There is no such thing, as not being motivated

If you wanted to define motivation, you might say that it is the want or the inner drive to do something. When you're motivated you don't even have to think about it because you're already doing it.

For instance, some things that I have chosen to be motivated about are baseball, computer games and going to the gym. I don't have to think about doing these things, if I don't plan out my day, they will automatically fill my schedule.

How cool is that? Really? Imagine if you were motivated to do things which would bring you awesome results in your life? Then you would automatically do them, without thinking about it!

The fact is that you are already a very motivated person, you have never lacked motivation.

The question to ask yourself is, what are you motivated to do? If it is not what will get you the results you want, it's time to change what you get motivated about, don't you think?

The first step

Find what you are motivated to do. (What do you do most? What do you do when you don't plan out your day?)

Step Two

Write down the process, step by step, how you get make yourself motivated to do these, exactly what you think, feel hear,.. everything. (Eg. I think about how much fun it is, then I hear the laughter and then I say to myself 'ohh this is going to be so much fun.')

Step Three

Write down what you want to get motivated about.

Step Four

Use the strategy you outlined in step two, to create new motivation for yourself.

 

My year 10 metal work teacher taught me a great principal, K.I.S.S, which stands for Keep It Simple Simon. Just because it is easy, doesn't mean it doesn't work. This is what I use with my clients to help them get motivated. Out of all the steps to get motivated, I would say this is the first one.

 

Keep It Simple

Nick Hansen

Heart Compass Coaching

Why diets don’t work, and how you can lose weight.

How many different diets have you tried? Atkins, high protein, low carb, see-food (and eat it) diet,....... can you fit them all on your arm?

Has ANY diet every worked for you? And by that I mean, you were able to lose weight and maintain it over a long period of time, with NO weird and funky side effects?

The reason diets don't work is because they are based on theory. Some scientist guy has been sitting in a lab, thinking 'Well sheesh,... the body converts carbs into energy, or fat if it's not used. So what would happen if someone was to eat no carbs? Well the body would have nothing to convert into fat,... right?" CORRECT!,.... BUT THERE'S A CATCH. We all know now,... after trying that crazy diet,... that you lose energy and fast, not to mention you will probably get constipated and a whole range of other side effects.

The reason you are confused about weight loss, is because you have so many 'theories' shoved up your nose every day, you are confused. You trust some scientist in a lab to know your body, better than you do. Does that sound stupid or stupid? (Don't feel bad,....I used to do the same,...and just think about how many people don't know what you're learning now,... WOW!)

 

You and only you are in charge of your body. What do the people who work at the Breast Cancer Institute say? Listen to your body! They are right.

That is the real crux of this issue.

 

 

So where to from here?

The first thing to do is know the difference between theory and fact. 'But Nick,... how do I do that' Glad you asked..... There are two ways you can tell the difference between theory and fact.

The first, and longest way, is trial and error. For anyone who doesn't know what that is,... you give it a try, and if it doesn't work than it was only a theory, not a fact.

The second, and most effective way, is to ask someone who has already applied it into their life. They already know the fact, they have proven results. 'But how do I know if they are lying or not',... man you are good with the questions,..... Easy. People who say they have done it, but haven't, won't have any evidence, they will hesitate when you ask them specific facts about how long it took them, what they ate, when they ate and all the specifics. People who have actually done it, will,.... because they have done it,......

I used to do the first one, and it got me results,... but now I've smartened up a bit,.... and am getting results even faster. I encourage you to try both, and then decide which you like better.

I know,... I haven't answered how you are actually going to lose weight,... well I only said that so you would read the article. (that's the truth) Try the two strategies outlined, and then teach me how to lose weight,...

To your success

 

Nick Hansen

Performance Coach

Heart Compass Coaching

How to be a natural

So how do you become a 'natural?' Like every profound lesson you've learnt in life so far, it is really simple.

My definition of a natural is someone who has appeared put the same amount of effort into a task, and seems to just do it better than someone else. 'They are just naturally good at it,' is what is often said.

Notice that I put the world appeared in italic? I did this because what appears to be true is not always true. Think of that person you once met in your life who you would call a natural. They just seem to be really good at a particular task. The thing which fascinates you is that they seem to be putting in the same effort or even less than you, and getting better results.

But how can this be? If we all start off as goo goo gaa gaa babies, how are they naturally better? Now if you just want to believe that they are, stop reading this article here. But if you are willing to embrace a new concept, look at it from a different angle, then keep on reading.

Basic psychology 101

Remember when you first learn how to ride a bike, geese it was hard. You had to think about keeping your balance, moving the handles the right way, moving the pedals. You had to be 'in' your head, instead of 'outside' your head (We'll talk about this later). This is how we learn, we have to consciously think about it.

As we practice and practice, we don't have to consciously think about everything we are doing, so the whole skill of what we are doing starts to become 'natural' to us.

'Pre-learned Skill' Natural

So if two kids were learning how to ride a bike, one wasn't good at any of the skills above and one was good at one or even two of them. Do you think that possibly the kid who wasn't good at any of the skills could look at the other kid picking it up so fast, and call him a natural?

The kid who was good at one or two of the skills could have learnt those skills from playing sport, or from anywhere really. He has just used the skill he knew and applied it in another area.

How do you become a natural?

The problem with advice given to you by people who are already good at what you want to do, is that a lot of them don't understand why they are good at it. They don't need to focus on thinking about each individual skill. If you are reading this you are probably not at this stage yet so you need to consciously think about every skill. This is the way we learn and get good, real good.

The best way to get good at anything is to focus on one thing. A laser beam is a lot more powerful than a torch, because it focuses a lot more. This is how the best coaches in the world train their athletes. They get them to practice over and over until they master one skill, then they move onto the next.

There was once a master of karate and his student. The student was a young boy who was missing his right arm, but was determined to be the best. In the first class the master taught all his students a particular move. Then came the second class and he taught all the students the next move, except for this one student. He continued to teach all the class a range of different moves except this one boy. They boy begged the master to teach him other moves, but he would not. Competition time came up and all of the students were warming up before the fight, and the young boy said to his master, 'master, how can I beat anyone when I only know one move?' The master said to the boy, 'all you need is one move, if you are the best at that move.' So the young boy went into his first fight, and by his own surprise won. The second, third and forth fights he also won until he got to the grand final. He went into the final fight and won that as well. After the fight he turned to his master and asked him how he did it? All the other students could do so many more moves than him, he still didn't understand. The master said 'My young boy, the move that I taught you could only be defended if they grabbed your left arm.'

Know the right move and be the best at it.

Nick Hansen

Performance Coach

Heart Compass Coaching

Getting yourself into the zone

You can train hard, learn new tricks and be the best in training, but if you can't turn it on when you need to perform, you will never be the best.

So why would you want to be the best? Well we all have our reasons and that's not what is important here, what is important is how you can turn your stunning performance in training, into results when you need to perform.

You've heard of people 'cracking' under pressure, people not being able to handle the heat and even seen those which look like they have so much potential, but it never comes to fruition.

You've also seen the top performers, the naturals and the people who make it look easy.

So What's the difference? How can you move yourself from one to the other?

Just like your coach has shown you tricks which help your performance, I am going to show you a trick now. The funniest thing is that it is really,... and I mean REALLY easy.

Cutting to the chase, this is how you do it.

Look at this:
What does this mean and why did I put it here?
Well this is going to be tattooed onto my arm by the end of the week, because this is the secret to how you get yourself into the zone.

Let me explain.

Feeling - You first have the feeling, you might be feeling tired, unmotivated and not wanting to do anything. This is the feeling you don't want.

Perfect Moment - Think of a perfect moment where you were feeling that feeling which you want right now, where you were in the zone.

Intensify - Make it come to life, hear the sounds, say what you were saying to yourself in that time, see what you saw. Make it into a movie in your mind.

TRUST YOURSELF - Believe, for no other reason than you want to feel that way, you want to get into the zone. Trust that you will create this feeling.

Feeling - Enjoy the zone.

That's it.

Profound Simplicity.

Nick Hansen
Performance Coach

What it takes to be a consistent gym member

A lot of people have asked me this questions and I thought it was about time I let everyone know the answer. Here is a simple diagram to explain:

Well we all knew that. The trouble is that there is a lot of Life Factors which get in the way of the above.
Let me explain diagrammatically:

The Cycle of 0 Results

This is the cycle of 0 results. It's name is that because when you do it, you really do get no results.

1. It starts off with a person that is sick of their fitness results.

2. They then enthusiastically sign up and go down to the gym.

2. Things happen in life that makes it harder for the new member to go down to the gym, kids, work, motivation etc.

3. The new gym member then quits.

This cycles forever if it is not stopped.

"The First Mistake"
You might think that the first mistake is actually eating that bad food, or drinking too much. Sure that is not the best thing to do, but what you told yourself after you did it is the deadly mistake. You would have compared what you're meant to do to what you actually did. After which you would have beaten up yourself for the behavior. This is all a noble attempt to get train yourself to not do that behavior, but as you know it is not very effective.

After you do this several times you eventually get so annoyed at yourself that you just give up eating and proclaim that, that is your identity. "I'm just not a healthy food person." Then you try to justify this by say things like "Healthy food just tastes bad," "I should be able to drink whenever I want."

Consequences
What happens now is after making that mistake, you go down to the gym enthusiastic to work it off. Unfortunately what happens though is you have a 'bad day. '(What happens when you put diesel in a car which needs unleaded?) So you have one bad day and shake it off. You then go down again and have another bad day, and another. Eventually you think that this fitness thing is much harder than you thought and give up.

Same Action, Same Results
Now you have quit going to the gym, eating well and drinking in moderation and it all goes out the window. A few months will go by and you will look at your results, decide that you really need to do something about your health and sign up to another gym membership. The cycle starts again.

The power is in your hands, either way you cannot avoid taking action. By not doing anything, that is an action, which will get you 0 results. Breaking the cycle, will get you results.

Ultimate Sporting Performance

A lot of people talk about sport being all about technique, it's how you hit the ball, how you throw the ball and so on. But if it was really about this, then why are so many people who know how to do it, getting such average results?

Well the reason is not really complicated, it comes back to the most simple things.

It comes down to the grey stuff between you ears, and the good news is that you actually have to use it less, to get better sporting results.

Our minds can process 5-9 chunks of information at one time, that's what our consicous mind can handle. But the real technique, the real reason you can now drive the car, talk on the moblie, observe the weather and listen to music is that as soon as we have learnt something, and really learnt it, it becomes intuitive.

What's really cool is that we have a type of memory for muscle movement that never forgets, thats why once you learn how to ride a bike, you may not ride one for 10 years, then get back onto it and ride it like you were just riding it the previous day.

When we start any sport, we are trying to take in much more information than we can handle, we simply get overloaded. But as we learn more movements, we can use them intuitively and don't have to think about it. That's why good sports players play good, because they have learnt it, and just play from their intuition.

So what is really the key to ultimate sporting performance? Well when you get to a stage where you have learnt the technique, this is when it is time to practice using our intuition. The key is to be able to know how to get the technique on command. When you get up to hit that golf ball, or throw that basketball, you can get yourself into that feelnig.

How does one strenghthen their intuitive muscles? Simply, use it. When you are playing that sport, just practice getting that feeling on command. At any time practice getting that feeling. Even try putting yourself under pressure and getting that feeling, that is a really awesome challenge.

So now that you know this, put it into action. My philosphy on learning is that if you don't use it, if that information isn't used to make a difference in some aspect of your life, it was information not used effectively.

The simple lessons are often the most profound.

Nick Hansen
Performance Coach

Fitness Mindset Part 2

Now we know about mindsets and how they can help or hinder us. What the world looks like depends on how you view it, what pair of glasses you are wearing. What else we know about glasses is that we can change what pair we are using, we can change how we view the world.

First let us discover how we make our glasses, how we make our reality.

How we make our reality

Remember, that our map of the world can never be the world, just like how the atlas of Australia can never actually be Australia.

We create our perception of reality, we make our world.

The first way in which we make our reality is through our beliefs.

Our beliefs are formed just like an argument in a court case, both side find evidence and argue their case. There is enough evidence for either side to win the case, the skill is in each side finding it and arguing it persuasively.

Let's put in the contex of going to the gym. One side says that 'Going to the gym is hard work' and the other says 'The gym revitalises my energy and makes me pumped for the day, I love going to the gym.'

Here is just a few facts about the gym that everyone knows:

You will:

1. Need a weekly routine.
   
2. Work hard at the gym.
   
3. Get more energy.
   
4. Have better helth
   
5. Need to eat healthy
   
6. Improve your physical image.
   
7. Push yourself past your comfort zone.
   

If you were trying to argue the case that going to the gym was hard, what would you say?

I'd say: 'You see your honour, going to the gym is just too hard work because why should you have to get out of bed on a cold day, drag yourself down to a sweat smelly place and hurt yourself for hours? There is much better things to do with your time, like eating nice foods and watching TV.'

Now I'm no lawyer, but if I believed that I wouldn't go to the gym either.

How about we try to argue that the gym is easy and good.

I'd say: "Your honour, you know that feeling when you want to kick butt, smash heads in and conquer the world? Do you know that feeling when your muscles feel like they are bulging and you look in the mirror and they actually are? Or how about that feeling where your shoulders are relaxed and you can breath easily? This feeling is easily achieved through a regular gym routine. You get to go down daily, listen to your favourite music, meet stacks of hot people, and feel really good about yourself. Tell me that the gym is the best thing next to sliced bread!"

If you make something sound really nice, then like holding a string above a cat's face, you will naturally want it. (and win court cases)

So until next time, your homeplay:

1. Find something that you want to make easy.
   
2. List all the great things about that thing.
   
   1. Really feel the pleasure.
      
3. List all the consequences if you don't do it.
   
   1. Really feel the pain of the consequences.
      

We live in a feeling universe, our actions are driven by our desires. The more you feel it on an emotional level (not just a logical, mental level) the more it will work.

Stay tuned.

Nick Hansen