Archive for the ‘Motivation’ Category

«
»

Think Big in 2012: The Power of New Year’s Resolutions

January 1st, 2012 by Jane

Today, at the start of 2012, many of us will take on adopting healthier habits, but in the next breath, or by tomorrow, or the next week, we will have given up and gone back to our old ways.

A conversation I had with a friend last year nicely illustrates this point. We were discussing the year ahead and he said –

“This year is going to be better than last. This year I’m going to be fit and healthy. No more smoking!”

A moment later, he pulled out a cigarette, lit it up and took a puff.

Naturally, some of us have become cynical about new year’s resolutions. “They don’t work” and “Don’t waste your time with them” I hear my friends and family say.

But research findings indicate that we may have underestimated the power of new year’s resolutions. A longitudinal study by Norcross, Ratzin and Payne tracked over 200 people and the progress of their new year’s resolutions. They asked themselves the research question “How long would these people last in sticking to their new years resolutions?”

The results were impressive. Over 77% of participants had kept their main resolutions after 1 week, 55% after 1 month and 40% after 6 months.

This study also looked at the factors and strategies people used to stick to their new year’s resolutions and examined the effectiveness of each.

There appeared to be two main factors that predicted people’s success when it came to sticking to their goals. Firstly, people had to be ready to change and take action. Simply having a strong desire to change wasn’t enough. Secondly, they had to believe that they could. Having confidence in their ability to change their behaviour was key.

We can also look to people who have successfully overcome powerful addictions (e.g. alcoholism and smoking) for insights into how to break bad habits and develop healthier ones.

The researcher Glasgow and his team followed over 100 people who were trying to quit smoking. Those that managed to do so, used more positive self-talk than those that failed to quit.

For example, instead of saying positie statements such as “I’ll feel great and be able to breathe more easily”, they’d say “I’ll be a loser if I can’t quit the smokes”. Positive self talk appears to make a huge difference.

“Stimulus control” and “reinforcement management” are other psychobabble terms that are used to explain strategies that can help you to change your behaviour. According to behavioural psychologists, the surrounding environment shapes human behaviour.

In other words, if you have an endless supply of chocolates and lollies in your pantry, then most likely you’re going to eat them and may even develop a sugar addiction. Similarly, if your friends and family always offer you cake and chocolate and even praise you for eating these foods (i.e. reinforcement), then it’s highly likely you’re going to develop some bad habits.

The idea behind stimulus control is really quite simple. Look around and ask yourself “What is triggering me to eat chocolate?” (i.e. what’s the stimulus or trigger of the undesirable behaviour?) It may be the sight of the chocolate on your desk. So then what? Get rid of the chocolate. Throw it in the bin and don’t buy any more. Too easy.

But what about that big Aunt who always force feeds you her chocolates as a way of expressing her love, and gives you boxes of the stuff for Christmas? Well, according to behavioural psychology you need to manage the stimulus and reinforcer, which means Bye Bye Aunty. Stop seeing her.

But if you’re like me and you know you just couldn’t do that, this is where the power of impis come in.

Impis (short for implementation intentions) take the form of “If…then…” statements and allow you to make a desired behaviour automatic. For example, I could set myself the impi of –

If my aunt offers me chocolates, then I will politely say “No thanks”.

The beauty of impis is that they are pre-decisions. This means you have made the decision before the situation arises, so the next time you see your aunt you immediately know what you’ll say and do. “No thanks”.

Here’s the thing, I don’t smoke. I don’t drink alcohol. In fact, I’m pretty fit and healthy but I’m not going to pretend that my life is perfect because it isn’t.

Like most people, I want 2012 to be better than previous years. There’s room for improvement. I know that I spend more time than I would like on the internet. So I’m resolving to cut back on my internet use. No internet before 10:30am. Checking emails only twice a day.

In a nutshell, the research is clear – new year’s resolutions can and do work. Now is as good a time as any to establish some healthier habits for a happier year. So what are you setting out to create for the new year? Let me know by posting a comment below.

permalink | trackback

Posted by Jane Tags: , , ,
Posted in Goal setting, Lifestyle, Motivation | 5 Comments »


How Focusing on Results Limits Success

September 25th, 2011 by Jane

“Early education makes us mindless” states social psychologist Ellen Langer.

In her book “Mindfulness” Langer argues that from a young age we are taught to focus on goals rather than the process by which they are achieved.

With such an intense focus on achieving goals and high results you may have become locked in a certain way of thinking. “Mindless” is how Langer describes this state.

Instead of asking “How do I do this?” or “How can I do this?” you find yourself anxiously thinking “Can I do this?” and “What if I fail?”. The joy of learning ceases to exist.

It can be tough being a student in a highly competitive, results oriented school system. As Author and Educator Allison Zmuda states -

“In their efforts to do well in school, students have largely become low level bureaucrats who complete the requisite paperwork but suffer from the monotony of the experience”.

Sadly, this was the case for me. In high school I was a rote learning parrot. Bored out of my brain but extremely driven.

Did I care about whether I had a deep understanding of my subjects? No, not at all. All I wanted were gold stars, high percentages and the letter A on my work.

Then almost overnight everything changed.

I got 1 out of 20 on my first test at Law school.

That’s right. 1 out of 20. And boy, did that hurt.

High school had trained me to become a masterful rote learner, capable of churning out hundreds of abstract, sterile facts. But this skill no longer served me well in a system that required you to have a deep understanding of complex ideas.

In my heartbreak of receiving such a lousy mark, I remember asking myself –

“What is the point of going through another 5 years of study if it’s only for a piece of paper? Is there any point if I don’t enjoy myself and grow as a person?”

At that point I let go of my obsession with results. I became fascinated by the process of learning (eg. How does one learn information at a deep level?). For the first time in my life I started to enjoy learning. I mean really enjoy learning. Some subjects gave me such joy and changed my entire outlook on life.

10 years later, I am now doing my PhD. My uncle would call me a “professional student” but I don’t see it that way. I love learning.

I spend my days exploring original ideas that fascinate me. It’s common for me to stumble across an idea that makes me want to scream out with joy. I only wish it hadn’t taken me so long to arrive at this point.

When you shift your focus from results to the process, not only do you experience greater happiness and fulfilment, but you stop comparing yourself to others. I’m sure you’ve had the experience where you compared yourself to another person and subsequently, felt jealous.

Langer argues that often when we feel jealous of another’s accomplishments it’s because we focus on the end result (not the process the person has gone through).

When I first started my PhD I would compare myself to a 70 year old accomplished professor. I found myself thinking “He is so smart”, “Look at these articles he has written…I can’t write like this” and “His ideas are so deep…I’m so simple”.

Here I was embarking on the beginning of my research career comparing myself to a professor who had been developing and thinking about ideas for over 50 years!

This is indeed a trap that many postgraduate students fall into. Langer states –

“They begin their dissertations with inordinate anxiety because they have seen other peoples completed and polished work and mistakenly compare it to their own first tentative steps.

With their noses deep in file cards and half-baked hypotheses, they look in awe at Dr So-and-Sos published book as if it had been born without effort or false starts, directly from brain to printed page.

By investigating how someone got somewhere, we are more likely to see the achievement as hard won and our own chances as more plausible”.

In my experience, learning can be a tremendous source of fulfilment and joy. But to experience this takes valuing the process over the end result and not comparing yourself to others.

The paradox is that when you immerse yourself in the process, you will most likely get a better result and experience far more rewards along the way.

permalink | trackback

Posted by Jane Tags: , , ,
Posted in Goal setting, Lifestyle, Motivation | 1 Comment »


A Step by Step Approach to Getting Unstuck

July 30th, 2011 by Jane

“In the groan zone” is how a friend once described the experience of feeling stuck.

We’ve all been stuck in the groan zone before and let’s face it, it’s an uncomfortable place to be. The good news is it doesn’t take much to get out of it.

The antidote to being stuck is action. Simple action steps.

I saw this clearly with my friend recently. My friend Brian has just completed his doctorate in ecology. For months he had been telling me –

“I need to do the corrections on my paper. Today I’ll do it….”

But every weekend, Brian found himself lifting weights, chopping wood in the garden or helping his dad build a fence. Meanwhile, the paper sat there. Listless.

I decided to confront Brian about his procrastination. Our conversation (the abridged version) went something like this -

Me: What’s going on? You keep avoiding doing these paper corrections

Brian: (Sheepish look on face) I know…I just don’t want to do it!

Brain was clearly stuck. So I then tried reverse psychology on him.

Me: Well, don’t do the paper then. Who cares about it anyway!

Brian: (In shock) No! I have to do the paper. It would be a complete waste if I don’t finish it!

(Brian then walked off to stoke fire and have a cup of tea)

Then last weekend (months after first declaring he had to finish this paper), Brian sat down at his computer and completed the corrections in less than an hour. He said to me –

“That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. As I started reading over my work, I realised my writing was pretty good and there wasn’t much to do”

Isn’t that always the case? Most of the time when we are stuck how we imagine something is going to be is usually far more painful than it actually turns out.

All it took for Brian to get those corrections done was to sit down at his desk, turn on his laptop, pick up his draft paper, read the first sentence, then the next sentence….

And that’s all that’s required to get out of the groan zone – being willing to take the next action step.

In the book “How to Get Things Done”, organisation expert David Allen argues that we often get stuck by failing to clarify the next action step on our projects. He explains -

“The next action step is the next physical, visible activity that needs to be engaged in, in order to move the current reality [project] toward completion. Some examples of next actions might be: Call Fred re tel. # for the garage he recommended, draft thoughts for the budget-meeting agenda, talk to Angela about filing system we need to set up…”

So taking the next step, however small it might be, is just what you might need to do to get unstuck and get moving in the areas that are most important to you.

permalink | trackback

Posted by Jane Tags: , , ,
Posted in Motivation | 1 Comment »


How to get out of bed ninja style

July 8th, 2011 by Jane

It’s 6:30am. Your alarm goes off. You know it’s time to get up but your brain and body tell you ‘NOOooo’.

The rational part of your mind says “I should really get up now” whilst the other says “But I’m so warm and cosy! Just 5 more minutes in bed can’t hurt”. So the battle between these thoughts begins. Before you know it 5 minutes in bed turns into 30 minutes.

Most of us are familiar with this scenario. But what if getting out of bed early on a cold morning wasn’t such a struggle?

Below are some ideas on how you can develop the art of getting out of bed ninja style so you get the most out of your day and feel more in control.

1. Aim for a smooth transition out of bed

It’s the first minute or so when we get out of bed that we fear the most and is arguably the most painful.

The good news is it doesn’t have to be this way. Minutes of painful cold air can be reduced to mere seconds with the right equipment and tools nearby. I personally recommend the following –

Slippers/socks next to the bed: A wise woman once gave a friend a pair of socks as a present. As he unwrapped the gift she said –

“If your feet feel good, the rest of your body feels good”.

She went on to argue the benefits of good cotton socks. I was sold.

Avoid cold feet at all costs. Invest in a pair of good quality warm socks and/or slippers. It will be money well spent.

A robe: A warm, soft robe will also help to soften the blow of the cold air as you prepare yourself for the day.

A wheat pack: For a bit of luxury and to help you warm up in the morning try a wheat pack. These are easy and cheap to make (check out How to make a microwave heat bag). They also work a treat if placed on your lap when working at your desk or eating breakfast.

My dad (a very resourceful man) recently made a wheat pack out of a pair of old non stretch denim jeans and 1.5kg of wheat. I call dad’s creation “The Eternal Wheat Pack”. You heat it in the microwave for 4 minutes and no joke, it provides hours of warmth!

If you go for early morning walks and can’t stand cold fingers, try making some mini wheat packs - microwavable mitten warmers. Must ask dad to make me some of these!

2. Have something in your environment that pulls you out of bed

Would the smell of fresh coffee get you out of bed? Or perhaps an irritating alarm clock that you can’t quite reach? Set up things in your environment that will propel (or force) you out of bed.

3. Practice saying positive affirmations

When we first wake up most of us automatically think “I don’t want to get out of bed!” but you can train yourself to override these thoughts with positive affirmations.

Positive affirmations are statements that become filters for us and if repeated enough times can guide our behaviour.

At Runaddicts.net blogger Johnny Palmer suggests that early morning runners say to themselves affirmations such as “I love knowing that while I am up and about exercising early in the morning, I am beating 99% of the world to the best possible start to the day” and “Being an early riser and sweating my butt off before I even start my day is how I roll”.

You may want to just say “I enjoy getting up early and making the most of my day”. It works best when we phrase our affirmations in the first person, present tense and as if already done. It also helps to repeat them first thing in the morning when we are a bit sleepy and before we go to bed so they become part of our unconscious mind.

4. Get excited about something

When I’m really excited about my work I leap out of bed. I can even find myself waking up at 3am thinking, “Is it still that early? Hurry up and get to a suitable hour so I can get into the day!” The fact it’s cold and dark outside doesn’t even enter my mind.

But when I hate the work I’m doing, it’s a different story. Instead of being like a ninja getting out of bed, I’m more like a sumo wrestler. Slow and heavy.

Before you go to sleep, try to think of something that you’re looking forward to doing the next day. You may want to write this down.

If nothing comes to mind, it may be time to shake things up a bit, step out of your comfort zone and introduce something new into your life. Whenever I start to lose my excitement and enthusiasm for life, I sign myself up to a course (dance, cooking, meditation, etc) or set myself some kind of challenge (to cook a new healthy meal each night, write my next book by the end of the month, etc). New experiences can provide you with insights and introduce you to mind expanding ideas and people.

5. Jump out of bed

We can spend a lot of time in bed thinking “Do I get up now…or give myself another 5 minutes….I really should get up…” and on and on this goes. Stop doing this (it’s pointless).

Software developer David Cheong suggests –

“One trick I’ve found to be very effective in being an early riser and to stop myself from rationalising is to simply jump out of bed instantly. Once I am outside the comforts of the warm and cosy bed, I’m more likely to actually wake up and stay up.”

In Summary

The more you practice getting up ninja style the easier it will get. Why? Because it has positively reinforcing effects. When you get up earlier than you usually would, you’re more likely to take action on the areas that are important to you. Subsequently, it doesn’t take long before you start to see results and feel great about yourself and your life.

permalink | trackback

Posted by Jane Tags: , ,
Posted in Lifestyle, Motivation | 1 Comment »


Getting Back on the Bandwagon with the Tim Tam Philosophy

June 18th, 2011 by Jane

How do you get back on the bandwagon once you’ve fallen off? What do you do when you hit some speed bumps and all the progress you were making in a certain area slows down or grinds to a sudden halt?

Whether it is your exercise routine, diet or a certain project, it can be disheartening to feel like you’ve taken 5 steps forward and then 3 steps back.

You see I recently got sick (sore throat, heavy head and runny nose). This meant no lifting weights, running, dancing or cycling for 2 weeks. Nothing.

Up until then I had been a “gym junkie” (my brother’s words, not mine) – exercising 5 to 6 times a week on average to increase my fitness and endorphin levels.

So as you can imagine, 2 weeks off hurt!

In my lethargic state I thought -

“I’ve lost it…all that hard work for nothing. What’s the point? It will take me months to get back to where I was before”.

But then I learnt about “The Tim Tam Philosophy” which entirely changed my way of thinking about the situation.

In the book “Turbocharge your writing”, Hugh Kearns and Maria Gardiner discuss the Tim Tam Philosophy to illustrate what happens to humans when they are on a roll and then they lose their momentum. They state -

“If we use the example of healthy eating – let’s say you decide that you are going to eat healthily now and cut out junk food. And you are going along just fine, then at afternoon tea they have an open packet of Tim Tams on the table. And you think “Oh well, I’ve been going so well, I’ll just have that broken half sitting on the plate”.

But of course once you’ve had that, you have to have another one. Then before you know it you’ve had six…and you think “It’s all ruined now. There’s no point in trying to eat well now” and you eat the rest of the packet. When in reality, even if you had eaten the whole packet you could have said “Well that was a bit of a blip – it’s back to normal now. No more Tim Tams for me”.

Just because you’ve had a little break or a minor slip up doesn’t mean all your efforts have been a waste of time. Tomorrow is a new day and you can choose to behave differently. You need to put what happened behind you (it’s in the past and there’s no point dwelling on it) and take action to move forward in the direction you want to go.

The Tim Tam Philosophy doesn’t just apply to healthy eating but can apply to any area of our lives (e.g. our studies, projects, managing our time better and exercise).

What else can you do to help you to get back on the bandwagon? Below are a few suggestions.

Go gently on yourself

Whether it is a workout at the gym or a project you have lost momentum on, go gently on yourself and ease into the activity. The last thing you want to do is dive straight into the activity in a desperate frenzy.

A couple of ways to ease gently into the task are -

1. Do something you enjoy or the most interesting part first to help lift your spirits and get you into the groove of things.

2. Work in small chunks to begin with. Set your alarm for 8 minutes and tell yourself that all you need to do is work for 8 minutes. If you find that it’s an uphill battle then give yourself permission to take a break when the alarm goes off.

Make it fun

Can you make the activity more enjoyable than it would usually be? Put on some upbeat music? Involve a friend? Go to a location that energises your spirit (a café or a cosy, clean, beautiful environment)?

The first few sessions easing back into the particular activity are often the hardest, so you want to make them as pleasant as possible.

Plan it out – schedule it into your diary

Decide on what you want to do and when you want to do it and then put it in your diary to remind yourself to take action. You may want to do this just for the day or the entire week (e.g. plan out all your meals or exercise classes).

By following the Tim Tam philosophy, I have been to the gym everyday since recovering from my cold. Whilst the workouts haven’t been easy, I’ve been having fun and I’m slowly regaining my fitness and strength.

In what areas of you life (if any) have you fallen off the bandwagon recently? Were there any strategies you used to help you get back on track?

permalink | trackback

Posted by Jane Tags: , ,
Posted in Motivation | No Comments »


Playing the Game of Life as if Winning or Losing Doesn’t Matter

June 6th, 2011 by Jane

Have you ever had a life changing experience? Perhaps something that initially disappointed or upset you but it then propelled you into action to improve things?

At the age of 11 I had one of those experiences. I entered my first ever public speaking competition.

I remember arriving at the competition feeling incredibly nervous. And it wasn’t just because I had to deliver a speech on birds. There I was in my public school uniform (tracksuit pants, a faded t-shirt and dirty sneakers) standing next to contestants from private schools who were all wearing ties, white collared shirts, formal pants and black lace up shoes.

When it came time to deliver my speech, I accidently dropped my palm cards on the floor and nervously raced through the content I could remember. My performance wasn’t great and it was no surprise that I wasn’t selected to continue onto the next round.

As my dad drove me home from the event, I remember feeling disappointed with myself. I vowed that I would enter the competition again and do much better the following year.

In 1996, I re-entered the competition with a speech on the Barbie doll. By this stage, I felt a lot more confident in myself as a speaker and not only did I make it through rounds 1 and 2 (the preliminary final) but I ended up winning the State final.

How on earth did I go from being kicked out in round 1 the first year to winning the entire competition the next year?

The simple answer is – it took a lot of hard work and coaching from others.


You can’t do it on your own – It’s a team effort

A cleverly crafted speech is like a work of art and I don’t think many people realise the amount of work that is required to create an engaging presentation. As brilliant as you may be at the age of 11 or 12, everyone needs help and feedback when it comes to writing a speech. My mum and dad, my school teacher, a university student on her teaching prac and my speech/drama teacher all helped me to write my speech.

Today for the first time in 15 years, I read over my speech (it was called “Figure of the 90′s” on the negative influence that the Barbie doll has on young girls) and I have to say, it’s not a bad speech!

And before I get a massive ego thinking “How clever was I!” I have to remind myself that I didn’t do it on my own. I had a team working with me.

Key point: Crafting a speech or any piece of engaging writing isn’t easy. It takes hard work and feedback from others. Don’t think you need to do it all on your own.

Learn by doing – Practice makes perfect

A few weeks after I was first kicked out of the competition, my mum found me a speech and drama teacher who I started having private lessons with every week. In these classes I learnt how to pronounce words correctly, vary my voice, control my hand gestures, warm up my vocal cords, etc. I also started doing group drama classes at the Helen O’Grady Drama Academy.

My school teacher, Mrs Prasser, also noticed that I was keen to improve, so she would get me to speak in front of different audiences at school. Sometimes it was just reading from a book in front of the class, other times it was delivering a speech to the entire school and being the MC for a school concert.

For my second and last chance at the competition, I remember practicing my speech on Barbie almost religiously every day. I could spend up to an hour just perfecting a single phrase. For example, I had to the say the line “Hasta la vista baby” in my talk, so I got my dad to hire a copy of the movie Terminator 2. I played Arnie’s famous phrase over and over, repeating it after him for well over an hour. I was determined to sound as authentic as possible!

Key point: Practice, practice and practice some more. Don’t be afraid to try new things and step out of your comfort zone.

It’s not over until it’s over – Keep up your standards

I never expected to make it to the final of “Speak Up Award”. Having made it to round 2 was enough for me. In my mind, whatever happened from this point on was a bonus.

Interestingly, a couple of weeks before the grand final I started to feel really bored with my talk (by this stage I had delivered it hundreds of times). I just wanted to the finals to be over! I remember running into my school teacher, Mrs Prasser, at the local shopping centre during the school holidays. She said to me –

“Don’t drop your standards now. It’s not over yet! You keep practising that talk Miss Jane”.

I continued to practice but it was with a sense of burden…I was just going with the motions.

It wasn’t until my dad sat me down a few nights before the grand final and said “Jane, I think you can win this” that something shifted for me. I thought “Maybe dad is right?” I started practising with a new focus and energy. I was determined to get rid of my last palm card so I could fully connect with the audience.

Key point: Don’t slack off. Give it everything you’ve got right until the very end.

Presentation Matters – Look and feel your best

I knew if I wanted to be taken seriously in the finals, I had to look my best. I had to say goodbye to my comfy tracksuit pants and jogging shoes and look like the other private school contestants – well groomed and professional. My primary school realised this too and subsequently lent me a tie, a white blouse and a special pleated skirt.

The night before the contest, I remember pulling out a pair of black shoes and polishing them with every bit of energy I had. My mum’s reaction to this was -

“What are you doing? Why are you polishing your shoes? Who is going to care what your shoes look like?”

But I knew that every bit of my performance, not just the content of my speech, but the way I carried and presented myself was going to make a difference.

Key point: Focus your energy on the areas that are important. Every little bit counts.

Many years later after I had won the competition, my mum said to me -

“I was skeptical at first but I now understand why you polished your shoes that night”.

She reminded me of my intense focus as a child and the fact that my focus wasn’t on winning either. I was 100% focused on the talk. Not the cash prize or what the audience would think. I was only focused on delivering a great speech. And if I did that, I figured it didn’t matter if I won because I had still played the game like a champion speaker.

I think this is the best way to play the game of life – not being narrowly focused on “winning” or being the best (e.g. having lots of money or stuff) but to throw yourself into whatever activity you’re doing. And if you give it your all, if you play the game like a champion from start to finish, it shouldn’t matter if you win or lose. Why? Because you’ll have a sense of intrinsic satisfaction and joy which no one can take away from you.

Can you think of a time when you felt fully immersed in an activity and you weren’t concerned about the end result? What was it? How did you feel? Post your comments and thoughts below.

permalink | trackback

Posted by Jane Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Goal setting, Motivation | No Comments »


10 ways to boost your motivation and mood to help you get started on projects

May 30th, 2011 by Jane

Over a year ago I wrote a blog post called “5 ways to motivate yourself to study a boring subject and/or complete a project”. Several people responded to this blog post with comments along the following lines -

“Don’t know what to do…..I have not gained any motivation…”

“I want something more to get motivated. This is not practically acceptable to me”.

Ouch. Clearly my blog post didn’t do it for them.

I found these comments really interesting and I think they illustrate quite nicely how many of us are looking for quick fix solutions in a world where there are none. The comments also highlighted the false idea that you need to feel motivated before you start your work.

It usually takes years of consistent work and practice to become successful in your chosen field. The Beatles are a perfect example of this – they played over 1200 shows before they became a hit. The Colonel Sanders was also rejected over 1000 times before someone finally invested in his chicken recipe.

To achieve big things in life, it takes hard work. It also requires taking action despite the way you feel.

How can you stay motivated to keep taking action, especially when the task is painfully boring and you feel in a flat mood?

In this blog post I expand on my original list of strategies and explore some new ways in which you can motivate yourself and lift your mood to help you get started with projects.

1) Force yourself to start – The motivation will come

Many people tend to wait for the right moment (when they feel inspired and/or motivated) to start their work. But the reality is they may never feel inspired to do the work that needs to be done.

The most successful people don’t wait around until they’re in the right mood. They just get started and what they notice is after awhile they realise “wow, what I’ve done so far is pretty good” and this results in them feeling motivated and wanting to take more action.

If you just start doing something small (writing one sentence, getting the book out of your bag, etc.), it won’t take long before you’re on a roll and deeply immersed in your project.

2) Imagine the end

If you’re really struggling with a project it can help to imagine the end result and how you’ll feel once you accomplish it. Athletes use this strategy frequently to help them stay focused on their goals and to keep motivated.

You may want to consider putting a picture of the end result up on your wall or on your project file as this can be a great way to keep motivated when dealing with obstacles and setbacks.

3) Imagine taking the next action step

If you find imagining the end result too overwhelming, then imagine yourself just taking the next step on whatever it is you need to do. This could involve imagining yourself getting up and turning on your computer, putting on your jogging shoes or picking up a book. The simple act of visualising yourself executing a particular action can help you to take the first step (which is often the hardest part).

4) See the big picture

Often we lack motivation when we can’t see the point in what we are doing. Before you engage in your work ask yourself “Why am I doing this?”, “Where am I heading?” and “Where do I want to be in 3 years time?” Answering these questions can help you to gain clarity, focus your energy and propel you into action.

5) Trick yourself into getting started

Next time you have a piece of work you need to do, ask yourself this question -


“What’s the smallest, simplest action that I can take to start this task?”

If it’s a book you need to read, the simplest action may be getting the book from the shelf or your bag. You want to say to yourself “All I need to do is get my book from my bag”.

Once you’ve done this, ask yourself the question -

“What’s the next smallest and simplest action step I can take?”

This time it may be opening up the book or reading the first sentence on the page. It may not seem like much, but the act of taking the first action step is often the hardest part and once you’ve done that, it’s highly likely that you will keep going.

6) Gain Clarity

Get clear on what you need to do. What will the finished product/project look like? Spend some time thinking about this. You may want to even sketch out onto some paper what it is that you’re setting out to achieve.

Once you’re clear on this, set a goal with a deadline of when you want to have this completed by (e.g. “I will have completed my report by Friday the 10th of June by 4pm”

7) Power nap it up

If you’re feeling tired, don’t force yourself to start your work. Take a power nap instead. Power naps (aka nanna naps and power snoozes) are short intense naps between 10 and 24 minutes in duration.

Taking a power nap before 5pm can be a great way to re-energise and clear your mind before starting work on an important project that requires a fresh state of mind.

8 ) Watch an uplifting video on YouTube or put on some upbeat music

If you’re feeling in a flat mood, you can set a short period of time aside (e.g. 5 or 10 minutes) to watch an inspirational video on YouTube or listen to some uplifting music. As long as this doesn’t lead to you spending hours of your day watching random videos instead of doing your work, it can be a great way to get in the right mindset for a productive session of work. An inspirational video to get you started is Team Hoyt – The Journey of Life Together.

9) Move your body

Studies have found that intense physical activity can enhance creativity, decrease stress levels and sharpen your ability to think. If you want to feel motivated and be more productive, then hit the gym, go for a run, participate in a zumba class or just dance in your bedroom!

In order to experience the full benefits of physical activity you need to engage in exercise that gets you working up a sweat and puffing. There is however a fine line. Whilst you want to work up a sweat, you also don’t want to exercise to the point where you feel completely exhausted and need to spend the rest of the day on the couch. You need to find the right level of intensity that works for you.

10) Work in 8 minute Power Bursts

Invest in a timer and work in 8 minute power bursts. 8 minutes doesn’t sound like a very long period of time but it’s long enough to allow you to get into the swing of a particular activity. When you need to start work on a particular project, set the alarm for 8 minutes and tell yourself “I’m going to focus on doing this for 8 minutes – no distractions!”.

When the timer goes off after 8 minutes, you have two choices – if you’re struggling with the task you can take a break but if you’re on a roll, keep going. The beauty of this strategy is that after 8 minutes you’ll most likely have eased into the project, realised “This isn’t so bad!” and want to keep going.

There you have it – 10 more ways to boost your motivation and lift your mood to start your projects. Chances are that even after reading this, you’re still not feeling particularly motivated to start your work. But don’t despair – the solution is to try out one of the strategies and see how you go.

permalink | trackback

Posted by Jane Tags: , , ,
Posted in Motivation | No Comments »


The Art of Breaking Bad Habits

May 4th, 2011 by Jane

You know you should stop chewing your nails, that you don’t get much done when you log onto Facebook and that eating fish and chips from the greasy deli is a really bad idea….but you still do these things anyway.

People usually persist with bad habits because they get some personal satisfaction or reward from engaging in the behaviour.

Let’s face it, bad habits are hard to break. Forming new, healthier habits can be even harder.

According to Dr Nora Volkow the human brain is hard wired to give greater value to an immediate reward as opposed to something that is delayed.

You have a choice: Eat the chocolate now or have a carrot instead?

For most of us, simply knowing that eating the carrot is going to eventually result in weight loss and feeling healthier usually won’t be enough to sway us. What we want is the immediate reward of sugary, delicious chocolate.

And the reason for this can be found in the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine is linked to pleasurable experiences and our perception of positive experiences. So every time you eat a piece of chocolate or a delicious slice of pizza this pleasure sensing chemical is released in the brain.

This dopamine hit acts like a reward to us and reinforces the activity and neural connection in the brain. It is for this reason that we often engage in behaviours in an automatic way without much conscious thought or effort.

The good news is that every day people are successful in changing their behaviour, whether it be foregoing a packet of cigarettes, running on the treadmill or cutting back on junk food. Change is possible.

But how can you effectively break a bad habit? Here are some suggestions from the experts.

Make the behaviour impossible

Researcher Wander Jager believes that the best way to change a habit is to make it impossible. She states “..closing the shopping centre of a town for car traffic can break the habit of shopping by car, and changing the menu of a canteen may break the unhealthy lunching habit”.

I saw this technique used on a group of people suffering from type 1 and 2 diabetes in the documentary, “Simply Raw”. Six individuals were selected to undergo an experiment to see if they could be off their medication and insulin by cutting out fast food and adopting a completely raw food diet over the period of 30 days. To achieve this, they were sent to a retreat in the middle of the Arizona desert (far away from shops and fast food outlets) and served only raw vegan foods.

The thing about this strategy is it doesn’t always work and can sometimes backfire. In the documentary it was interesting to observe one participant became strongly resistant and rebelled against the approach by hitchhiking across the Mexican border to get alcohol and buy Mexican food.

Change and control your environment

The next best and probably the most practical thing you can do to break a bad habit is to change your environment so that the bad habit is less likely to be automatically performed.

The question to ask is – What is it in my environment that is triggering the behaviour (i.e. bad habit)?

For example, if you’re trying to lose weight it doesn’t make sense to have chocolates in your home or office at work.

You see, humans have a certain amount of will power that they have to expend throughout the day. In our low moments, particularly when we are tired and/or stressed or it is later in the day, our ability to regulate our behaviour and emotions significantly decreases.

And it’s in those moments when our will power reserves are running low or on empty that we are most likely to give into the temptation and reach for a chocolate. Therefore, you want to eliminate anything in your environment that will set you back.

Have your environment work for you by creating healthy habit back up plans. For instance, if you’re trying to eat healthier foods, have some chopped up vegetables and freshly washed fruit on standby for those low moments when a junk food craving hits.

Establish a regular routine

This involves getting clear on what it is that you want to do and then doing it over and over and over at a set time or place. Easier said than done, right?

Well, yes and no.

Peter Gollwitzer is an expert on how to make actions automatic and a regular part of one’s routine. His research shows that to make a particular behaviour automatic you must start by selecting the desired behaviour that you want to adopt (e.g. eating more vegetables and doing more physical exercise) and then link this behaviour to a specific situation such as a particular time, place or feeling.

He states –

“The mental act of linking a specific situation to an intended behaviour in the form of an if-then plan leads to automatic action initiation…[the action] does not require conscious intent once the critical situation is encountered”.

So let’s say your desired behaviour is to eat more vegetables. This behaviour could be linked to one of several things – particular meal times (e.g. dinner and morning tea), when at a restaurant browsing over the menu or if a hunger pang hits.

An example of an if-then plan could be as follows – “If it is morning tea, then I will eat a carrot”.

I know, it sounds incredibly simple and straightforward, but the act of committing to this takes the need for any conscious thought and effort out of the equation. The behaviour does indeed become automatic.

Final Thoughts

Bad habits can be hard to break, but there are clear and effective strategies to help you adopt healthier behaviours. By making the habit impossible to engage in, changing your environment and establishing a regular routine through ‘if-then’ plans, it is possible to rewire your brain for the better.

Have you succesfully broken a bad habit? If so, what was it and how did you do it?

permalink | trackback

Posted by Jane Posted in Goal setting, Lifestyle, Motivation | No Comments »


«
»
Next Page »