Monday Morning (Meltdown) Motivation

This weekend my office was blighted by a technology meltdown of sorts, ok so I have a propensity to exaggerate slightly. The "meltdown" manifested as: no broadband and no email. So my usual Monday morning task of posting this blog was put back while I cleared some of the backlog of mails and error messages this morning.

What's this got to do with motivation you say?

Well I realised that, while I have a fairly strong internal drive to get most things done, I also have a fairly short window in which to do them before motivation wanes. This blog is an example, I very nearly didn't take the time to write it. Firstly because I hadn't even sketched out the usual Sunday night draft as Mike and I were over at friends of ours for dinner. Secondly, due to being out with said friends, there is a little more alcohol in my Monday morning bloodstream this morning, than usual. Lastly as I knew it would take some time and I was already playing catch up.

Well you're reading the evidence of the motivational strategy that was applied and it's what I like to call "The Expectation Principle". It's very simple, I knew that someone was expecting to see this blog this morning, I also knew that they were expecting to see it at 9.30. I hold this particular person in high esteem which also led me to be motivated meet their expectations.

When we don't have the internal motivation, having someone else hold your feet to the fire to achieve certain tasks can be very useful. There is a difference, however, between The Expectation Principle and the kind of stick motivation that you get when someone nags you to get something done. The Expectation Principle is a positive feeling, a pull towards meeting high expectations, a desire to please if you like, with a little something extra.

So if you know you have things to accomplish today or this week, that might slip off the radar, engage someone to help you with your motivation.

There are a number of ways to set in motion The Expectation Principle, here's one process:

• Find someone you respect or admire who's opinion of you matters, but perhaps you don't know too well yet.
• Have a chat with them, explain why you're aiming to achieve your particular task, get excited about the benefits of doing that.
• Allow them to be curious and genuinely interested in your desired outcome, take on board their suggestions, thoughts and comments.
• Be specific about the day and time that you will achieve this task by.
• When the time comes to do your task, remind yourself of their expectation. I have an image of this person in my head and can hear their words of encouragement, but whatever way you remind yourself will work just as well.
• If the time passes without you having achieved your task, allow them to remind you about the benefits of your outcome (you might need to ask them to do this for you in advance).

If you need a buddy to help you get fired up about that task that's been bugging you then drop me a line, I'll be delighted to help.

Wishing you a thoroughly motivated Monday!

Just for today...

As I sit looking out over London on another misty morning (I’m lucky that my office affords me spectacular views across town), I am contemplating my To-do list and how I will accomplish the usual time distortion in order to achieve it all.

In this pregnant stillness of London before she wakes I am reminded of something that brings me much clarity, comfort and focus.
As a Reiki Master, who has been practicing for some years now I am often asked about the way in which I use this powerful energy and teachings in my everyday life.
One of the many ways is by applying the hugely pivotal and sometimes neglected teachings of Dr Mikao Usui that he gave in the form of his 5 principles. Dr Usui, for those not familiar, was a Buddhist priest and teacher in Japan (1865 – 1926) who had a powerful enlightening experience with the Universal Energy that is Rei (Universal) Ki (Life force energy). As a result he developed and passed on the traditional Reiki healing system that we refer to today.

Dr Usui’s 5 principles are beautiful spoken in Japanese and even more soothing when chanted.
Kyo dake wa:
Okuruna:
Shinpai; suna;
Kansha shite;
Goo hage me;
Hito ni shinsetsu ni.

I work with them as:

Just for today, I will not anger
Just for today, I will not worry
Today, I show gratitude and count my many blessings
Today, I will do my work honestly
Today, I will show compassion to myself and every living thing

The key piece of the principles for me is “Kyo dake wa” - Just for today.
They remind us to be ever present. They remind us that we don’t have to sort out the problems of tomorrow today, they invite us to manage ourselves and the important things in life on a daily basis. Step by step, moment by moment.
There is a beautiful Sanskrit poem which is on our bathroom mirror, that re-affirms Usuis message:

Look to this day
For it is life
The very life of life
In it’s brief course lie all
The realities and truths of existence
The joy of growth
The splendour of action
The glory of power
For yesterday is but a memory
And tomorrow
Is only a vision
But today well lived
Makes every yesterday and memory of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope
Look well therefore to this day!


It is my belief that worry and anger in particular bring disease. With a to-do list as long as your arm and the pressures that running a company can bring (never mind everything else outside of it), it can be very easy to allow negative thoughts to spiral. Worry and anger lower out personal vibration weaken our physical bodies and sap our vital energy.
Thank fully for me I am very gently reminded by the principles which hang above my desk of a way to banish those feelings and come back to myself. Gratitude and compassion are immensely powerful. The realisation that to be sitting here typing this, warm, fed, rested having enjoyed a safe and comfortable sleep in my own home, with a good education behind me and money in the bank, puts me in the top 2% of the most privileged people on this planet.
Pondering on that for a moment, as it’s a wonderful feeling. I think of my husband, my friends, my family, the work that I’m able to do, the books that surround me in my office and feed my mind, the car that starts first time, my good health, my freedom of speech, my ability to enjoy music, the red wine I can enjoy, the fact that I can type, the sun is shining, my tea is hot, my shower works, my loo flushes….the list of daily blessings is endless.

Just spending a moment on these thoughts raises my energy (and my zest for the to-do list) like you wouldn’t believe. It also sends out a wave, a powerful restorative healing wave of energy that touches all those in its path. By allowing myself compassion it takes the pressure off. I get done what I get done and I’m doing my work honestly and to the best of my ability. Today is a new day, as tomorrow will be. By allowing myself compassion it also puts me in a space to receive love, support and compassion from others, without which life would be infinitely harder. By extending compassion to every other living thing, I am able to pass on a gift acceptance and love that is one of the most powerful forces in our Universe.

As I reflect on Dr Usuis teachings it occurs to me that I don’t use Reiki, Reiki uses me, and that is the greatest blessing of all.

Are you sticky?

I was delighted that the sun was shining on my Amovita Netwalk yesterday and our small band of eager networkers took to the luscious paths of Richmond Park with vigour.
After an opening icebreaker and giving the participants a chance to circulate and share histories and interests I broached the subject of stickiness with them. It’s something that I’ve long been fascinated with from my time in sales, marketing and PR and it crosses over into everyday networking.

Stickiness is a phrase I borrowed from Malcolm Gladwell, I read his book “The Tipping Point” some years ago on a flight to Lisbon (I’m a quick reader). I was travelling to facilitate at a conference for a large organisation, more specifically their global sales and marketing teams. What Gladwell writes pulled together a few years worth of musings and reading into one of those delightful "a-ha" moments for me, so much so that I made it the content of my keynote speech at the end of that conference.

Stickiness refers not only to how memorable your message is but how effective it is at spurring people to action. For those of us who network regularly both virtually and in reality, perhaps you wonder, as I do, what people actually remember about your conversations.
How would you like to influence more often what parts of your message get across and which parts stick?!

In our netwalking session yesterday some of us were surprised when given feedback at which bits of the message stuck out and stuck in the most. What people remembered I noticed was governed mainly by two things, they are what I like to call The Passion Bug and the WIIFT rating.

The passion bug is simply your congruence and the passion while delivering your message and how infectious that is. If we are outwardly passionate and enthusiastic about our message and it comes from the heart then it has a level of congruence and integrity that exudes and becomes sticky. That state is readily infectious. Gladwell uses the term “senders” coined by psychologists in the past, to describe those people with special personalities. He notes that those of us who are good at expressing our emotions and feelings are far more emotionally contagious than others. How would it be if your passion and enthusiasm and love of what you do could be “caught” by others? How much more powerful would that make your business, if you had all those extra sales people walking around?
I experienced catching someone else’s passion bug on Thursday. I was on a call with Karen Skidmore of CanDoCanBe and she was talking about the virtues of auto-responders, not something I would normally think to get excited about. She’s mad about them (in a good way) and was eager to share her enthusiasm and I’ve got to admit I can see, and feel, what she means. I’m now hooked on the virtues of them for my business. Thanks Karen!

The WIIFT rating is something I’m sure you’ve all come across in one guise or another. Simply put it’s What’s In It For Them, your customers? People connect with a message at the point of value for them. In the context of our walk we were talking about our lives up until that point, now that’s a whole lot to cover and remember. We all noticed that those points that stuck in people’s hearts and minds were those elements that they could relate to, or were interested in from personal experience or had some additional value to them.

Just think of the phenomenal effect if the WIIFT part of your message is passionate and highly contagious.

Now I consider myself to be hugely blessed, being passionate about what I do comes easily to me because I LOVE IT and I’ve noticed how powerful being able to say that is to people. I love the process and most of all I love the benefits it brings and the way it touches people I work with. If you cannot say passionately and congruently I LOVE WHAT I DO then you might like to consider what needs to change so that you can.

Wishing you a wonderfully passionate day!

Peak experiences

Following on from an earlier blog on combating the symptoms of SAD I thought I’d remind us as the end of the week (and my Netwalk) is coming up about the benefits of getting out in nature. Those in “the scientific know” have finally caught up with what us nature lovers have been raving on about for a fair while now.

Although I’m rarely surprised, it still always pains me to hear of the number of my clients, who work corporately in particular, that don’t take a lunch break. Either they don’t have time, or worse still don’t see it as important. As winter draws closer, the likelihood that many of us will be travelling to and from work in the dark increases. Would you stick your favourite pet in a dark box all day? As I encouraged you to do in my earlier blog (sorry for sounding like a scratched record) Get out and take a break in the sunlight – even if it’s not a blazing sunny day, the natural light will make a difference to your mood. If you can combine it with time in a green space all the better as this has even further beneficial effects.

In a report by Dr William Bird, A GP and Strategic Health Advisor to Natural England, entitled “Natural Thinking” published June this year he clearly states that “access to green space can also help alleviate a range of mental health problems. Contact with nature reduces stress within minutes, increases the elderly’s satisfaction and with where they live and improves children’s concentration and self-discipline, including the symptoms of attention deficit disorder (ADD).

Scandinavian studies indicate that playing in nature has a positive impact on children's social play, concentration and motor ability (Bang et al, 1989; Grahn, 1991; Fjortoft, 1995, 1998, 1999; Grahn et al ,1997).

A recent American study confirmed that green play settings improved children's concentration: children with Attention Deficit Disorder were found to function better than usual after activities in green settings (Faber Taylor et al, 2001).

As highlighted last year by John Davis, Ph.D.of Naropa University nature is also a trigger for what Maslow describes as Peak Experiences. (Experiences of optimal mental health, comparable to intense spiritual experiences or mystical experiences. Maslow also talked about plateau experiences characterized more by a sense of tranquillity and serenity, lower intensity, and often, longer duration.)

Some of the most profound experiences in my life have been in natural settings. Earlier this year I was moved to tears and had astounding personal revelations, while I watched the natural wonder of dawn breaking over the completely cloudless peak of Mount Kenya.
Davis goes on to say that: Anecdotal evidence suggests that many spiritual leaders had key mystical experiences in wilderness settings, e.g., Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Black Elk, et al. Of course, many people have used nature experiences as paradigmatic examples of spiritual or transpersonal experiences. In a psychological context, the integral theorist, Ken Wilber, is notable for referring to "nature mysticism" in describing transpersonal experience. Survey results on frequency and triggers for peak experiences (Davis, Lockwood, & Wright) shows that nature is the most common trigger for peak experiences
I adore England not least because of the spectacular diversity that it’s natural environment abounds.
Here’s some of my favourite spots around England and Wales (I haven’t spent enough time in Scotland yet!), if you fancy planning a natural peak this weekend.

Forests
New Forest – Knightwood Oak
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-6a5kvg
Burnham Beeches
http://www.timetravel-britain.com/05/fall/beeches.shtml

Rivers
New Forest – Adventures on Beaulieu River
http://www.newforestactivities.co.uk/beaulieumain.htm


Seaside
Beachy Head
http://www.beachyhead.org.uk/about_the_area.html

Isle of Purbeck
http://www.isleofpurbeck.com/corfe.html

Hills & Mountains
Snowdonia National Park
http://www.geocities.com/rainforest/1098/Eryri.html
Scafell
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/webcams/scafell.shtml
South Downs
http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/Southdowns/index.asp

Enjoy the great outdoors!
Warm regards
Elizabeth