Welcome to Motivational Mondays, your weekly PEP (Proactive Empowered Performance) talks with Mark Kent.
How was your week? How about this concept, TILTING THE SCALE BEFORE THE WEIGH-IN?
Have you utilized this powerful technique to enhance the probabilities you will initiate and complete tasks?
You may find how much easier it is to start and finish tasks if you have implemented external reminders and props to promote task completion.
The more reminders (cues) and props (objects associated with the task) you integrate into your environment, the more proficient you will be in minimizing avoidance behaviours and habitual patterns of procrastination.
Based upon previous Motivational Mondays you will know by now environmental factors (props and cues) and interpersonal dynamics (accountability) can have a significant impact on sustaining motivation and promoting responsibility towards others and yourself.
What is also true is thought processes play a central role in driving and perpetuating behaviours. More specifically, the brain has the ability to create it's own images (visualization) and can therefore internally generate signals and messages that it sends to the body.
Most people do not realize they visualize constantly, especially when it comes to worry and anticipatory angst associated with events they find uncomfortable or tasks they would rather avoid.
If you had a fear of public speaking or an impending interview for a new job, powerful visualization can be in ramping up your anxiety, by thinking and visualizing ominous outcomes such as stuttering or feeling embarrassed by acting nervously.
Once the brain begins to operate in the "what if" world, anticipatory visualization begins and the "what if" now becomes the "as if' and you start to act upon the emotions and perceptions as if it's actually true. You will be convinced it's no use to follow through because things will turn out badly anyway
Conversely we have the ability to visualize and create virtual outcomes of confidence, composure and control. Just by playing specific empowered and positive visualized scenarios in your mind over and over will have a significant impact on promoting confidence, emotional stability and anticipatory mastery over situations even though it has not happened yet.
Research on psychophysiology has revealed that if a person visualizes a specific task whether complex or simple, the brain actually stimulates the muscles necessary to do the task even though it happens below the conscious threshold.
Gregg Luganis, Olympic gold medal diver, actually visualized and rehearsed the complex coordinated movements to enhance muscle memory necessary to perform a dive before he actually performed it.
Great athletes and performers now use visualization as an important technique in improving their performance for even the most complex tasks.
The challenge is to become an active participant in the visualization process, which will preempt passive and unconscious visualization that may have promoted habitual patterns of procrastination.
If you have identified any patterns of avoidance and procrastination concerning a specific task, try to create an imprint in your mind of completing the task by repeating this scenario over and over again in your mind.
Actually see yourself tackling the task at hand, well before you encounter it. What you will notice is more proactive energy towards completing the task, as opposed to antagonistic energy that will cause you to procrastinate.
Like any skill, it is acquired over time and repetitions, so do not expect dramatic results initially but eventually you will become more adept at creating scenarios in your mind that will stimulate muscles and emotions more conducive to completing a particular task that you heretofore may have avoided.
Try to select one specific task you tend to procrastinate and take a few minutes each day. Focus on and visualize yourself in sequential steps performing and completing that task. The more you repeat this visualization in your mind the greater chance you have of improving motivation and actually completing tasks in a more timely manner.
Next week I will discuss the impact of combining visualization and verbalization as a powerful contribution to improving your task proficiency and motivation.
If you have a colleague or friend you believe would enjoy and benefit from Motivational Mondays then just submit their email address and they will automatically receive this free information. How awesome is that?
Thanks for the opportunity to serve you.
To your productivity, empowerment and motivation.
Mark
