Getting Motivated cont
I'm a bit geeky and the secret scientist in me needs me to look at empirical evidence to put my mind at ease that the techniques and ideas that I present do actually work, so you can be reassured that the suggestions I make aren't just there to boost enthusiasm, they have been shown to actually work.
Firstly, I want to look at some of the most widely quoted motivation advice. The stuff that most motivational self help books quote as being gospel in helping you achieve your goals. Advice that could actually be quite ineffective though, according to research.
Visualisation.
Don't get me wrong, visualisation is an excellent tool for overcoming bad habits and creating enthusiasm. But if it's not done properly it can actually create a lazy mind set.
Visualisation, especially when done with hypnosis, has the same effect on the brain as if you've done something before (many, many times in fact if done with hypnosis). So to simply 'imagine' that you're slimmer and healthier can actually create the same feelings as if you are. Now, clients will come to me because they want to lose weight and when I ask "Why?" the answer comes back often that it will make them happier, and so we work with the process of getting happy and what do you know the weight starts dropping off, as they're no longer crying into their cake.
Providing that there are no underlying psychological issues that are aggravating the weight gain by spending lots of time thinking that you're already slim could cause you to feel happy the way that you are without actually losing weight. Half of the time, this may well be fine, but the other half could still get diabetes and osteoarthritis, and would still struggle to walk up the stairs.
For visualisation to be successful, you need to imagine the whole process. In the example of weight loss, it may mean imagining leaving food on your plate or picturing how you'd feel coming out of the gym after a good session to encourage enthusiasm for exercise. Just imagining the end result isn't quite enough.
Another example would be taking an exam. There's little point in simply imagining collecting the results. All that is likely to do is create the effect that you don't need to study as the results will just come all by themselves. Great stuff if you already know your subject inside and out, but what if you need to study?
Well if you need encouragement to study then THAT is what you need to visualise, imagine yourself pouring over research papers, reading books or articles on your subject. This is when visualisation works really well as it sets you up for what you want to actually do rather than what you want to see happen.
Goal setting is absolutely vital, if you don't know what you want to do then you're never going to get there. Even with the best Sat-Nav in the world you still need to know where you're going. But simply writing down your goals is not enough.
Often you will read that ALL you need to do is write down your goals and you'll suddenly feel the urge to make it all happen.
There's a story that motivational speakers go on and on about concerning the Yale class of 1953. Apparently researchers asked all the students whether or not they had written down their goals for the future or not and then went back to them all 20 years later. It transpired that although only 3% had written their goals down in 1953 those 3% were making more money than the other 97% combined. Sounds great doesn't it? Well it would sound even better if it wasn't a load of nonsense.
Despite the fact that it's been talked about and quoted in magazines and at seminars for probably 20 years or more the truth is it didn't happen, there was no research findings into this at all.
Beverley Waters, research associate at Yale University undertook a search through the Yale archives to no avail. "We are quite confident that the 'study' did not take place." She said "We suspect it is a myth."
In the same way that many people believe that carrots help you see in the dark, if you hear something enough times you begin to believe it whether it's true or not.
So what are we supposed to do with our goals?
Writing them down is obviously going to help. In the same way that adverts on the radio and TV drip feed information to us without us paying much attention, by keeping your goals close at hand and seeing them every time you walk past the fridge or turn on your computer you will feel more inclined to push yourself to making it happen. But the real secret to sticking to your goals is to break them down into smaller goals, and to create small rewards along the way.
Not only will the little rewards encourage you to complete the steps, but breaking it down into these smaller chunks makes it more manageable and more realistic.
This then leads to optimism and confidence and a sure fire way to succeed.
Take thesis writing as an example. It can be quite a task to create a thesis or dissertation and many may feel unmotivated as it's such a big job. But by breaking it down into smaller goals, i.e.. "This time next week I will have written my introduction, and after i've done that i'm going to spend 2 hours playing 'Call Of Duty' on my Xbox" will encourage you to get it done.
If you make a list of all the steps along the way, making note of some good rewards and ensuring that the time scale you set yourself is realistic, you'll see it's not that big a task.
The same goes for weight loss. Imagine being quite overweight and creating a goal to lose 5 stone, could you do it? 5 stone sounds a lot, most would give up after a month of dieting, and go right back to how they were before, maybe even putting on even more weight as the diet they were on felt so limited and depressing that the spend 2 weeks eating takeaways.
But what if your goal was to just lose 2 pounds. Could you do it? Of course you could. Ensure you create the steps along the way to make it encouraging and make the time scales realistic. Also ensure though that your rewards aren't conflicting with the goal. Losing a stone might be worth celebrating with a meal at Frankie and Benny's, but losing 2 pounds is not worth celebrating with 5 chocolate cakes. Go to the cinema, the theatre instead. Remember what I said in How To Be Happy.
NEXT