulls us back and keeps us stuck. Delay works in opposition to action. There are many factors that feed each of these forces. A Native American story illustrates this concept:

A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles to a friend.

“Inside every man there are two wolves.

The Bad wolf is mean and angry.

The Good wolf is good and kind.

The Bad wolf fights the Good wolf all day.”

When asked by the friend which wolf wins, the elder reflected for a moment and replied,

“The one we feed the most.”

Just as in this story the Bad wolf fights the Good wolf; delay opposes or “fights” action. The better we can manage the decelerating force of delay, the more acceleration and momentum we will experience in moving forward.

Self Application

Sometimes we feel that being in action all the time is too exhausting, even not possible. How many times have you heard someone say that they can‘t be in action all the time, that it is just not natural?

We may convince ourselves that being in action is not always possible. Let‘s look at what being in action looks like. Being in action doesn‘t only mean running marathons, climbing mountains, acquiring businesses, finding a partner, We can sometimes feel that action is huge and therefore must be about physical movement and that movement must be huge or we are just not successful or moving forward. This is not the case.

A small thought can create a huge shift which in turn can change our whole life. This is action. Reading, thinking, meditating, reflecting, writing, talking, coaching, walking, mentoring- all of these steps create movement and movement is action. Sure we can talk and talk and not move forward, but with a good coach this is not possible. All of these steps require us to want and to be open to moving forward. They all then become forward movements. This is action.

However we often confuse action with the achievement of a goal or the outcome of a goal. The huge achievements above, marathons, etc are not an action step. They are a total of action steps. You don‘t win a marathon by waking up and going to the track and winning. It has planning, training and great thought put into it. When we are not in action we often think of these goal outcomes as the next step, so we don‘t get started. The end result is not the action that needs to occur right now. We have that end result as a guide, a vision, a dream, a goal, not an action step. Imagine the role of parenting for a moment to see the role of action.

A new baby is born. The first thing the parent wants is the child to be healthy not to be able to walk and talk instantly. Over several years the progress of a child is celebrated, every action is recorded- a little smile, a grin, the first mouthful of food, and so on. Until after many years the child is walking and talking. Yet as adults we may expect to achieve years of action steps in the next ten minutes. We live in times of immediacy. We want success now. What ever happened to the training we had as children, to celebrate each step and to be present and enjoy the moment. Action is the process, the goal is the outcome. By entering the process, you are in action. The process is fundamental to the achievement of the goal. It is the path to growth, learning, self esteem and confidence. It is action.

Delay is being afraid, worrying, getting stressed, feeling tense, uncertain. Action is certainty.

So what causes delay?

If we know that action creates the results that we desire, why do we delay things?

People get stuck when their fear, limiting beliefs, commitments, judgments or Underlying Beliefs (UBs) are greater than their motivation to move forward in action.

Fear- It is fear that steps in the way and prevents us from moving forward. This fear may stem from many causes. Some of us fear failure. We may fear making mistakes. Others may fear success or change. The way fear impacts us is that it literally freezes us. It turns us into a hard frozen block, giving us no flexibility or flowing movement. If you take this analogy even further fear makes us cold, rigid and static. We dare not alter the temperature or the environment as it could cause a meltdown. But we must move forward and the only way to do this is that we have to change. We must open ourselves to moving forward. We must recognize that the fear is greater than the change. We must make a shift. We must take one step forward….this will create personal empowerment.

Limiting beliefs/ Judgments- It can be our own limiting beliefs or judgments that hold us back from being in action. For example – we may believe that we don‘t deserve to achieve a particular goal; we may believe that we are not smart enough; we may judge the financial gain that comes with success as “bad‘; we may have a belief in futility, so we take the attitude of why bother, it won‘t work. We may believe that we will never amount to much and accept this belief. To move forward we first need to understand what our beliefs are. How do they impact the way we think and believe?

Commitment – If we are not committed to taking action then we just don‘t. You know that familiar story of “Tomorrow I am going to join the gym.” Yet it never happens. If we are not committed to joining the gym then we won‘t achieve the first action step to doing it. Tomorrow comes; we wake up and convince ourselves of all the reasons why we shouldn‘t go to the gym. Perhaps for some reason we have come to believe that the goal of going to the gym should be our goal. We see others achieving it, we know it is good for us, but it just isn‘t happening. We are not committed to this action. Instead of beating ourselves up over not achieving going to the gym we should look at what is the action that we want to take to move forward.

UBs or behavioral patterns- Whether we are aware of it or not, a certain pattern of behavior that is so automatic to ourselves may be hindering us from taking action. This behavior is so much a part of us that we don‘t and may not be able to see it. For example, an underlying beliefs might be to be unsuccessful; to feel safe; to not become responsible or “blamed” for something; or to avoid “failing” at something from the very start therefore taking no action. Just writing down some of our behavior patterns around achieving action can move us forward. Another list could contain all the behaviors we take when we delay.

Next week I’ll finish up with action vs. delay.

My e-book, “Develop the Mental Strength of a Warrior” can assist you tremendously in moving from delay to action. If you’d like to experience Coaching for Success request your Introductory Consultation.

Please let me know your thoughts so far on this series on the comments below.

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NLP Training Day 4

Unconscious Mind No Responses »

Jun 302010

: Image via Wikipedia

Each day gets better and better…there are so many amazing shifts and breakthroughs with everyone!

On Day 4 of our NLP Training we continued with anchors and utilized chaining anchors.

Chaining anchors can be used to bring yourself from a negative state that you usually feel to a positive one. For example you procrastinate and want to experience motivation. By chaining anchors, you can chain the state of motivation, so that the next time you begin to procrastinate, you’ll instead be motivated and get things accomplished.

You can see the power in this can’t you?

In chaining anchors, you use intermediate states to get to the target state. That is, you would use procrastination as your initial, then for the second anchor you might use boredom. Then for the third anchor you’d use a more empowering state like passion. Then the final (or desired) state, motivation would be used.

Once you have all the anchors set you sequencly fire each one off. I’m not going to go in the specific process here and wouldn’t you like to be motivated all the time?

Image how much you could get accomplished!

In the afternoon we moved on to Strategies.

This was so cool!

You see everybody has their own unique unconscious strategy (way of doing something). These processes range from how we buy something to how we fall in love.

The great thing about Strategies is that if there is an element missing in your strategy you may not be getting your desired results, i.e. buying too much, not finding the right person, or even not learning as effectively as you’d like.

Once you know your Strategy you can modify it to get the results you want.

To help understand Strategies better here’s a brief explanation.

STRATEGY: A sequence of thought processes to obtain an outcome; What someone does to obtain a desired outcome using the distinctions of a Model, is a strategy. The strategy is not part of the model; it is a strategy for using the model. A strategy may not work as well for some people as it does for others. This is the reason why often there are many different strategies for using the same model and therefore many different techniques that get equivalent results.

When you want to model excellence from someone else, using their strategy is very helpful and important.

There are two ways to elicit a person strategy….oh by the way; you can’t elicit your own strategy….the process moves too fast. You have to have someone else do it for you.

The first way is asking by questions that pertain to the strategy, i.e. buying, and watching the person eye movements. The eye movement will give a rough map of how that person makes their buying decisions.

If you’re in sales…can you see how helpful this technique would be?

NLP is a “do with” process and not a “do to”, so this is a tool to assist with change. The important thing to remember is that the individual is 100% responsible for their own results. Just like any tool, i.e. a hammer, screwdriver, etc the tool is at the mercy of the person using it. The same goes for NLP….there is no red pill to instantly fix yourself and give yourself personal empowerment and increase your personal performance, but NLP comes the closest.

If you’d like to find more about NLP please visit http://nlp.com/

Also, I’d like to hear from you about your experience with NLP or your thoughts on this post in the comments below.

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What Is Genius?

Personal Success 2 Responses »

Jun 182010

Every time I read a something from Napoleon Hill I am still amazed at how true and strong the teachings are especially in today’s environment.

In the below excerpt Dr. Hill discuss the attributes of a genius…I think you’ll be surprised that IQ is never mentioned!

At the end of the passage I have provide some additional comments…enjoy the reading.

What Constitutes Genius?

by Dr. Napoleon Hill

“Any dominating desire, plan or purpose which is backed by faith is taken over by the subconscious mind and acted upon immediately.

The mind, stimulated by dominating desire, draws power directly from the subconscious, and, when reinforced by the power of faith, is able to create a conviction of such force that it completely rejects the idea of a possibility of failure. This constitutes genius. And genius is that which may be developed by any person in possession of his or her normal mental faculties.

A good many people have the mistaken idea that there are certain types of people in this world who can be called geniuses. The ingredients which make up genius have been discovered in the last forty years and it is now known that those persons often alluded to as possessing a rare genius actually do not have any powers which you do not possess. They are invariably persons who are consciously and subconsciously following certain basic principles which are responsible for their apparently abnormal power. The following are the basic ingredients of genius, as determined from an extensive analysis of the lives of outstanding men of this nation.

The first ingredient is the subject of this entire lesson – definiteness of purpose. A genius knows what he wants from life. Today’s geniuses are busy at the moment, moving directly, with little waste motion, toward accomplishing their objectives.

The second factor is applied faith. Not just a general faith, but applied faith, faith that is concentrated upon the attainment of the definite purpose. Definiteness of purpose is the foundation upon which all faith is based.

The third factor is something that is contagious; it is called enthusiasm, and you should catch some of this. Enthusiasm is the expression of a certain dynamic vitality in the way you walk, talk, and act. It is the result of your motivation and your physical magnetism and energy. It is the light in your eye, the vibrant timber of your voice, the vigor of your handshake. It is the element which can really build a fire under your desire and make it literally a burning desire. It is a quality which must be controlled and turned on and off at the right time.

The fourth ingredient is imagination, the activity of the mind that makes possible the creation of new ideas. Without imagination nothing new would ever be created. It, too, must be controlled and directed. It is usually most productive when activated by a specific aim or issue.

The fifth factor is motive. You are familiar with the ten basic motives previously discussed. No sane person does anything without a motive; there has to be a reason back of every act.

The sixth factor is personal initiative, backed by intense action. You will never be a genius unless you get into the habit of doing what should be done without waiting for someone to tell you to do it. Personal initiative is the self-starter and it must be kept in perfect shape for instant use. Another way of defining personal initiative might be: The ability to see things as they are and to do things as they should be done.

The seventh factor is the habit of going the extra mile. You will never be a genius unless you make it a habit to do more and better than you are paid to do, every single day of your life.

The eighth factor is forming a master mind alliance with other people. The number in the alliance depends on what you want to accomplish. For your goal in life you may not require more than a dozen or a half-dozen – maybe only one; but if you are going to be a genius you will have to learn to use other people’s brain power.

The ninth factor and last is perhaps the most important of all. You may have guessed it. It is a positive mental attitude. You certainly will ever rank as a genius until you can positivize your mind and keep it that way at will. Without a positive mental attitude, none of the other ingredients of genius will be available to you.” – Source: PMA Science of Success Course: pgs. 29 & 30.

I’d like to highlight a few points that I found extremely powerful.

“…create a conviction of such force that it completely rejects the idea of a possibility of failure.”

Did you get this? Rejects the idea of a possibility of failure! How often have you or heard someone say “if it works out, great, if not, no big deal”…guess what happens? It usually doesn’t work out.

When we take on the attitude of no failure and we will never stop until we achieve our goal there comes a clam understanding that removes any stress around the goal. That’s not to say there won’t be obstacles and set-backs, sure there’s going to be some. And when we have the perspective of ‘are no failures, only feedback,’ we activate our personal empowerment to continue until we are successful.

“A genius knows what he wants from life. “

Most people know what they DON’T, but have no idea what they DO want. When we absolutely know what we want we’re able to articulate the goal. We know how it will feel, smell, taste and look like when we get it, and the exact date.

If we set goals as “it would be nice to have”, then we are acknowledging, at the unconscious level that is OK if we don’t get. In order to increase our personal performance we must know exactly what we want.

“Enthusiasm is the expression of a certain dynamic vitality in the way you walk, talk, and act.”

This can also be thought of ‘act as if’ and the real power in this instruction is “talk.” Sure it’s easy for us to strut around as if we have achieved our goal or have the capacity TO achieve our goal. But it’s another thing to talk as if. We often fear that we’ll be perceived as phony or even a liar. The key is talk (and believe) as if you have ALL the resources available and this is where the enthusiasm comes from.

“…personal initiative, backed by intense action. “

I LOVE this one…’intense action.’ Not, weak action…not I’ll see what happens action, but INTENSE action. When we take intense action towards our goal, we obviously must know what we want and this action also unlocks the enthusiasm and rejects the possibility of failure. Intense action ignites our personal empowerment so that we can significantly increase our personal performance.

Intense thoughts and action leads to intense results….weak thoughts and action lead to weak results.

Which would you rather have?

In the book “How to Develop the Mental Strength of a Warrior” you’ll find out exactly how to develop strong and powerful thoughts so that you can take strong and powerful action and get the results you want!

Please let me know your thoughts on this post in the comments below.

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Sticking vs. Quitting

Mental Strength Coaching 1 Response »

May 142010

: Cover via Amazon

Here we are, well into May…4 months since the New Year, and how many of you have dropped or given up on your goals?

That is, if you had the courage to set them.

Most people don’t have to guts the set goals because they know deep inside they won’t achieve them. So instead of looking at the cause of this…the reason why, they simply don’t step up to the plate and make any goals.

Goal setting has become so overused this days that to takes a certain amount of nerve TO set goals.

This post is about those brave souls that have set goals and have not stuck with them. To help them become aware of importance and priority of a goal and the mental resistance that will be encountered in obtaining it. Quit the unimportant stuff…stick with the important stuff…know the difference and have the guts to do one or the other.

I’d set the foundation with some definitions:

Sticking: The conscious awareness of the mental resistance as one enters the “quitting zone.” Then using mental strength, moves through this resistance towards a self prioritized SMART goal and achieves it.

Quitting: The unconscious reaction to mental resistance as one moves towards their goal and hits the “quitting zone” and gives up.

There’s an old saying ‘winners don’t quit, and quitters don’t win.’

Every new goal starts out exciting and fun. Then as time progress it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point where it gets really hard and the excitement and fun is gone.

When the fun and excitement are gone people will then get easily distracted, procrastinating and asking if the goal is even worth the hassle. They are most likely in the “quitting zone” or as Seth Godin describe it as “The Dip.” The Dip is a temporary setback that will get better if you keep pushing. Or it also could be a dead end, which will never get better, no matter how hard you try.

Achieving goals often requires a person to quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons. In fact, successful goal achievers seek out the Dip. They realize that the bigger the barrier, the bigger the reward for getting past it.

Those that don’t achieve their goals on the other hand, fall into two basic traps. They fail to stick out the Dip, they get to the moment of truth and then give up, or they never even find the right Dip for the right reason to conquer.

This model will assist people in achieving their goals and sharpen their ability to determine if the goal is “the right goal” and to recognize and escapes dead ends quickly. Using this method will also let the client stay focused and motivated when it really counts.

Applying the Model:

There are a few key factors when using the model.

Determine the importance or priority of the goal. If the goal feels like to it ‘would be nice’ to obtain, the probability of success if minimal. However if the goal has a burning desire behind it, then success is more likely. The key again here is to discern the difference between the two.
Decide under what circumstance you are willing to quite, write is down, then stick to it. If there is no intention on reaching the goal, quite before you begin. Remember, quitting is not the same as failing, and there is no failure, only feedback.

Seven excuses for quitting

Run out of time
Run out of money
Get scared
Not serious
Lose interest or enthusiasm
Focus on short term instead of long term and quite when the short term gets too hard
Pick the wrong goal

Three questions to ask before quitting

Am I panicking?
Who am I trying to impress?
What sort of measurable progress am I making?

Once the goal priority is established and you are determined to see it through, expect and look forward to the Dip. This is where mental strength and coaching are essential. As you dance more and more in the Dip and breakthrough the other side, your confidence will develop. So, the more you succeed the more you grow, the more you grow the bigger the Dip you can handle and the more “success” you will achieve.

Tools:

To help resolve if the selected goal has enough “juice” two tools can be used. The first is simply a question:

Tool #1: “Why put your energy into this goal and not something else?”

After asking the question…listen. Listen to the tone, tempo, energy, etc of the response, and then follow-up as required.

The other tool is a comparison chart:

Tool #2:

Goal Priority Assessment Matrix

Step 1. Fill in your top 5 Goals – No need to prioritize them

Goal #1 ______________________________

Goal #2 ______________________________

Goal #3 ______________________________

Goal #4 ______________________________

Goal #5 ______________________________

Step 2. Using the numbers from the list above, compare each goal to every other goal. In each line in the columns below circle the number of the goal that is more important to you at this time.

A vs. B

1 2

1 3

1 4

1 5

2 3

2 4

2 5

3 4

3 5

4 5

Step 3. Now count the number of times each number is circled and enter that number beside the Goal below.

Goal #1 ______________________________

Goal #2 ______________________________

Goal #3 ______________________________

Goal #4 ______________________________

Goal #5 ______________________________

Step 4. Now re-list your Goals in order of priority based on the number of circles. If any of your Goals have the same number of circles, go back to the grid above and find the box where you compared them. The number you circled in that box is the higher ranking Goal.

Goal #1 ______________________________

Goal #2 ______________________________

Goal #3 ______________________________

Goal #4 ______________________________

Goal #5 ______________________________

Step 5. Now list just the top three Goals.

Goal #1 ______________________________

Goal #2 ______________________________

Goal #3 ______________________________

Step 6. Do an intuitive body/mind/spirit check in. Do the Goals listed feel right? How do you feel when you claim these three Goals? Your intuition is your final test. If it feels right, go with it. On the back of this sheet write your top three Core Personal Goals in big bold letters.

My Top Three Personal Goals Are:

1. _______________________________

2. _______________________________

3. _______________________________

Additional Questions: