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Develop a personal passion |
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I was recently presenting a workshop seminar straight after a key note speech by a close associate of Go MAD, Steve McDermott. The subject was all about creativity and Steve centred his talk around our belief that we are (or are not) creative. Now in everything that Steve does when he speaks, he exudes a passion for his topic, and a huge zest for life. Watching the audience, who eagerly jumped up to do an activity, and by the end were virtually laughing at every word he said, it led me to thinking about how much more motivated we are about doing things when we are having fun and generally enjoying life. Enjoying life seems to enhance our 'Reason Why' for doing things.
The Go MAD Thinking System leads you to think firstly about what you want to achieve and also why you want to achieve it. Specifically you are asked to consider how strong the 'Reason Why' is for things that you want to achieve. Having identified your reasons for wanting to make a difference about something, a simple way to measure the strength of this is to use a 1-10 scale. For example, if you want to reach a certain weight, ask yourself the question, "How strong is my reason why for doing this on a scale of 1-10, where 1 is low and 10 is high?" A 1 would mean that actually you are not bothered at all whether or not you achieve this, and 10 means that you want to do this so much it keeps you awake at night.
When thinking about the strength of your reason for achieving a goal, remember that it is a comparative scale i.e. you need to compare your reason why for making this difference with your desire to do other things. Hence, a score of 6 or less on this scale might not be a good basis for starting out. It means that anything in your life with a higher reason why score of 7-10, is going to take priority. Also, there are quite possibly things in your life that you know you should be doing, but you can't work up the enthusiasm to get them done. It might be that diet that always starts tomorrow, or joining the gym that you are always going to do next week, or putting off essential reports for work until the deadline is ominously near. There may even be big stuff you want to achieve, but the time is never quite right and you go through life talking about things you want to achieve, but never actually do.
If you were to programme your mind differently to take a few risks, to experience life to its full, and develop the passion for life that people like Steve McDermott display, then you may well find that your motivation for many things will increase. If you get into a routine of a humdrum existence, perhaps watching television every night with no outside interests then just doing one small thing extra every week might seem like a mammoth task. I know that often when I'm looking for volunteers for a job then it's usually the busiest people that offer to cram in even more into their already full schedule. Their minds are programmed to make the most of life, because they know that the more they put in, the more they will get out. Their motivation seems to rise at an equivalent rate to their stamina and willingness to help.
So to get back to any goals that you have been thinking about for ages, but not yet achieved, some questions to ask yourself are:
"How might I make achieving these goals more fun and enjoyable?"
"What am I really passionate about achieving?"
Steve shares his thoughts on presenting with passion in the latest Go MAD audio with Andy Gilbert 'Your Questions Answered – Taking Presentation Skills to a New Level'
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Picture the future – An activity to increase your personal passion |
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You can use this activity anytime you want to engage your senses to make a goal seem more real. Take the following steps to help you strengthen your reason why and build your levels of personal motivation.
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Pick a goal you want to achieve. |
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Close your eyes, and take yourself into the future, to a time when you have achieved your goal. Imagine yourself actually in the future. |
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Ask yourself the following questions (as if you were in the future with your goal achieved).
- What can I see?
- What does it feel like?
- In which part of my body can I identify this feeling?
- What is happening around me?
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What are any people who are involved saying and doing?
- What am I saying and doing?
- What can I smell?
- What can I taste?
- What else can I feel, see or hear?
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Capture your thoughts, feelings and measure the strength of your reason why. Identify how you might remind yourself of the strength of your reason why so that you can maintain your motivation as you progress your goal.
If you find it a challenge to visualise your goal achieved it could be that your reason why to make this difference isn't strong enough and you need to consider if you want to pursue this goal.
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Special offer – e-book for £1.00
'How to develop a personal passion'
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If you would like to explore further how to develop your personal passion, this month to coincide with this newsletter, we have a special offer on the Go MAD e-book 'How to develop a personal passion'. For only £1.00 you can download this e-book for great tips and insights to help you look at your personal motivation to succeed whilst challenging you to decide if you really want to make a difference.
Order Your Copy Now
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6 Top tips to increase your motivation |
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Tell someone else (or more than one person) what you intend to do. You will feel much more motivated to follow through because others know your intentions.
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Identify a towards motivator. Working towards something creates a stronger motivation than doing something for fear of the consequences if you do not.
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List your goals. Assign a score to them (1 (low) - 10 (high)) on the strength of your reason why. Start by working on the one or ones with the highest score and because your motivation is high you will be more likely to have some 'wins'. Having these wins will then motivate you further to go out to achieve other goals.
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Eliminate the word 'try' from your vocabulary. If someone says they 'will try and come' to a party, what does that normally mean? Usually they don't turn up."Do or don't do, there is no try" said Yoda in Star Wars.
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Ask yourself "What is the single most important reason for wanting this?" And remind yourself of this on a regular basis.
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Write down the implications of doing nothing.
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Free Download – Go MAD about Thinking |
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With this issue of Go MAD About... we are offering you a download of the latest thinking from Andy Gilbert (founder of Go MAD). Taken from the bestseller 'Go MAD – The Art of Making A Difference', the download overviews how to apply Go MAD as a solution focused thinking system.
Download your free copy now
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