Part 1 – Three Big Blunders Most people make with their New Year’s Resolutions – (Or setting any Goal)

by Gregg | Feb 25, 2016 | Blog Posts, Daily Living

3 Big blunders most people make with their New Year's Resolutions or setting any goal – Part 1

The Big New Year’s Resolution Fail

The concept of making resolutions at the beginning of a new year dates back several thousand years. The ancient Babylonians made promises to their gods at the start of each year to return borrowed objects and pay their debts. The Romans started each year by making promises to the god Janus. In the Medieval period, typically during the last feast of the Christmas week, Knights took the “peacock vow”, recommitting themselves to the ideals of chivalry for the next twelve months. In many different Christian traditions, the watch night service, held late on New Year’s Eve provides an opportunity for people to review the year that has passed and make preparations for the new year by praying and making resolutions. And of course, many of us make New Year’s Resolutions on our own every year.

So, it is quite popular to make resolutions at the start of the New Year for things we want to change in our life. Did you make New Year’s Resolutions this year? You might have even made a list of them. Did your list look something like the picture? How are you doing on your resolutions?

According to the Statistic Brain Research Institute only 8% of people are successful in achieving their resolutions. It also shows that 49% have infrequent success, and 24% never succeed and have failed on every resolution every year. This means that a whole lot of people almost never succeed in achieving their resolutions! So, if you are not doing so well on your resolutions – you are not alone!

Seeing as so many people have trouble achieving their resolutions, what can be done to improve their chances? Part II will explore how the brain works to help or hinder you in achieving your resolutions.

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← Imagination VS Willpower - Which one wins? Part 2 - Three Big Blunders most people make with their New Year’s Resolutions – (Or setting any Goal) →

Imagination VS Willpower – Which one wins?

by Gregg | Nov 16, 2015 | Daily Living

Imagination vs Willpower - Which one wins?

How many times have you heard someone say, “Just put your mind to it,” or “if you have enough will power you can do anything.” Many people believe they could improve their lives if only they had more of that mysterious thing called willpower. With more willpower they could eat right, exercise regularly, avoid drugs and alcohol, save for retirement, stop procrastinating, and achieve all sorts of fantastic goals.

There are many names for willpower: determination, drive, resolve, self-discipline, self-control. But exactly what is will power? Will power can be described as the motivation to exercise ‘will’ – the ability to make conscious choices. Willpower then, is the inner strength that enables you to make decisions and carry them out. It gives you the strength to take action and perform tasks and make plans, despite inner resistance, discomfort, or difficulties. Pretty powerful stuff this willpower!

Is there somewhere in the body where you create and store willpower and then access it or release it as you need it, like the way the pancreas produces enzymes to aid digestion and insulin to regulate blood sugar. Surely not, as it is quite clear that willpower is not a physical function but rather a function of the mind.

To have willpower – to succeed – you first must know what you want. Knowing what you want involves your imagination. Therefore, the real source of willpower is your imagination. Imagination is a real power within you. And its effects are very real. That’s because your unconscious mind cannot tell the difference between real and imagined input. And your unconscious mind is far, far more powerful than your conscious mind. Brain studies now reveal that thoughts produce the same mental instructions as actions, Therefore, thought or images are ‘events’ to the brain and the brain cannot distinguish between what was imagined and what is real. Mental imagery impacts many cognitive processes in the brain: motor control, attention, perception, planning, and memory.

Therefore, it is not a lack of motivation or willpower that holds you back. It is your imagination; either you cannot imagine the success you want, or you imagine some other much worse condition or outcome which impedes the will to act. As Emile Coué said, “When the imagination and will power are in conflict, are antagonistic, it is always the imagination which wins, without any exception.”

What you focus on with your imagination becomes the reality. The objective, then, should be to focus in detail on what you want to accomplish rather that what you don’t want to happen.

“There’s no use trying,” said Alice, “one can’t believe impossible things.”
“I daresay you haven’t had much practice said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour every day. Why sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
Lewis Carroll. Through the Looking Glass.

Let your positive imagination win! It just takes practice.

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← Quick Tip for Instantly Improved Conversations Part 1 - Three Big Blunders Most people make with their New Year’s Resolutions – (Or setting any Goal) →

Quick Tip for Instantly Improved Conversations

by Gregg | Nov 8, 2015 | Blog Posts, Daily Living, Quick Tips

Quick Tip for Instantly Improved Conversations

Good communication is the key to success. Without good communications, confusion and chaos reigns. Clarity and purpose flow from good communications. While any communication can get results, clear and purposeful communication is powerful and much more likely to get the desired results. A good understanding of how to convey information, how to hear and see information, and how to interpret the meaning of information is essential to clear, powerful, purposeful, and effective communications.

Tip #1 – How NOT to!

Our minds do not directly process negatives. For the mind to understand a negative such as: “Do not touch that cup,” it first must, at the very least, imagine touching the cup. Only then can the mind conceive of “not” touching the cup.

In many cases, especially with young children, the use of the phrase “Do not do X” results in them actually doing X! I imagine you can remember telling your children “Don’t run,” can’t you. And what they did was run! Why?

Because the mind does not directly process the “not.” And in many case the mind may actually delete the “not’ which results in the individual acting on the statement to carry out the command the mind thinks it has heard. So, when you holler, “Johnny, don’t run,” little Johnny might actually be hearing, “Johnny, run!” This concept puts a whole different light on the anti-drunk driving slogan which says, “Don’t drink and Drive,” doesn’t it.

Take the case of a police officer who confronts a suspect brandishing a firearm. Compare the difference between the two commands:

“Don’t shoot,” and “Drop the weapon.”

The first command might just cause the suspect to fire the weapon because the suspect’s mind will first have to imagine firing the weapon before it can conceive of not firing it. Under the stress of the situation, the suspect may delete the “not” and do more than just imagine firing the weapon! The second command is a better one to use in this situation as it tells the suspect exactly what to do directly.

What if the police officer surprised another armed officer and need to convey the idea of “not to shoot.” Realizing that a command with a “not” in it may be dangerous, the police officer could shout: “Hold your fire.”

When you are in conversation with people and want them to do something, remove the word NOT from your vocabulary and find other ways of phrasing what you want to happen.

To Learn the other 4 Tips sign up for the free Pamphlet “5 Quick Tips for Instantly Improved Conversations”

Get the Pamphlet - "4 Quick Tips for Instantly Improved Communications

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← Going Beyond Psychometric Testing in Pre-Hiring Screening Imagination VS Willpower - Which one wins? →

Going Beyond Psychometric Testing in Pre-Hiring Screening

by Gregg | Nov 7, 2015 | Blog Posts, Business Building

Going Beyond Psychometric Testing in Pre-Hiring Screening

“Good people don’t underperform due to the wrong personality, the wrong behaviors or some Quixotic definition of culture fit or lack of intelligence or weak team or technical skills.”

Lou Adler in his post “Why Good People Underperform”, 20 Oct 2015 points out several reasons why he believes this is true:

They’re not motivated to do the actual work required since the job they’re being asked to perform after being hired was ill-defined before they were hired.
Being competent to do something is not the same as being motivated to do it.
Being motivated to get a job is not the same as being motivated to do the job.
The interview focused on assessing competencies, behaviors and depth of skills that only weakly map to the actual work required to be done.
The hiring manager and candidate don’t work too well together.
While actual cultural fit is very important, few managers or recruiters understand what this means and how to measure it properly.

He believes that the personality screening tests used by most organizations are flawed and ill-advised because they cannot adequately address any of these issues.

Within the limits of any psychometric testing instrument used for pre-hire assessment the result are accurate. However, if the limits of the instruments are not properly understood and the results are used inappropriately then problems, such as Adler points out, begin to arise. Very few, if any, psychometric testing instruments can help assess the points that Lou Adler has made.

There is, however, a technique available that does allow one to assess exactly what Lou Adler is speaking about. It can directly assess a candidate’s motivation needs and work environment requirements in relation to the position. Managers and employees can also be compared to determine where there may be points of friction and what might be needed to resolve these types of issues. The HR possibilities for this technique are almost limitless.

The technique is known as Language and Behavior Profile Analysis. It is not a personality test but, as the name suggests, an analysis of behavior. Thus, for example it is possible to determine what aspects of a position will motivate the candidate and what aspects will not. Statistical studies have shown that using this technique to map across to behavior is both highly accurate and predictive. When Language and Behavior Profile Analysis is incorporated into the hiring process along with the traditional pre-hiring personality tests, managers have a much more complete picture of the candidate and will be much better informed to make their hiring decision.

A business that incorporates Language and Behavior Profile Analysis into its HR processes can expect to see a return on its investment in better quality hires, a reduction in employee churn, and an ability to resolve employee relations in ways that will more often than not result in retention of productive, motivated employees rather than the letting go of disgruntled individuals.

Find out more about Language and Behavior Profile Analysis

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← There are only two true choices in how we see our lives. Quick Tip for Instantly Improved Conversations →

There are only two true choices in how we see our lives.

by Gregg | Oct 23, 2014 | Blog Posts

There are only two true choices in how we see our lives

As Master Yoda explained: “There is no such thing as TRY. There is only DO or NOT DO.” To “try” and do something is to admit that you have already failed. You can’t try to pick up a coffee cup. You either pick it up or you don’t. And so it is with life. You either do things or you don’t. And it is our own choice to do or not do things in our lives. No one else. We are 100% responsible for all our choices. That includes our happiness.

But, you say: “People do things that make me sad or unhappy.” It is certainly true that peoples’ behavior can make us feel sad or unhappy. But no one does sad or unhappy “to” us. That would be confusing the behaviour with our response to it. Now, I am not suggesting that we should not become sad or unhappy as a result of someone else’s behaviour. What I am suggesting is that how, and to what extent, another person’s behaviour affects us is entirely up to us. No one else controls our reaction to another person’s behaviour. If we feel sad or unhappy it is not because someone has done something to us but rather because we have let them make us sad or unhappy. If you choose to “let” someone “make” you unhappy you are surrendering your power over to them – you are letting yourself remain a victim.

Now, you may become a victim as a result of someone else’s initial actions or behaviour. How long and to what extent you remain a victim is a choice – your choice. This may be a hard pill for many people to swallow. Many would rather blame their condition on someone else. They would rather stay where they are, even if they are in pain and hurting, than choose to be responsible and take action on their own to change the situation. This is not to say that actions to change would necessarily be easy or without discomfort. Often, they are far from either. But in taking action, in choosing, you are empowering and asserting yourself. So right now, you have a choice: will you see yourself as powerless – a victim; or will you see yourself as powerful and successful? There is only DO or NOT DO! The choice is yours and yours alone.