For the past two weeks we have been talking about the motivation as the drug that will bring you to your goals. True motivation is an internal process in which pain and pleasure are activated enough to provoke you to act in a certain way. Everything we do is with the good intention of either avoiding pain or gaining pleasure. Pain and pleasure are the driving forces behind all of our behaviors.
So how do we know what events are associated with pain and which are associated with pleasure. Our past experiences. Other people's experiences. What we see, what we hear. If a person says hello to a stranger and the stranger gets mad and yells at them, they could get a strong negative feeling about the whole encounter. The person may make an unconscious negative association between confronting strangers and upset feelings. The peron may not even realize that the next time they confront a stranger they are reluctant to do so. The person may or may not realize why this is happening.
Out brains link things together in this sam way almost instantly. This is why we have a difficult time changig. Many associations we make are below our own awareness, so we rarely even question them. Rest assure they are going on, all the time, even when you are awae of it.
Why do associations occur? It would be difficult to function in a world in which we would have to relearn things each time we are presented with them. We connect new material to things we already know. We make mental shortcuts. We connect pain and pleasure to things based often on our first experience with them or someone elses opinion. How productive are your associations is the real question!
To succeed you must simply decide what action you must take to achieve your goals and then link pain to not taking this action and pleasure to taking it. When you get a strong emotional reaction to anything, remember the situation. Your emotions are an excellent alarm system and a great opportunity for self-exploration. Decide what emotion your feeling and what it is connected to. Ask yourself if this connection is productive. If it is not you will need to form a new connection.
Once you determine an unproductive association:
Step 1: decide what emotions are connected to what thoughts or situations
step 2: challenge that connection. is it rational? does it makes sense? look for all the wholes in the logic of your connection. Write them down.
step 3: write down a new empowering connection and all the reasons this association makes sense.
step 4: look at the writing you did on step 2 and 3 at least 3 days a week for 10 minutes each time. You need to spend time and get emotionally involved in your reactions. You must really feel these new associations. Keep going over these writings until you feel the new associations. just like you would not lift weights once for a body building competition, you must TRAIN YOUR BRAIN the same way. Do this several times a week.
Make pain and pleasure work for you not against you.
Gene Zannetti
Peak Performance Specialist
genezannetti@gmail.com
908-337-6143
visit my blog at http://genezannetti.blogspot.com
Monday, March 28, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Mindset Monday 3/20/11- The Success Drug
As we established last week, the drug that produces success is motivation. Not motivation in terms of rah rah speeches and pep talks, but deep personal motivation. This drug will take you to the next level that you are looking to go to.
Contrary to popular opinion, motivation is not something someone else gives you. Motivation is internal, not external. I use the term “motivational speaker” for myself because it is something that other people are familiar with. The truth is, I cannot give you motivation. I can open your eyes to some things that you may have never considered before. I can show you something from a different angle or perspective. But, true lasting motivation can only be powered by the individual- you.
All of human behavior is driven by two forces- Pain and Pleasure. To truly understand human behavior, you must look at these 2 driving forces. We strive to avoid pain and/or gain pleasure in EVERYTHING that we do. Pain and pleasure dictate every decision we make and every action that we take. In this sense, we ALWAYS act with good intentions for ourselves. It is through this lens where you begin to understand the word MOTIVE which is the root word in MOTIVATION.
This is not to say that we always act in our own best interest. Indeed we are often our own worst enemy because we think too much of short term pain and too little about long term pleasure. The point is that people take action to avoid pain and/or gain pleasure all the time.
The tricky part is that almost every action has some pleasurable experiences and some negative experiences associated with it. Consider exercising. Exercising is both exhausting, repetitive, and time consuming AND rewarding, endorphin producing, long term beneficial, and mind clearing AT THE SAME TIME. With elements of both pleasure and pain associated with exercising, will a person decide to exercise or not? The answer is, it depends on what elements the individual is focusing on at the moment of their decision. If at the decision making moment the person is focusing on the soreness they will feel the next day, they probably will decide not to exercise. If the person is focusing on how they will look in a bathing suit in the summer, they probably will decide to exercise. It comes down to the focus of their mind. If both of the soreness and the bathing suit are on our mind, we will go with the activity that has more pleasure and less pain linked to it. Pain and pleasure fuel our emotions. This is why our emotional control is absolutely critical to our success.
The secret is: we need to first decide what we want to accomplish. Then we must decide the action that we need to take that will bring us to our goals. Then, we need to link pleasure to performing this action and pain to not performing the action. It is really that simple. In fact you may say to yourself, I already know that. I will then ask you, how well do you apply this?
Next week we will talk more about pain and pleasure and how our mind naturally links pain and pleasure to objects, people, and activities, and how we can learn to control these two forces to accomplish our goals.
Stay with me…
Gene Zannetti
Peak Performance Specialist
One-on-One Consultation and Motivational Speaking
(908) 337-6143
genezannetti@gmail.com
Visit My Blog- http://genezannetti.blogspot.com/
Contrary to popular opinion, motivation is not something someone else gives you. Motivation is internal, not external. I use the term “motivational speaker” for myself because it is something that other people are familiar with. The truth is, I cannot give you motivation. I can open your eyes to some things that you may have never considered before. I can show you something from a different angle or perspective. But, true lasting motivation can only be powered by the individual- you.
All of human behavior is driven by two forces- Pain and Pleasure. To truly understand human behavior, you must look at these 2 driving forces. We strive to avoid pain and/or gain pleasure in EVERYTHING that we do. Pain and pleasure dictate every decision we make and every action that we take. In this sense, we ALWAYS act with good intentions for ourselves. It is through this lens where you begin to understand the word MOTIVE which is the root word in MOTIVATION.
This is not to say that we always act in our own best interest. Indeed we are often our own worst enemy because we think too much of short term pain and too little about long term pleasure. The point is that people take action to avoid pain and/or gain pleasure all the time.
The tricky part is that almost every action has some pleasurable experiences and some negative experiences associated with it. Consider exercising. Exercising is both exhausting, repetitive, and time consuming AND rewarding, endorphin producing, long term beneficial, and mind clearing AT THE SAME TIME. With elements of both pleasure and pain associated with exercising, will a person decide to exercise or not? The answer is, it depends on what elements the individual is focusing on at the moment of their decision. If at the decision making moment the person is focusing on the soreness they will feel the next day, they probably will decide not to exercise. If the person is focusing on how they will look in a bathing suit in the summer, they probably will decide to exercise. It comes down to the focus of their mind. If both of the soreness and the bathing suit are on our mind, we will go with the activity that has more pleasure and less pain linked to it. Pain and pleasure fuel our emotions. This is why our emotional control is absolutely critical to our success.
The secret is: we need to first decide what we want to accomplish. Then we must decide the action that we need to take that will bring us to our goals. Then, we need to link pleasure to performing this action and pain to not performing the action. It is really that simple. In fact you may say to yourself, I already know that. I will then ask you, how well do you apply this?
Next week we will talk more about pain and pleasure and how our mind naturally links pain and pleasure to objects, people, and activities, and how we can learn to control these two forces to accomplish our goals.
Stay with me…
Gene Zannetti
Peak Performance Specialist
One-on-One Consultation and Motivational Speaking
(908) 337-6143
genezannetti@gmail.com
Visit My Blog- http://genezannetti.blogspot.com/
Monday, March 14, 2011
Mindset Monday- 3/14/11- The Drug To Take To Achieve Your Goal
If I offered you a drug, with no side effects, that could help you achieve your goal, would you take it? This is a one question IQ test. Of course you would. I can give you this drug, but you must first be willing to take it.
What if I told you that you already know what this drug is, but you misunderstand it? And that is why you are not the getting results you want.
The drug is very simple: Motivation.
Ok, so you probably need a pep talk right? Wrong. When most people hear the word motivation they think of pep talks and yelling coaches. Don’t worry it’s not your fault. You have been fed this information since you were young. It’s Hollywood. You watch a sports movie and see a coach give a passionate speech before a big game, and then you see the team go out and win. Not only is this a poor coaching strategy (more on this at a later time) but it is NOT motivation.
The root word in motivation is motive. What is your motive or reason for action or inaction? Motivation is the INTERNAL (within) force that drives or compels you to not act or to act in a certain way.
Motivation is intimately linked to 2 principles (1) AVOID PAIN (2) GAIN PLEASURE.
All of human behavior boils down to these two principles.
If you want the drug that will get you get you to your goals, you absolutely must understand YOURSELF and how you relate to PAIN and PLEASURE.]
Over the next few weeks, you will learn to make principle of motivation work as your slave, so you can gain control of your life and live your dreams.
Stay with me..
If you are interested in personal consultation or have a topic you would like me to feature on Mindset Monday, please email me at genezannetti@gmail.com
What if I told you that you already know what this drug is, but you misunderstand it? And that is why you are not the getting results you want.
The drug is very simple: Motivation.
Ok, so you probably need a pep talk right? Wrong. When most people hear the word motivation they think of pep talks and yelling coaches. Don’t worry it’s not your fault. You have been fed this information since you were young. It’s Hollywood. You watch a sports movie and see a coach give a passionate speech before a big game, and then you see the team go out and win. Not only is this a poor coaching strategy (more on this at a later time) but it is NOT motivation.
The root word in motivation is motive. What is your motive or reason for action or inaction? Motivation is the INTERNAL (within) force that drives or compels you to not act or to act in a certain way.
Motivation is intimately linked to 2 principles (1) AVOID PAIN (2) GAIN PLEASURE.
All of human behavior boils down to these two principles.
If you want the drug that will get you get you to your goals, you absolutely must understand YOURSELF and how you relate to PAIN and PLEASURE.]
Over the next few weeks, you will learn to make principle of motivation work as your slave, so you can gain control of your life and live your dreams.
Stay with me..
If you are interested in personal consultation or have a topic you would like me to feature on Mindset Monday, please email me at genezannetti@gmail.com
Monday, March 7, 2011
Mindset Monday 3/7/11 - Driving with the Emergency Brake?
Imagine driving a high performance car, say a Lamborghini, on a race track. You start the car and you begin to drive. You give it more gas,You shift the gears, Your speed climbs. You feel your car moving faster and faster until all of a sudden...you hit a plateau. Your speed remains constant well below the cars known potential. You become frustrated, you get angry, you search for the problem. Your pedal is to the floor. Check. You are in the highest gear. Check. You seem to b doing everything within your power to push the car to its top speed. You look down, and you finally notice...You are driving with the Emergency Brake!
Many, if not most athletes have at least another 2 or 3 unused gears inside them. Gears that are very available, but they are not using them. As an athlete, I always hated it when coaches would tell me that I was just about ready to, "turn that corner." This is frustrating to an athlete who is trying to do everything within his or her power to properly prepare for their sport.
The good news is: Most athletes are not lacking any ability, they are just blocking it. If you are putting in hours and hours of time into preparation and you know deep down that you are better than your performance shows, you too are blocking it. There is no corner to turn. You are already there. You just need to learn how to release the emergency brake.
There are 4 main jobs of all sport psychologists, life coaches, personal trainers etc. (1) Help the person decide what they want (2) Map out a plan to get there (3) Get the person to take action and (4) help the person step out of their own way. In essence, unblock themselves.
If you are already doing steps 1-3 on your own and are not getting the results you deserve, you only need to learn how to unblock yourself. It is simple IF, repeat IF, you take proper action and train your mind.
Learn the lessons from my blog and past blogs. Release the emergency brake and take your performance to your potential.
Gene Zannetti
Peak Performance Specialist
(908) 337-6143
genezannetti@gmail.com
genezannetti.blogspot.com
Many, if not most athletes have at least another 2 or 3 unused gears inside them. Gears that are very available, but they are not using them. As an athlete, I always hated it when coaches would tell me that I was just about ready to, "turn that corner." This is frustrating to an athlete who is trying to do everything within his or her power to properly prepare for their sport.
The good news is: Most athletes are not lacking any ability, they are just blocking it. If you are putting in hours and hours of time into preparation and you know deep down that you are better than your performance shows, you too are blocking it. There is no corner to turn. You are already there. You just need to learn how to release the emergency brake.
There are 4 main jobs of all sport psychologists, life coaches, personal trainers etc. (1) Help the person decide what they want (2) Map out a plan to get there (3) Get the person to take action and (4) help the person step out of their own way. In essence, unblock themselves.
If you are already doing steps 1-3 on your own and are not getting the results you deserve, you only need to learn how to unblock yourself. It is simple IF, repeat IF, you take proper action and train your mind.
Learn the lessons from my blog and past blogs. Release the emergency brake and take your performance to your potential.
Gene Zannetti
Peak Performance Specialist
(908) 337-6143
genezannetti@gmail.com
genezannetti.blogspot.com
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