Motivation

For me inspiration is a huge motivator. When I find someone who achieved what I want to do in a different area I am inspired. Read books, google the people that are out there right now doing what you aspire to achieve. Find a model of excellence!

“Where attention goes, energy flows.” If your attention is on the upcoming football game the chances are you’re not going to be motivated to work on that proposal that’s due in tomorrow morning. The place you focus your attention is the place where most of your energy and therefore motivation will be. To get motivated and maintain that motivation you need to be able to focus solely on the task that needs to be done. So how do you achieve this?

Having a clear outcome is essential to keeping your attention clear and your motivation high. One of the main reasons for unproductive behaviour is overwhelm. When there is ‘too much’ to do sometimes it is easy to let your mind wander. A way to combat this is to make time to plan.

“Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

1. What specifically do you want?
Stated in the positive
“I will have achieved my target of 1,000.”

2. When, where and with who do you want it?
Timed and contextualised
“I will have completed it before the 25th December 2011 with Spencers and Makers in London and Brighton.”

3. Where are you now?
Present situation associated
“I have already reached 145 and I have 855 to get.”

4. What will you be seeing, hearing and feeling when you get it?
Outcome state associated, calibrate physiological shifts
“I will hear my colleagues congratulating me and see the smile on my wife’s face when I see her, I will feel elated and warm inside.”

5.  What will you be able to do after you get it?
Future state associated
“I will be able to buy a new house for me and my family.”

6. Who is this for?
Self initiated and self maintained
“It is for me to feel happy and for my family to have a safe and happy environment.”

7. What resources and states are needed?
Have you ever done anything like this before?
Do you know anyone who has?
Act as if now frame.

8. Ecology check
What will happen if you get it?
What won’t happen if you get it?
What will happen if you don’t get it?
What won’t happen if you don’t get it?

Now you have set clear outcomes of what it is you want to achieve you can prioritise. What is the most important and what is urgent. Important things need to be done but urgent things need to be done now. Organise your day taking these points into consideration.

Find yourself a place where you can go that has minimal distractions so your attention can be focused as much as possible on the current task in hand. Then start and complete the tasks in a methodical order.

Being motivated is a state. So far what I have mentioned are some interesting and useful ways of manipulating the way you think to achieve this state in yourself.

You can also work directly on your state. Think about a time (maybe in a different context) when you were as motivated as you want to be about the current task you need to do. Make it a strong representation. What do you notice?

Visual

Location ”“ Where can you see it in your visual field? Top, left, bottom, right?
Associated/dissociated ”“ Are you part of the image or can you see yourself in the picture?
Framed or panoramic ”“ Is there an edge to the representation or is it all around you?
Colour or black & white ”“ Is it in colour?
Size of picture ”“ How big is the picture?
Bright or dim
Focussed or defocused
Movie or still
Amount of contrast
3D or flat
Angle viewed from

Auditory

Location ”“ Where are the sounds coming from?
Internal or external ”“ Can you hear them around you or are they inside you?
Fast or slow ”“ Notice the speed
Loud or soft
Timbre –
Pauses
Duration ”“ All the time or only part of the time?

Kinesthetic

Location ”“ Where can you feel it?
Shape
Size
Movement ”“ Is it moving or still?
Temperature
Weight
Pressure
Vibration ”“ vibrating or still?
Texture
Intensity
Internal or External ”“ Is it inside or can you feel in on the outside?

These are called submodalities.

Once you have an idea of these, break your state by shaking it out, move around and think about something different. Now go through the same processes as before with your current experience of ‘non-motivation’, notice the differences.

Now begin in your mind’s eye to start changing your current ‘non-motivated’ submodalities to those of your motivated state. Play around with this for a while and you will notice that there will be one submodality which has the greatest affect on your state. This is called the driver submodality. Once you change this, the others will start to change and you will experience a difference in your state. In this example from ‘non-motivated’ to motivated.

Your perception of the future will impact your choices in the present equally as much as the past does. Create in your mind’s eye a positive and empowering future. After these processes you will now find that you have the motivation to move towards and complete your immediate goals with an eye on that big picture.