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Quote of the Week

"Considering what needs to be done from a Zen-like state has built in motivation. When we are connected to the environment and grounded in the present moment, unless there is real, physical danger, there is nothing to resist. We do what needs to be done without making a big deal about it."

-Mike Bundrant (NLP Trainer) 🌼

This Week's "Subconscious Success" Tip

Use the "Zen Motivation" approach to help you follow through on those tasks and habits that you've been procrastinating on or really have to psyche yourself up to do.

According to creators of this method, Mike and Hope Bundrant, "Zen motivation is the ability to be purely motivated to do a specific thing, detached from whether we want to do it, why we want to do it and how we go about it."

I first learned about this when I read this amazing blog post from a fellow change worker, Duff McDuffee, about "how to get unstuck with infinite ways" with pattern interrupts (which btw is GOLD - I recommend it for a ton of subconscious change work tips!).

Upon a quick Google search, I came across this Zen Motivation workbook from the iNLP Center, which has alot more info about this method.

How to apply this tip

Step 1: Take out a piece of paper and draw a horizontal line in the middle of it to divide the paper into 2 sections. In the middle of the top section, draw a circle about the size of a half dollar. In the circle, write the thing that you want to accomplish.

Step 2: Around the circle, write down all the various thoughts, feelings, and body sensations that come up when you consider doing the thing inside the circle. Here's an example:

Step 3: Shake all that off. Stretch your body and take a breath.

Step 4: Next, take a few moments to focus all of your attention on something you can see, hear, or feel that's in your external environment. The easiest thing to do would be to listen for a white noise like a fan spinning or the fridge humming, or there may be other sounds like cars on the road or running water. You could also focus all of your attention on an interesting object and trace your eyes along each little shape and color. Or you could feel the clothes on your skin or what it's like to feel supported by your chair.

What NOT to pay attention to:

• Internal dialog

• Voices

• Emotions

Do this until you feel that you've settled into the moment.

Step 5: On the bottom half of your sheet, draw another circle and write the thing in there again.

Step 6: Take a moment to "tune in" like you did a few moments ago. Write down any thoughts, feelings, and body sensations that come to mind when you consider the thing from this state.

If you're like most, the 2nd circle will be much calmer than the 1st.

If it's not, repeat steps 1 - 6 until you feel more resourceful.

Step 7: Get the thing in the circle done, while feeling naturally more resourceful! 🎉

Why it works (short version):

In the workbook I mentioned earlier, Brian and Hope mention how the typical motivation of using bad feelings as a catalyst ("the stick") or a future reward ("the carrot") don't work long term because they are both inherently stressful.

We also have a region in our brain called the Default Mode Network (DMN). This region is activated when we have wandering thoughts, negative feelings, and tension in the body.

When the DMN is deactivated through various practices that divert your focus - peace of mind, clarity of thought, grounded emotions and a calm way of being become the natural default state. This is a physiological certainty that has been documented via fMRI scans.

So, when you're trying to motivate yourself with an active DMN, your mind spins and tries to find the "stick" or the "carrot" motivators to get you moving. When the DMN is deactivated, Zen Motivation can kick in and help you feel much more neutral and resourceful about accomplishing your task.

Ready to try it?

Next time you find yourself procrastinating or not feeling motivated to do something, try the Zen Motivation approach!

Put the thing you want to do in a circle, write your reactions to it around the circle, "tune in" to a few moments of external sensory focus, re-assess, and then do the thing while feeling more neutral and resourceful!

This tip could really be used to transform any other un-resourceful state like stress, anger, etc.

That's it! Have questions about this week's tip? Want to share something with me? Connect with me!

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Cheers to your success!

-Alina Nikishina

Transformational Coach & Mentor for Entrepreneurs

P.S. P.S. What's something that you might try this exercise with? For me this week, it was actually this newsletter! Haha! I love sharing all these great tips with you, and yet, sometimes it takes me a while to get going with it due to mental clutter.

What about you? Click here and share with me!