Self motivation part 5
Hypnosis
This is something that anyone may wish to try.
Perhaps using a trigger word that may help to boost performance when it is needed most.
The best situation here is to speak to an expert and discuss your issues to see where this technique may be of help.
Rituals
Many people will adopt a ritual behaviour before they carry out a particular task.
This manifests itself in all manner of ways.
The way a golfer lines up a putt or the way a rugby player lines up a conversion attempt, teams getting into a huddle before play begins etc.
It can literally be anything that you feel gives you confidence to proceed.
The problem here is that is a ritual becomes too frequent to the point of being obsessive it can be unhealthy.
Make sure that your rituals can complete. If they can’t this can lead to negative thinking and failure as a result.
The ritual should relate to something important to you.
It could just be going for a drive or a walk.
Rituals can help you focus on the task in hand by occupying the left hand side of the brain that is responsible for logical thinking thus freeing up the right side for more creative thinking.
If you feel useful the brain will be better challenged.
During war when people are more occupied usefulness rises and some aspects of negative thinking are reduced.
The left side of the brain can focus too easily on short term issues.
Certainly, any form of emergency can bring out the very best in people.
Crises tend to generate immediate energy levels and a sense of purpose.
Relaxation
Anything that helps you relax can make you feel in a better frame of mind for tackling jobs.
This could be loosening clothing, putting your feet up or reading a book.
Others might include aromatherapy, health spas, massage or meditation techniques.
You could use muscle relaxation techniques where you tense muscles for a short period of time and then allow them to relax.
You could listen to your most favourite calming music.
At the same time, with your eyes closed, you might wish to visualise being in a warm sunny spot on the beach and imagining all of the sounds and smells.
There are many books in this area for you to pick techniques to try to see what works for you.
In general, for all of these techniques choose what you are happy with and don’t become reliant on one or two.
Remember, that these are an aid to good performance for many people and not the reason for good performance.
Relaxation comes in many forms and one of these is being alone.
Try to create silence by turning off the television.
Being alone in silence can trigger excellent ideas.
Some people might go for a drive and keep going until a bright idea materialises.
It’s surprising what you can come up with when you spend enough time completely alone.
It’s not a bad idea to keep the television off on a regular basis.
Find something else to do that will stretch your mind.
Relaxation can be passive or active.
In the former you are in a state where you are letting things wash over you, such as watching the television.
Anything where you are interacting is active. This may be video games or playing chess. Provided you don’t spend an
inordinate amount of time on some of these areas they are useful for increasing motivation for other tasks.
You come back revitalised.
One aspect to be aware of in this area is choice.
It is very easy to ‘chill out’ and let things wash over you.
If you watch television be a little more choosy.
If you read a book why not pick something that will keep you thinking, for example, a high quality ‘who dunnit’ or one of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
When you think about it you will find plenty of opportunities to widen rather than narrow your horizons.
Another aspect of reading you may wish to try is reading out loud.
This has the effect of bringing the contents to life and making it more inspiring.
You will probably find that you retain much more of the information as well.
Plenty of people say that the only way to read Shakespeare is out loud.
Reading to yourself usually involves a degree of speed reading technique which involves taking in whole phrases and potentially skipping parts.
What you don’t want to do is turn to excessive eating, smoking and drinking for relaxation.
These will not help motivation.
Create a challenge
Every time you step outside of your normal boundaries you will challenge yourself.
When doing this you will gain new experiences and skills and that means developing your own self esteem.
As this rises so will your motivation to take on other challenges.
On a non work front you may decide to learn a new language, learn to drive or fly, take up painting, read more about historical figures etc. Increased knowledge leads to more informed choices.