The people I work with learn quickly that I’ll hang on their every word. I do this for a number of reasons but mostly because the EXACT words they use tells me a lot about how they might be thinking or feeling which helps me better understand how to get the most from our conversation.
Recently this approach has made me aware of something that, although is ridiculously simple, has surprised me at how impactful it was in terms of motivation.
Often in our daily lives we have repetitive tasks where monotony can reduce the quality of what we do or things we’re not particularly looking forward to which we might put off or avoid. I have them and I’m sure you do too. But what I became aware of and tried for myself was to REFRAME these tasks by listening to the words I commonly used (both out loud and in my head) and changing them to help impact motivation. So instead of saying, “I’m doing my scheduling today” – coordinating diaries is never plain sailing and can be very time consuming, I now say to myself, “I get to do my scheduling today”.
I initially thought this subtle change of emphasis would feel a bit gimmicky (I’ve tried daily affirmations which really didn’t work for me) but very quickly I wasn’t aware I was doing it and my subconscious mind seems to be very effective at reminding me to see what I’m doing as an opportunity as part of something I’ve CHOSEN to do rather than part of the daily grind and it has definitely had a positive impact on my motivation for some tasks (“I get to get up a 6am to exercise tomorrow!).
Very simple, very subtle and very useful to share when I’m working with others to REFRAME ways of thinking to impact performance.
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