MotivationLine

Help to Keep New Year's Resolutions All Year Long!

For many Americans, New Year's Eve is about partying, but New Year's Day is about making New Year's resolutions. An article by Dave Peyton indicated that nearly one half of all Americans make resolutions. It's easy to make resolutions, but hard to keep them. But there is help out there!

As you know, for over a year, I have provided a resource, "Change Your Life in 30 Days." that provides a daily automated e-mail reminder for thirty straight days. The messages help you focus your goals and guide your change efforts. All you have to do is visit http://www.terrypaulson.com/change and register at the time of day that you want the messages to come. It's free and it helps turn your resolutions into positive habits that last! Try it.

Now, why limit your help to my site. Here are some excerpts from Dave's article that highlight other resources worth considering. You don't just need reminders; you need targeted information that will help nurture specific resolutions. You may want to try these links to check them out!

"If you're making New Year's resolutions, the federal government wants to help. No, that's not a joke. Go to http://www.firstgov.gov/Citizen/Topics/New_Years_Resolutions.shtml to see a list of the most popular New Year's resolutions. Click on individual resolutions, and you'll go to another government site that will assist you with ideas about how to keep resolutions, including how to lose weight, how to pay off debt, how to quit smoking, how to reduce stress and more.

The University of Maryland offers advice about how to make and keep New Year's resolutions at http://www.umm.edu/features/resolutions_guide.htm. Articles include long-term strategies for permanent weight loss, putting the power of physical activity to work and common sense tips about how to quit smoking.

Ehow is the place that teaches you how to do nearly anything, and how to keep New Year's resolutions is one of them. See the instructive article at http://www.ehow.com/how_12076_keep-new-years.html.

If you're looking for someone to nag you about the resolution you make, check out http://www.hiaspire.com/newyear. The folks at this Web site say that if you leave them your e-mail address, they will send you a free monthly New Year's resolution reminder for an entire year, along with tips and Internet links to help you achieve your goals."

Whatever your strategy, welcome to the challenge of turning your good intentions into action and actual results!

(Source: Dave Peyton, "Web helps more keep goals for New Year's," Ventura County Star, January 1, 2007)

The Movie "Invincible" is Irresistible

Some movies capture the heroic journey we all crave to believe is possible. Few do that as well as the new movie, Invincible, the inspiring sports movie starring Mark Wahlberg as Vince Papale. Vince, a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fan who has just lost his wife and his teaching job, decides to respond Coach Dick Vermeil's call for an open tryout for his favorite NFL team. His struggles with his doubts and his flagging confidence only to see his wildest dreams come true--he makes the team! The triumph not only impacts his life; it inspires a team and a city who wanted to believe.

OK, it helps my rating of this movie that Coach Vermeil was also a great coach at UCLA. Alumni don't forget! I loved the great inside look at football in the NFL, but there is more to this movie than football. It's a personal story of living your dream and achieving it against all odds. Even women who don't like football will find the emerging love between Vince and his future wife Janet touching enough to bring a few tears to their eyes. Yes, the men will cry, too. 

What's the movie reinforce about motivation? You can't win if you don't try; you miss a 100% of the shots you never take. Vince lived that truth to the fullest. With the support of a father and friends who cared enough to believe in Vince, he responded to the challenge and gave it all he had.

I loved the comment or reviewer Pete Hammond, "If this movie doesn't make you want to stand up and cheer, you probably don't have a pulse!" If you have some dreams you are waiting to live, go see this movie and then "try out" for your dream. Don't be the one who holds yourself back. Everyone has doubts and dreams; be one in your neighborhood to overcome your doubts long enough to give your dreams a chance. Know that like the people of Philly, there are plentyof people ready to applaud from the sidelines!

Darrell Nelson's Mowing Diet Provides Lessons on Personal Motivation

Talk about an interesting approach to motivation. Darrell Nelson had consistently been putting on weight. After failing to sustain a workable diet and exercise plan, a comment by a neighbor has given birth to the Mowing Diet Plan! Something clicked after Darrell's neighbor commented that his mowing of his lawn was a good exercise.

He realized that a good workout in the yard was something he enjoyed doing and was a good way to work up a sweat and also be productive. He decided to initiate a unique plan to lose 50 pounds. He would mow a lawn a day as his exercise plan. He used innocently posted a listing on the website Craig's List this week advertising free lawnmowing services. He got more than he bargained for. Not only does he now have five lawns in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area plus his own to mow every week; he's losing weight and talking about it to an amused media.

Darrell knew that one of the secrets to staying with a plan is making commitments to others. By committing to people who needed their lawns mowed, he has all the motivation he needs to keep him on task.

With five or so lawns per week, sweating for about an hour per lawn, he has initiated a pretty good exercise non-program. The former power lifter, who is about 5 feet 9 and weighed about 258 pounds when he started, has a goal of losing 50 pounds.

Toro Lawn Mowers has negotiated some added incentive. They are supplying the new lawnmower. If he reaches his goal, he gets the lawnmower for free. If he doesn't, Darrell will have to pay.

Darrell is utilizing two concepts that are known to work in changing habits. He has unleashed the power of commitments and self-reward. Now, if you live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, you may want to contact Darrell. He has more lawns to mow than he has time to do them. If you want to start your own mowing diet, he can help.

By the way, all the media attention has just increased his motivation. Darrell said to a Star Tribune reporter the day before he was scheduled to appear on "The Early Show" on CBS, "This is just insane. This has turned upside down. I'm in an onslaught of phone calls. ... I never anticipated what this has turned into. I have to lose weight now. I cannot fail, now that this has gotten this big. I'm overwhelmed by it. I'm getting my 15 minutes of fame and didn't expect it. I just wanted to lose weight."

Source: Eric Hanson, "Weight loss plan: I'll mow your lawn for free," Star Tribune, July 07, 2006.

The Pursuit of Happyness Brings Motivation and Satisfaction

In support of his new book, The Pursuit of Happyness, Chris Gardner was interviewed for USA Today. Chris has turned his unlikely journey from homeless father at times supported by San Francisco prostitutes and a caring Christian community to a multimillion dollar owner of an investment firm in Chicago into an inspiring tribute to the importance of finding a career that you love--a career that makes you happy!

In the interview, Chris said it well, "The secret of success is there is no secret. Blocking and tackling. And more important than that, find something that you love. Something that gets you so excited you can't wait to get out of bed in the morning. Forget about money. Be happy. That takes a certain amount of boldness to say, 'This is what I like.' The money thing will come. I know so many people who have so much more money than I. They are miserable. It is so important to be happy."

Don't settle for doing a job that pays the bills and expect to be motivated. There is something that comes to life inside you when you can use the gifts God has given you in a way that makes a difference for others. Some people call it being in the flow! When you are doing what you love, it doesn't feel like work. That feeling doesn't come every day even when you are in the right job, but it comes often or it isn't the right job.

When people ask me, "How do you keep doing the same program over and over again and have such passion and energy?" When I'm doing what I love in front of an appreciating audience, it isn't work. At the end of the presentation, I am satisfied, not tired.

If you've found a job you love, you are blessed. Count your blessings, and keep motivating yourself to take your skills to a new level. If you haven't, begin investing at least 5% of your time in searching for what you are meant to do. Take courses or training in areas you have always wanted to do; trust your instincts. Look for ways to cross-train and work with areas of your organization that might interest you. Take action, and enjoy the journey. That may prove to be motivating in and of itself. Don't believe that you can't live your dreams. If Chris Gardner can, so can you.

Source: Chris Gardner, author of The Pursuit of Happyness (with Quincy Troupe), Amistad, 2006, quoted in Rodney Brooks, "Whether in riches or rags, happiness matters," USA Today, May 22, 206, p. 3B.

Small Steps Can Lead to Big Accomplishments

Anna Shedletsky was selected to USA Today's All-USA High School Academic Team and is now reaching the grand age of 20. Her pick to the distinguished team from Brewster High in NY appears justified. Anna was selected for developing a computer algorithm to model the spread of disease through human populations while being an orchestra violinist and an editor of her school's literary magazine in high school. She's now a Department of Homeland Security Scholar at Stanford. She's been a summer intern at IBM where she created a customer satisfaction data analysis program that crunched numbers in seconds instead of a week. She's majoring in mechanical engineering and is still finding time to keep up her writing and violin lessons. This is one motivated young woman.

She shared some advice to high school students that is not bad advice for anyone who wants to target their own motivation on making meaningful progress. She advised, "I used to roll my eyes when my research science teacher, Mr. Mostransky, would make me write out my goals for each two-week period of time. At the time, I thought that it was excessive and lame to establish such meaningless goals like, 'Read so-and-so's paper and write synopsis.' In retrospect, I realize that chipping away at the Big Dreams was the only way to reach them. Now, instead of seeing where I am and where I want to be, I see all of the little steps in between, so I know what as to be done."

As they say, "A journey of a thousand miles starts with a step." It's worth not only taking steps, but keeping those steps pointed toward your dream. When you do, progress will be made every step you take. Don't forget to enjoy your journey; obviously, Anna is.

(Anna Shedletsky, USA Today, May 3, 2006, 9D.) 

Why Does Fox's 24 Motivate So Many to Watch?

There are hundreds of channels and nothing to watch on TV. Do you feel that way? I certainly do. But there are some rare exceptions and one of them is a show I have loved watching for five seasons--Fox's unique and engaging "24," starring Jack Bauer! Yes, Kiefer Sutherland plays Jack Bauer, the all knowing, invincible warrior for justice and the American Way. He gets more done in 24 hours than any man alive, and he never gets tired or loses his focus. The rest of his life must be very boring in comparison.

What motivates so many to watch? Part of it is the community a serial show creates--a community of second-guessers and amateur antiterrorism citizens who like watching the intense and engaging show. The community suspends belief and joins the world the show creates. We hate to see our favorites die--President Palmer, Edgar, Tony, and Michelle. They have all died this year. Luckily, Jack and Chloe continue to live on. In fact, those two certainly have kept America, if not the world, safe for five years. Chloe has the humor, smarts and wicked honesty who keeps coming up with great lines. Jack has more lives than a cat.

But what motivates us? The show gives you enough information to keep you guessing and going back to past shows to pick up the setups to the plot shifts that occur almost every night. The loyal community talks about the show the next day. Nancy, Lorie and I always talk about plot lines and what to expect from key characters. We complain about how impossible the show is, but we are still hooked. In an age locked into the fast lane, 24 is the perfect show. It matches our lives and our fears. In a war against terrorism, we hope Jack remains on our side. He helps keep hope alive.

This also reminds me of the good old Zeigarnik Effect done in Germany by B. Zeigarnik in 1927. He found that we are bothered by things that are not done. We have a high need for closure. That is why we can't put down a novel until we have finished the chapter. That's why we are willing to go through those long commercials to see the end of the TV movie or the latest 24 episode! We are motivated by closure. Like a good novel, 24 doesn't let us put the show down.

Zeigarnik said it in 1927: "It was found that the uncompleted tasks were remembered about twice as frequently as completed ones. Tests of memory, given some time later, showed the same difference. When a task was finished, it was easy to forget, whereas, when it was not finished, it lingered in our memory and even tormented the subject. When permitted to finish the uncompleted tasks later, the subjects were greatly relieved and the memory difference disappeared." Now you know a little bit more about what closure does to motivation.

As a leader in a constantly changing world, we find that life is less like a TV show and more like a serial. There is no end. Leaders can trick the need for closure by treating strategic business goals like chapters of a never-ending novel. Let people experience some satisfaction at reaching a milestone, but use the celebration to raise the bar again. Good leaders and professionals don't settle for a good year; they want a dynasty....and another season of 24!

In fact, don't finish growing. Don't finish dreaming. Live every day until you die.

(Source: B. Zeigarnik, Psychol. Forsch., 1927, 9, 1-85)