Shifts Work

Are you a Star Wars fan? The new trailer is out for the 2017 movie, and it's a good time to think about Jedi mind tricks. Is there a process that you could use in real life to get other people to do stuff with less resistance and better results?

Learn how the Jedi:

• develop a mindful presence that allows them to read their environment through what is changing in themselves
• connect their big picture "what I want my life to mean" to their small, defined asks
• offer their full attention to the connection they need to make to get results
• describe what they want in sensory tangible detail

If you're not getting results you like when you ask other people to do stuff, listen and then check your process against this process. If you don't have the power to make people do things and you can't argue them into doing them, it's time for a different approach.

NLP (neurolinguistic programming) is the art of turning language into action. In this longer episode (20 minute) Linda walks you through the four stages that transform an idea into something you do to get a result you like. You can get more background on NLP and more details about the four stages by reading this Free E-book.

You might be in a slump or a losing streak or a you might just hate the holidays. It's a time of year when many people add up their accomplishments and treasures and they feel beat up instead of pumped up.

If that's you, take a few minutes to listen to these three steps that will help you keep going until you notice that things are getting much better.

Much of the work we do as coaches consists of helping people figure out what it is they want. In this 5 minute audio, you'll get a chance to think about three important questions:

• When you think about what you want next, what is non-negotiable?
• How have you been following your values in the choices you've been making about what to do (and what not to do)?
• Where do you want to be in 2022 and what do you have to do now to get there (hint: start with being clear and vivid when you think about 2022)

A strategy is a set of perceptions and behaviours that occur in a particular sequence to reliably achieve a specific result. Any reliable result is generated by a strategy - even if it is a bad habit or a response you don't find useful. The way to change a result is to alter at least one element in the strategy so that the strategy can no longer function to get that result.

To learn how your strategies work, pick one thing that you can do reliably, whether it is reliably good or reliably less than useful. Ask yourself what must be true in yourself and in your environment to trigger this strategy. Then walk through, step by step, asking "what else must be true" until you have a complete process.

If it's a process that gets a result you like, you can now use it more often. If it's a process that leads reliably to a result that you don't like, you can change just one element to create new choices.

I bet you've failed at something, and I bet you hated the experience. When we think of our failures, they can sting, even years after they happened. That sting gets in our way: it stops us from pushing past limits and learning and trying new things.

Avoiding failure is a bad plan; it's impossible most of the time and even when you think it's working, you are limiting yourself to what you already know and what you can already do. A better plan is to approach failure with grit: the combination of purpose and perseverance that allows you to genuinely experience each failure as one more step toward solving a problem or reaching an achievement.

This exercise takes just 6 minutes to reframe your failure and open up new possibilities.

Photo credit: Marius Kallhardt

We frequently meet resistance from people we live with, work with, want to maintain a relationship with. When we do, our flow is interrupted and we experience a moment of confusion. Then our natural response is to mirror the resistance we are meeting. The result is that our resistance builds their resistance and we both get stuck.

A better strategy is to let the surprise you feel when you meet resistance slingshot you out to a bigger picture, where you can see yourself and the other person in your situation. From way out there, you are less tempted to mirror the resistance and more tempted to explore what just happened. When you notice you are feeling curiosity, you can drop down into the other person's experience to uncover possible motivations that are driving their attention and engagement (not necessarily their resistance). Then you're ready to get back into your own skin and mirror the motivation (not the resistance). This allows you to amplify the desire to get moving (that's what motivation is) and look for new ways forward together.

Photo credit: Pat Loika, Flickr.com

Take about 10 minutes and think first about why you might want to clear your head.  Is it crammed with different priorities and information? Is it too full of past experience to move toward a better future? Maybe you need to let go of old learning to accelerate your progress in a new situation.  

Follow Linda's voice as she leads you through the layers of movement and perception that will leave you calm, refreshed, curious, and ready to perceive new information.

When there's too much in your head, too much going on inside you and around you, it's time for a little will power. You don't need to build barriers or use force. You just need to step back and ask "what's the one thing I want to do right now?" And then, when you know what to do, ask yourself "what state will support me in accomplishing just this one thing?" The way to trigger that state is to look for tiny changes you can make in yourself, your actions or your surroundings. Each change that begins to create the desired state is a small win. A series of these small wins leads to the state, which leads to accomplishing the goal. And as soon as you have, you can ask yourself again, "so what is the one thing I want next?"

When you repeat this process,  your day becomes a series of the small wins that lead to big satisfaction.

Listen to this episode to discover how easily you are led to accept ideas that come from a trusted source in a relationship you value. Whether you are making or taking suggestions, it's appropriate to also take a deep breath and ask yourself: is this really what I want? how much of this motivation is a desire to stay connected? what else do I want now?