Guest Blog; What gets you out of bed in the morning?

Guest Blog Tonight: my friend and colleague Steve Burns writes tonight about getting out of bed in the morning. Enjoy :)...

Following our recent NLP Master Practitioner Course in Glasgow my fascination into how we are motivated to do the things we do was rekindled. Just how do you motivate yourself to get out of bed in the morning?

I mean, if you also have a memory foam mattress like me, you'll know just how cosy, warm and beautiful your sleeping palace can be...:-)

So how do you do it? Are you inspired & excited for the days plans, fearful & stressed that if you don't move soon then you won't have time to do what you feel you need to do? or maybe you juts kind of roll out, stumble into the shower and let the cold water do the job for you.

Of course when we zoom the camera back a bit we find a more important question at play...

In general, why do we do anything? What are you primary motivation strategies for getting things done?

Do you use the the anticipation of how good you're going to feel when you're done? Or perhaps you choose the gut wrenching fear of how bad you'll feel if you don't...Or maybe you're somewhere in between...

It's an important question when you think about it...Most of your day is taken up by 'doing stuff' so you might as well do it in a way where you get the greatest pleasure you can and the smallest amount of frustration.

I was told a story once about a foolish man and a wise man. On deciding to clean his closet for the first time in a year the foolish man opens the door, takes a look at the mass of disorganised clothes and random objects, instantly feels a pang of anxiety in the pit of his stomach but decides it's something he really should do. He proceeds to re-arrange his closet and, as he progresses through all the junk, the feeling of anxiety gets smaller and smaller until (once he has finished) the feeling has gone...

The wise man, however, had a different strategy...On opening the closet and seeing a similar scene of chaos he quickly projects himself into the future...and imagines what it's going to be like when he's finished...The time and place when the closet looks clean, organised and just the way he wants it...On feeling the good feeling this brings he starts the tidy...The closer he gets to this image the better he feels until he experiences the sense of satisfaction on completion...

Because when you get down to it there's always a way to do things that involves maximizing the pleasure and minimizing the stress...

So ask yourself the question, Why do I do what I do? Is it to mostly to avoid pain? or is it all about the pleasure? If it's the former then shifting this more towards noticing the pleasure could be one of the best things you've ever done...

Check out www.scottishcentreofnlp.com for details of where you can see Steve and I train together very soon indeed

Your a feckin Champion, you know that?

Is there a success virus do you think? Watching the Olympics over the last 10 days or so, it seems like, for Team GB anyway, that success has become infectious. Spreading from one member of the team to the next, giving people hope, encouragement and an extra push when it matters. 

Success does that. I remember in a previous 'life' (when I had a 'proper' job!) working for one of the UKs biggest banks and financial institutions when that success was infecting the whole country. We called the infection the dot.com boom. It felt like everyone was financially invincible. Put money here, make a packet quickly, get out while the going is good. It didn't last. 

A company called LastMinute.com came along.  The news showed clips of desperate people running trying to get their applications in just before it closed, it was going to be amazing. They were all going to be rich by the next week. Sadly, LastMinute.com launched at 8am and by 10am had started to fall. It never recovered and, 12 years later, has never reached its opening share price. 

This is when people are tested. Not when success is there, but when success stops. 

It's all natural law, what goes up must come down, nothing is constant, entropy.  But it is when this happens that the truly successful set themselves apart. The strongest system, survives. The strongest genes, survive. The strongest company, survives. The strongest people, survive.

When all the success is gone amd the pushing and encouragement stops there is an important thought. Success is temporary, but so is the lack of it.  It's time for evolution not panic or fear.  

Stock markets go up and down. It's the nature of the machine. But it will survive because some people will never, ever give up. 

The Olympic glow will pass, some people will decide they will never succeed but the strongest and most committed will be back and be champions. Why? Because they will never, ever give up. 

In your life, whatever it is that is happening for you now will pass (ups or downs).  Your success or lack of it is temporary and you can either face it like a champion or this can be your LastMinute. 

Never, ever give up. Be infected and stay infected by success. 

Quick Progress Update

Wee quickie: Progress, how do you know you've made it?

I meet a lot of people who tell me how stuck they are yet, when they tell me the things they have done, you find out they are amazing. One of the problems, in my opinion, is how stuck people gauge their personal progress.

So here's a wee thing; think about yourself a year ago.  Think about who you were, where your life was, what you knew and what you were doing.  Now ask yourself, how has the 'now' you progressed from the 'then' you?

Now, think about yourself three years ago and ask the same questions.

Keep going if you want to really become amazed at yourself. You ten years ago and you now are very different people I bet!

You've never stopped progressing.  Every day you become more special. You should just accept how special you are :)

Accepting being awesome

How are you with compliments? Can you accept them or do you do that thing where you feel duty bound to reject them by qualifying them with some balancing statement (e.g. 'you look great!' 'oh no, this is just something I threw on and my hair's not been washed in days')?

If I could do one thing to change the world it would be to teach everyone how to accept a compliment  with gratitude. It could transform everything! Imagine a world where everyone could accept that someone else has something nice to say to them? How crazy would that be?

There is a perfectly good reason for not being able to accept a compliment. It's so that you can maintain your crappy view of yourself inside your head. Simple as that. The rejection of a compliment is a perfect example of your mind's ability to ignore anything it feels conflicts with your established view of the world.  Does that make sense? 

You believe the world is flat. Someone says the world is round. If your belief system is strong enough, your mind can, and more than likely will, simply reject that reality.  It does it all the time. 

So, if you find you can't accept a compliment, what is it that you believe about yourself that is so powerful that prevents you accepting, whole heartedly, that you are amazing, beautiful, perfect and, above all, a kick ass person to know? And why the hell would you believe that about yourself?!

It's time to accept that you are amazing, beautiful, perfect and, above all, a kick ass person to know. So from now on I want to give you the special compliment mantra. This is the important phrase you will say from now on every time someone says something nice to you. It's really important so you might want to write it down.  Ready?  The phrase is...'Thank You'

Do it. Every time. It will make you feel amazing. Ready for practice...

You are amazing, beautiful, perfect and, above all, a kick ass person to know. Your response?

7 Rules of Life - 6. All power comes from within

7 Rules of Life - 6. All power comes from within


When I coach people I am always very aware of one change, that any change that occurs for that person is 100% down to them.  I have merely been a witness and a guide to help them find the places they already possessed to empower them to make the change.

That might sound a bit bizarre to anyone that puts their faith in a specific guru or expert or attributes change to some magic touch they received but I promise you that you made the change yourself.

I am privileged and honoured to be the guide for so many people and many people who I have helped through courses and privately have expressed their gratitude for any help I have given them.  I thank you if you are one of them however I didn't make the change, YOU DID!

You see, everything you have ever done and accomplished is because of you.  You probably don't even realise just how much you are capable of but, and I promise this is true, if you just went for your dreams with 100% conviction and refused, point blank refused, to stop until you got everything you wanted, guess what? You'd have everything you wanted!

But so few of us do that.  We give away our power, becoming martyrs and victims of our own crappy circumstances.  We believe we have no power and we end up stagnant or potentially we even end up going backwards, running from life like it is some scary zombie that refuses to be baseball batted into submission (scary, life zombies...now there's a metaphor!).

We have unlimited power when we choose to use it.  There have been times in your life when you have went deep and managed to find that extra ounce of energy, that little push when you needed it most, that moment of clarity amidst chaos.  This is your power.  You own it.

If you just chose to really use your incredible power, just what amazing things would you be capable of?

Or is it easier to sit on your ass, do piss all and pretend you don't have any?

Your move...