Archive for the 'Motivation' Category

Have you ever been driving and come upon an intersection in which you didn’t know which way to go? You look right and the road seems small and insignificant, yet the road to the left is fast and furious. The onramp on the left is calling you and the person behind is honking.

You have to make a decision.

Do you get on the freeway that everyone else is on, or do you take the road less traveled?

In our time starved world, it is easy just to get on the freeway of life and travel down to our usual destination. Many days we don’t even think about it. But how about stopping at that intersection today, and turn right instead of left. Take the road less traveled… and see where it goes.

Maybe you’ll be a few minutes late to work. Maybe you’ll meet someone new. Maybe you’ll see a wondrous place you have never seen before. Maybe life will change for you.

Those few minutes of peace may make all the difference!

Take a turn for the better.

Take that small significant turn… today.

Growing up I used to have many dreams where I was flying. In the dream it was easy. I would just jump and flap my arms a few times and instantly I was flying through the air. The cool thing was I could instantly fly over my house and down the street. I could go high or low and I could easily land on a rooftop or telephone pole.

I was like superman without all the fanfare. While these dreams were very cool and many times I would want to go back to sleep just to fly some more, I quickly realized that this was just pure fantasy when I woke up. As much as I wanted to fly, there was no current way to do it like I did in my dream.

In high school I had another dream. I wanted to be able to speak like Martin Luther King, or John F. Kennedy. I wanted to be able to motivate people like Zig Ziglar or Billy Graham. I had a whole bunch of words inside of me that I wanted to share with the world. Yet I was scared to death to get up in front of the audience.

In my dream public speaking was easy, but when I woke up, reality was a much different place. Through the years I just about gave up on the dream. Fortunately someone invited me to a Toastmasters group. In Toastmasters I was able to give my first scary speech in front of a group of supportive people. And you know what… I didn’t die!

In fact I actually did pretty good my first time out. I remembered most of my speech and I didn’t need my notes as much as I thought. The cool thing was, all those words that had been trapped inside of me for years had a way to finally come out. Within weeks I was doing additional speeches, each time with more passion and confidence. Toastmasters helped me take the fear out of public speaking.

While both of these dreams were pure fantasy at first, public speaking became a reality because it was a doable thing. Others had blazed a trail and all I had to do was follow. Someday we’ll all be able to fly. Someone will blaze a trail and come up with an invention that will free us all from gravity.

Maybe that person will be you?

But for now, personal flying is a fantasy. We can dream it but we can’t do it.

Are you pursuing dreams in your life that are realistic and doable… or are they just fantasies blowing in the wind?

As an example, I have many co-workers that play the lottery every week. They probably spend an average of 10 dollars a week or 40 dollars a month pursuing this fantasy. No one has ever won the lottery where I work, but people play just the same.

The interesting thing is, those same people could amass a fortune over the years by taking that same money and investing it in an investment account that compounds interest. The path is straight and the concept is proven, but many people do not follow it.

The choose fantasy over reality.

We have all seen the people that try out for American Idol that can’t sing. They have this misplaced notion that they have singing talent when they really don’t. It’s somewhat humorous but often just sad to watch them give it their all. Their singing fantasies just don’t come true.

I would love to be able to sing and participate in a TV show. But my natural talents don’t include singing. While I could spend many years with a speech coach trying to improve my singing voice, it would probably be better for me to pursue something that I’m naturally good at.

One of the best ways to find out what a person will be good at is to have them take a strengths test. The Gallup organization has put out an online test that will help you find out your top 5 strengths. It’s quick to take and the results can really help you see your areas of excellence.

The test is part of a book entitled Strengths Finder 2.0 written by Tom Rath. For under 20 dollars you get the test and a book full of helpful advice to take your individual talents to the next level. Researchers have found that you are much more likely to be successful focusing on your strengths rather than your weaknesses.

My five top strengths include, Ideation, Positivity, Learning, Futuristic, and Individualization. The materials in this book and on the accompanying web site have been very helpful in setting my sites on what is truly achievable in my life. Instead of just dreams and fantasies I now have a road map to reality.

In his best selling book Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely asks a simple question, “What is the cost of no cost?” Dan and his team of social scientists did some experiments on a group of potential customers to find out how much they prized different types of chocolate.

On a table in a large building they offered two types of chocolate. The prized Lindt truffle was offered along side the common Hershey’s kiss. The truffle was priced at 15 cents and the Hershey kiss was priced at a penny. Both of these prices were less than half the usual cost. There was a large sign at the table that said “One Chocolate Per Customer.”

As you would probably expect, the Lindt Truffle was a runaway hit at 15 cents. Over 73% of the respondents chose the higher priced truffle over the generic Hersheys kiss. But what happened in the next test was very interesting.

Dan and his testers then lowered the price of each Chocolate by a penny and ran the test again? This time the Truffle was priced at 14 cents and the Hershey’s kiss was given away free.

The results were startling. Now the Hershey’s kiss was the favorite by a wide margin. Over 69% of the respondents now chose the kiss over the truffle and the difference in the test was one red cent.

The difference was the word free. Free made all the difference, especially when compared to an item with a cost associated with it.

As Dan alludes to in the book, this comparison of a free item to an item that we have to pay for can lead us to make irrational or poor decisions. How many times have you chosen the buy one, get one free item only to get home and find it was not the quality you expected.

Let’s say you went to Walmart to buy tee shirts. You usually buy the national brand that doesn’t shrink and holds up well wash after wash. On the same rack is an inferior brand, but the large size package is priced buy one-get one free. Your mind instantly picks up on the deal even though you have to buy two and end up spending more for the large package of shirts.

You get home and after one washing, the inferior shirts shrink 20%. Now you have two packages of shirts that you cant wear but once. The power of free caused you to make a poor decision.

The word free can drive traffic but often relegates the item to something of little or no value. On this blog for example, I provide many free MS Word based templates for a variety of uses. I don’t use the word free but instead use words that explain the benefits.

Instead of Free Flowchart Template, I refer to my flowchart cards as a Five Minute Flowchart, letting the reader know that the flowchart can be created on their desk in under five minutes.

Given the premise that the word free is a powerful motivator, would people be more interested in a free offer or the benefits of a product or service?

Here is a question: What offer would you choose below?

A Free Flowchart Template emphasizing the value of “Free“

A Five Minute Flowchart emphasizing the benefit of “Speed“

Both of these links and graphics point to the same flowchart page. Which graphic would make you click first? The one with the free option, or the one with the time saving benefit?

I would like to hear your comments on this.

I’m going to track this in my stats and see which one is more popular. If you have a minute click on the graphic you would choose. I’ll post the results in an upcoming post in a few days. It will be interesting to see how predictable this choice is.

It’s the end of January and the phrase “New Year’s Resolution” is fading quickly from our consciousness. Most of our resolutions, if we made any, are probably failed memories. What we really need now is a simple way to set some goals for the year and to find a way to accomplish them.

We have covered goals quite extensively on this site, but today I want to offer up a simple goal setting solution. This is so easy you can do it in a few minutes, but it may have a profound effect on your life. It was devised by one of the leading motivational speakers of our time, Brian Tracy.

Brian talked about this simple technique in his book, Success Secrets of Self Made Millionaires. This is a profound little book based on Tracy’s research into the lives of Millionaires and what helped them get there.

Brian says that one of the most important things that was apparent in everyone that he studied was goal setting. He devised a simple four step process that anyone can take to get started on this path to success. Here are the instructions…

1. Take out a sheet of paper and write down ten goals you would like to accomplish in the next 12 months. Things you want to have, do, or become.
2. Look at all ten goals and ask yourself this question. If you could only accomplish one goal on this list, but you could accomplish it in 24 hours, which one would would have the greatest impact on your life? Brian says in most cases it will jump out at you. Write the goal down in bold writing and set a completion date.
3. Turn the paper over and write down twenty action steps to accomplish this goal. This step will be easy at first but will become harder as you progress down the list. Don’t stop until you have filled in all twenty.
4. Each day take at least one action step to accomplish your goal

This is about as simple as it gets but Brian has had amazing feedback from people who have tried this simple technique. With this simple four step process, participants have gone on to create spectacular businesses, amassed fortunes, and have gone on to change the lives of others.

Why not try it for yourself today?

To make this even easier for you, I’ve created a two sided MS Word document called the Top Goal Worksheet that has ten boxes on the front and twenty on the back. Just download the file, unzip it, and open both sheets in Microsoft Word. You can add text to the document in Word or print it plain to fill in with a pen or pencil. When you are ready, print it front and back on both sides of a sheet of letter sized paper.

To fill it out, just follow the four steps above. 

Brian notes there is a risk in not taking these steps. If you don’t set goals you may end up on Someday Isle… someday I’ll do this or someday I’ll do that. Don’t let this happen to you.

Once you have your goals set, you may want to download our Goal Setting Toolkit, to carry your goals with you wherever you go.

I woke up this morning and realized something… it’s a new year and I still have problems. In fact most of the problems I have now I had last year.

Problems bug me.

Problems cause stress and keep me up at night.

Problems usually don’t go away by themselves.

So what can I do about my problems?

1. I can complain and gripe about them
2. I can forget about them (can I really?)
3. I can put them off to tomorrow
4. I can do something about them

Since the first three things in the list just make problems worse, I decided this morning to do something about them.

Here is a simple outline I came up with to tackle the problem(s)

1. Make a complete written list of them
2. Create an action item next to each one
3. Write down a name next to each one of someone who can help with the problem or keep me accountable to solve the problem
4. Put an expected completion date next to each one

It’s funny how writing them down takes their power away. They don’t seem so bad once they are in a list… especially when I have an action step and a name of someone who can help.

Oh… and I did one other thing… I crossed out the word problems at the top of the list and wrote in the space next to it opportunities.

Seth would be proud of me!

As you are walking down the corridor at work, you turn the corner and there in front of you… on a silver platter… is a plate full of brownies. They stare back at you, covered in their powdered sugar glory. They taunt you with ever step. You know you want one, but the 700 calories of sugar, flour, and oil will surely ruin your diet.

What do you do…???

You are in the check-out line at your favorite hardware store and you notice on the shelf to the left the All in Wonder Tool Set. This just isn’t any tool set… no… the tools in this set can fix that leaky faucet, hang the new curtains, and magically fix the broken sliding glass door. This is the solution to your problems… but at $295 it might just break your budget… better pull out the credit card…

What do you do..???

The holidays have been rough and you notice the spare tire growing around your middle (too many brownies?). All of a sudden a new infomercial comes on the TV for the save-all, end-all, exercise system. This baby has it all, power rods, adjustable seat, multi function, and four easy payments of $199. Just four easy payments… you glance at your gut and then reach for the phone and your wallet.

What do you do…???

The impulse to do something right now is overwhelming. You need to make a decision and make it now. Do you brush off that small little voice that says you shouldn’t do it and grab the credit card…???

Or do you…

Count To Ten

Do you take this simple step and give yourself time to think… to make a logical decision… to match the decision with your budget and with your goals…

Or do you fire the impulse and just go for it… and worry about it tomorrow.

Do You… Count to Ten or Count the Pounds?

Do You… Count to Ten or Count the Credit Card Bills?

Do You… Count to Ten or Count the Calls from the Loan Company?

It’s Your Decision…

Once you Count to Ten you may want to use the Desktop Decision Maker to help you make the right choice.

Just remember… you’ll thank yourself in January for your thoughtful decisions today.