The “Secret” Way To Build A Mountain of Usable,

Directed Motivation…

You know how you sometimes see an idea that has been “borrowed” from somewhere else and applied to create a marketing “hook” that is hard to resist chomping on?  And how sometimes a little light shines in the darkness that reveals a mountain of gold?

I saw this cool idea from visiting guru Demartini who has a great workshop/course/books/all the stuff.  Go see him.

A study was done back in 2011 from the Journal of Marketing Research at Stern Uni at New York with the unimaginative title: “Increasing Saving Behavior Through Age-Progressed Renderings of the Future Self”.

The study itself is a bit lame and hard to read – they asked people if they were likely to “save” for retirement, and how strong the decision was. One group was shown a photoshopped photo of themselves – made to look like retirement age. The other group was not. Guess what – the ones with the “oldered” photo – decided to save more!

Now – let’s convert that into Demartini sales copy:

“Breakthrough Study by New York University Reveals How to Save up to 33% More Money By Looking at a Photo of Yourself.”

And: “Nothing to do with ‘Vision Boards’.
Everyday Dr Demartini is discovering more about how YOU can use your mind to double your income… your vitality… your relationship intimacy and your inspiration.

And at the New Science of Achievement evening seminar he’s going to reveal the latest ‘brain science’ breakthroughs YOU can use to transform your life.

For example, he’ll show you how to harness the power of your mind to save up to 33% more money… drawing on the latest brain science studies.”  Here is the sales page http://global1.com.au/new-science-of-achievement?cc=CC1001023  (this is not my affiliate link)

How good is that???  Just add some “specific” stats to your claims (that include “doubling” your vitality!), restate the “stats” again – and everything is more believable and attainable. Cool?

So – what is the light in the darkness?

For the last 30 years (!!!) I have been studying the “success gurus”. And you know who I mean – everyone from Napoleon Hill to Norman V Peale to Tony Robbins to Neville Goddard to Charles Haanel to other greats like Bucky Fuller and Deming.

And you know what?

The wisdom has some “core” elements. The one I want to share today is that of “using the power of the wish fulfilled”.

There is the “magical” approach, and the “motivational” approach. The magical is championed by “The Secret” guru flavours – who hammer away at using work based on Haanel to create the outcome, feel it, live it, taste it – and then fully “expect” the wish to appear.

The “motivational” approach is to take yourself PAST the time of the wish fulfilled – in the above case it is after retirement (when you look like the oldered photos) – and look back at the futures that are possible from that place in time. This can be the powerful cause of  “motivation” to act differently back here in the present.

For example – you are now 50 years old. Look at the photo of you at 70 years. Let that reality sink in. You are 70 years old. How strong is your desire THEN to have sufficient savings or investments in place so your life is comfortable THEN?   Pretty bloody strong.

If you did NOT do the things 20 years ago that you needed to get done for your 70 year old self to be comfortable – your life at 70 is gunna suck.

 How will you FEEL at 70 years old, if you did NOT do everything possible back you were 50 years old to create a “not-suck” future?

Then when you stopping looking at your “old” self photo – and you look at your calendar for today, this week, month, year, decade – you still have your 70 year old eyeballs on. Will that adjust your priorities and urgency?   You bet.  And if you review that photo frequently –  will you develop in your mind the “ideal” for you life at 70 years onwards –  will you think about WHAT YOU WANT – and compare it to what WILL HAPPEN unless you have certain priorities when you are in your fifties?  Will you have GREATER motivation than before to ACT today?  Very likely.

And if you have even a small increase in your key actions every day for a reasonable – will your future be different?  You bet.

Is this a bit negative?  Maybe.

Performance Motivation!  A Mountain of Gold…

Consider the situation where you are on the Olympic Team for say – gymnastics.  If you think forward in time to the day AFTER your Olympic events – will you want to be able to say “I did everything humanly possible to win!  There was nothing else I could have done to prepare better.  I trained to my best every single day.  I stand erect.” ?

Or will there be part of you that looks back from that day and says “I only gave it 90%.  I could have done more.  I allowed distractions to reduce my focus.  I feel shame.”?

Which FEELING do you want at that time?  And if – every morning you visit the future and MAKE THE CHOICE – how will that affect your priorities and training intensity for that day?

We can ADD IN THE “Magical” POWER of your seeing yourself looking out from the top podium, hearing your anthem, the scent of the winners bouquet, the stinging of the tears forming in your eyes, and the smile that is giving you a cramp in your jaw – forming the definitive feeling of your “wish fulfilled”.  And allow that “magic” to happen in parallel.

But on the daily grind of training (as in business) – it is the CHOICE of the “non-magical” kind that gets you up early to train or work at your very best – for today.

Nutshell:  When we control our own focus on a regular basis  – with the use of questions or tools (like aged photos) – we are using Parkinsons Law to our advantage.  If we do not choose to control our focus – our day will fill itself with the “non-important, non-valuable” stuff.

For me it is part of the definition of “victim” to know that this is how it works – but then refuse to apply apply the Law for the benefit of all concerned.   The only way to NOT apply this is to accept the belief that we CANNOT make a difference in our worlds.  Acceptance of this “no-power” position is the mantle of “Victim”.

I believe our choices are our source of power, and we can make or change them at any time.    By changing any choice, we change our self concepts -which alters our actions, our outcomes, our learnings.

You want to have MORE motivation to make your business a success?  Choose it.   Or even better, choose it knowingly and enthusiastically – every day.  There is no more work in creating a great day than a sad, mediocre one.  Choose it.

Cheers

James Hooper

Links:

http://people.stern.nyu.edu/hhershfi/resources/Research/JMR-D-ce.pdf

Ps – See Dr DiMartini is you are in the cities he visits.