11 Super Simple Motivation Tricks for Stretching Your Comfort Zone in 2021

 

 

 

 

Sometimes we need deep solutions and in-depth answers...and sometimes we need simple and sweet.

That's what we’ve got for you today. 11 simple tips you can read in a minute and use in an instant. Enjoy!

1. The Time to Wait is Over
'I'll get started when the kids are out of school.' 'I'll do it when the kids go back to school.' 'I'll wait until the time is right.' The time and situation will never be perfect, and, though you may sit still, time will not. Putting off your goals until everything is in place may leave you waiting for the rest of your life. If you have the ability to begin work on your goals today, don't wait until tomorrow.

2. People Have Done More, With Less
Remember this every time you feel like the cards are stacked against you or you don't have what it takes. You not only have the goods, but you most likely have more than what thousands of other successful people had before you. With much less than what we enjoy today, people have created lives of health, wealth, success, and happiness.

3. Study the Best of the Best
Learning about the lives of ordinary individuals accomplishing extraordinary things can quickly inspire and motivate. With a little effort and research you can find stories that relate to the challenges you're facing and use them as a blueprint for your own plans of improvement.

4. Motivation Station
We all have movies that motivate us or make us want to reach for more. Make a collection of these movies and create your own motivation station. Whenever you are in need of a quick boost, and have two hours to spare, you'll have the perfect solution within reach.

5. Motivate Others
When you help others, they will in turn be helping you. If a friend or family member is in need of a little motivation, make it your personal goal to help them achieve success. Motivating your friend will help you to learn about motivation from an entirely different viewpoint.

6. To-Do Lists
Create a task list on Sunday night that covers the upcoming week's goals or tasks. Even if you don't think you'll have the motivation to do a certain project, list it. Your list will keep you up to date on responsibilities and aware of your goals.

As time goes on, move incomplete tasks to the top of tomorrow's list. This will guarantee that each item will be finished even if time runs out on its scheduled date. If you find that items are consistently being moved to the top of the next day's list, you may have to reduce your workload.

7. Find a Mentor
Don't reinvent the wheel. Find others who are willing to share and listen to what they have to say.

8. Clean Your Thinking Space
Take a few minutes to clean your thinking spot. If you do your best thinking in the den, for example, make sure the room is organized and uncluttered. A disorganized environment will create a disorganized mind; a clean environment will make for crisp and focused thinking.

9. Write Out Your Excuses
Make a written list of the reasons you normally use for not doing something that you should-or want-to do. Consider each area of your life: your job, your family, your money, your health, etc.

If you're not working as diligently as you should be, what's your reason?

Next to each item on your list, brainstorm for solutions. For example, if you wrote down that you put off your goal because you have a full-time job, you could write that you still have five to six hours per night to work on your tasks after work. If you're smart enough to come up with these excuses, you're smart enough to tear them apart.

10. Make it a Game
We are hardwired to meet a challenge. So when you have to complete some simple chore or project, make it a game. This will reframe the situation from a dreaded job to a personal competition. Have to clean the house? See if you can do it in under two hours. Need to write that paper? Finish a paragraph before the next commercial break.

11. Make a Round Tuit
When are you going back to school? When are you going to start working out? When are you going to write your book?

Such questions often spark a common response: When I get around to it.

Well, the time has come to create your very own Round Tuit. Cut out a circle from construction paper and place the word Tuit (pronounced to-it) on the front in big, bold letters. Keep your round tuit handy as a constant source of motivation.

 

Click here to read a related post. Why It's Good to Stretch Outside Your Comfort Zone

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant

SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step... 

Interested in learning how to develop your organization's culture, employee engagement and leadership capability? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please contact: 

Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, title companies, wealth management firms, third-party maintenance companies, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth. 

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Life Lessons from the Film, It's a Wonderful Life

 

Most of us have seen the classic holiday movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.” A lot of us have seen the film many times (Full disclosure: I just saw it last night for the 30th time!) because it tells such a timeless and compelling story about how any one life can positively impact so many others.

For those who have not seen it,  “It’s a Wonderful Life” is the story of George Bailey—a man who serves and sacrifices for others. The Bailey Building and Loan lends money to poor people many of them would not own a home were it not for the BBL.  Mr. Potter, the arch villain in the film, is a greedy old man who thrives on exploiting people in Bedford Falls. He continually threatens the Bailey Building and Loan’s survival.

George Bailey is in conflict between his obligations and his dreams—He wants to get out of the small town of Bedford Falls (George remarked, “ I want to shake the dust off my feet of this shabby little town and see the world. I've got big ideas and big plans and I want to build big things.”) And as he said to his father at dinner one night—“I want to do something big and important.” His father replies: “In a small way we are doing something important—man has a fundamental urge to own a roof over his head.”

George’s ambitions are thwarted by old man Potter’s schemes. After his Father died George is on his way out of town. In a character defining moment George agrees to stay dashing his dreams of far-flung adventure—creating instead a more intimate adventure that has a far greater impact on his personal world.

The film shows that real influence comes not from title or rank (as George had no formal title in the town such as Mayor) but from attempting to connect and help the people around us.

The movie also shows us that as we make ourselves available to others with courage and caring our lives develop meaning and a legacy is created, not necessarily along the paths we intended but in small acts that make a difference. George Bailey shows that if we respond with generosity and compassion our lives would have meant something. But he didn't realize this fact until the end of the movie.

Scene: George, faced with financial and personal crisis and feeling that he never made it. He attempts suicide and Clarence his guardian angel (Read: life coach) gives him a privileged look at the impact of his life on the people in Bedford Falls

George Bailey only understands the dramatic difference he made when he sees what Bedford Falls became had he never lived.

Scene: George, in desperation and shock is walking along the snow-covered streets of what is now called Potterville—a town overrun by greed and selfishness. 

Clarence  says “Strange isn't it, each man’s life touches so many other lives and when his isn't around he leaves an awful hole.”

In one of the most famous (and emotional) scenes in movie history: When the townspeople all came to George's house to contribute to the BBL deficit, George finally understands how his life of service has created deep commitment to him from the town’s people (when he was in need) even though he didn't know it.

George has a wealth far beyond material goods or power. Frank Capra reminds us that there is no substitute for relationships of integrity, trust and caring. Relationships that are forged through consistent acts of service.

George Bailey had created an enduring legacy because of his acts of caring, compassion, and courage.

Cheers to a New Year and another chance to make a difference in people's lives.

Peter Mclees
Email: petercmclees@gmail.com
Mobile: 323-854-1713

How to be a better leader in 9 minutes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Want to be a better leader? Not just one that develops employees, but one that gets results as well. Leadership and motivation specialist James Robbins book, Nine Minutes on Monday,  is based on the theory that it's the little things -- done consistently -- that bring the biggest results. I agree based on 25 years of coaching and training leaders.

The purpose of a leader is to lead a team to great results. This is not an innate skill and many people have experienced the pain of having a bad manager. Additionally, many people get thrown into a manager role without proper training and understanding of what they should be doing. Robbins has 9 questions you should ask yourself each Monday morning. They are:

1. Whom will I show a genuine interest in this week?
2. Whom will I give feedback to?
3. Whom will I recognize?
4. How will I connect purpose to pay for someone?
5. Whom will I help grow this week?
6. Whom will I help feel autonomous?
7. What can I do to foster team unity?
8. Where can I inject some fun?
9. What do I need to model for my team members?

Note how none of these are connected to the typical worries of managers -- productivity, budgets, project timelines and any of the other million problems that land on a manager's plate. Instead, they focus on the key purpose of managers -- getting their team to perform at a higher level. All of those other things are necessary, but they go better when you have good people.

Of course implementing these things take a lot more than 9 minutes, but not so much more that doing them will take away from the rest of your work time. After all, how long does it take to give feedback to one of your employees? Or recognize good performance?

All 9 are critical however, number 6 intrigues me the most. Asking yourself, Whom will I help feel autonomous? flies in the face of so many managers who think they must control every aspect of their employees' performance. If they are managing the department, they must have their hand in every little thing.

But, this level of micro-management tends to destroy morale and results in your good employees leaving and your bad employees doing just enough to not get fired. This isn't successful for anyone. Robbins points out that we crave autonomy and the ability to make choices. Having flexibility to do it your way typically results in more engaged and more productive employees.

In today's Covid-19 environment and the resulting tight budgets and smaller headcounts, leaders need every trick in the book to get the most out of their employees. Perhaps Robbins' strategy of these 9 steps each Monday will allow you take your team to the top.

Click here to read a related post: How Leaders Who Ask More Leverage The Power of The Brain

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant

SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step... 

Interested in learning how to develop your organization's culture, leadership capability and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please contact: 

Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, title companies, wealth management firms, third-party maintenance companies, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth. 

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.