Dan Pink – The Puzzle of Motivation

Career analyst Dan Pink delves into the traditional reward system, especially when put into play at a professional workspace, and why it often fails us. In his talk, Pink presents a number of scientific studies in order to affirm what we already know: We need to do things that matter to us. When we’re performing actions we don’t care about, or toward which we have no emotional attachment, it’s incredibly difficult to stay motivated.
Traditional schemes, like if-then fallacies and narrow reward strategies, can occasionally work. But in return, they stifle creativity and cause us to miss innovative solutions. Thus, we must motivate ourselves by finding passion in the things we do. This is especially important for the solopreneur.

Tony Robbins – Why We Do What We Do

Life coach and business leader Tony Robbins demystifies the “invisible forces” that cause us to do the things we do, from impactful life-changing decisions to the many small, mundane habits we do every day. Robbins touches on how our models of the world and our basic human needs shape the decisions we make.
In his interactive discussion, Robbins gently prods the audience to realize how much they value six basic human needs: certainty, variety, significance, connection and love, growth, and giving back. Despite where each of us may stand in relation to each of these values, it is clear that exploring our own basic emotional needs is crucial to understanding the reasons behind our actions, especially as a solopreneur.

Scott Geller – The Psychology of Self-Motivation

Virginia Tech professor of psychology Scott Geller discusses the logic behind boundaries and how to break them. By breaking down the reasons and thought processes behind our ability to self-motivate, Geller allows us to figure out what works and what doesn’t.
He implores the audience to keep in mind aspects of choice, consequences, and community when making decisions. Knowing that we’re all in this together is sometimes enough to get us going, and Geller, through his comprehensive talk, reassures us of that fact.

Gary Vaynerchuk – Do What You Love (No Excuses!)

If you ever need a kick in the pants to leave the job you don’t love, follow the dream career you’ve always wanted but have been too afraid to pursue, or take a risk to make your life more fulfilling, Gary Vaynerchuk provides just what you need. He explains that in order to care about your users, clients, or community, you need to care about everything—and that starts with yourself.
This is a pivotal motivation for solopreneurs. Consider this teaser as you get ready for more. Gary says: “Look yourself in the mirror, and ask yourself: What do I want to do every day for the rest of my life? Do that.” As a solopreneur, is that what you are truly doing?

Simon Sinek – How Great Leaders Inspire Action

As Simon Sinek explains in his talk, “All the great and inspiring leaders and organizations of the world think, act, and communicate the exact same way, and it’s the complete opposite to everyone else.”
So, what do those inspiring leaders and organizations do differently? They start with why. Sinek’s talk is geared toward the way we approach leadership, and his stance has hugely influenced how many think about messaging and marketing, as well. This is a great talk for solopreneurs.

Elizabeth Gilbert – Success, Failure and the Drive to Keep Creating

Elizabeth Gilbert, famous for her book Eat, Pray, Love, says that she spent six years facing nothing but rejection letters for her writing. And every time she considered giving up, she realized “I loved writing more than I hated failing at writing, which is to say that I loved writing more than I loved my own ego.”
Our egos have a whole lot to say when we face rejection. Gilbert’s talk is a great reminder to keep a hold on what you’re doing and why you’re doing it—especially in the midst of all the negative chatter. If you struggle with self-esteem as a solopreneur, this talk is for you.
What other TED talks do you listen to that provide valuable motivation to you as a solopreneur? Share your suggestions with our readers in the comments below.
 

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Roadblocks

There will absolutely be roadblocks along the way—accept that as the truth. What I am certain of is that the first time you attempt something, it is not going to work the way you envisioned. The second time it will not work the way you envisioned. The third time you may have some level of success. The key is to take the feedback you receive and learn from it. The determination to not be mediocre is critical. The mediocre give up on attempt one or two. The successful are resilient and continue to examine the feedback and make adjustments until they develop a model that works.

With that being said, it doesn’t mean the successful don’t feel like quitting at times. The solo road can be tough. To leverage, your action sometimes means you must revisit your decision and your belief in that decision. I will refer to this as your recovery plan, which will be valuable when you don’t get the results you expected after a lot of effort and time. As with most things, to be the most effective you must be prepared. That means you must also be prepared for failure or setbacks. Failure is just one step to success, so don’t let the word itself impact your actions.

If in the beginning, you create a recovery plan for when you feel like pulling the covers over your head, you will have the tools to help you recover in a short amount of time rather than weeks down the road. When you are in a place of funk it is impossible to create a plan to get out of the funk.

Here is how you can be prepared.

The Musts for a Powerful, Effective Recovery Plan

You must have a vision that stirs your soul.

You must become excellent at it.

You must recondition your mind to believe you can have it and achieve it.

You must understand how to make money at it.

You must take daily action.

One of the tools to assist with your recovery plan is neural reconditioning.

6 Steps of Neural Reconditioning

Step 1: Create a new vision for your business and life. Make it emotionally charged and crystal clear.

You have created your vision and now you must use repetition to create a habit.

Repetition + Emotional Impact = New Reality

Create a belief narrative, written in the present tense, expressing what you are creating in minute detail and with emotion—a story of sorts of your journey and success. Continue to read your belief narrative daily.

Step 2: Create powerful declarations and affirmations that support your new vision.

Write as many affirmations as you can to support your vision. Make it easy for yourself to access them. Use index cards, self-adhesive notes, or place them all on one sheet—whatever works for you. Here are some sample affirmations:

I live each day with passion and purpose.

I am a success in all that I do.

I am a powerful sales and marketing expert.

I am totally confident.

Everything and everyone prospers me now.

Step 3: Develop emotional anchors for neural linking.

First, search your memory banks for a positive event in your life that was especially empowering—a moment where you felt a thrill of accomplishment, excitement, or triumph. What you are looking for is an existing neural pattern in your brain that has some “stickiness,” that is, some strong depth of feeling to which a thought can adhere.

Write down a few sentences that identify this event, so you can return to that event quickly and easily later on.

Now close your eyes and let yourself re-experience that event for a few moments.

Examine what you’re seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, and experiencing.

When you are finished, write down a few of the impressions you had; these don’t need to be complete sentences, just words or phrases that will remind you of the feelings this experience evokes.

Now select one of your affirmations. Close your eyes again and let yourself re-experience that powerful memory, evoking all of the sensory impressions, feelings, and emotions involved. While you are at the height of that feeling, repeat your new affirmation, out loud or in your mind.

Step 4: Prepare a portfolio of imprinting material, which may include written, auditory, visual, and subliminal pieces.

Visualization is not always visual; for you it may be specific sounds, tactile feelings, or even smells that can evoke the moment you want to create more powerfully.

Put together your imprinting materials. These are simply physical expressions of your vision and affirmations that you can feed to your nonconscious brain through your senses. The most common examples are:

Written statements

Audio recordings

Subliminal media

Videos

Pictures and vision boards (dream boards)

Step 5: Maintain a brief daily routine of reconditioning techniques, three times a day, preferably morning, afternoon, and evening. If you cannot keep up with three times a day, make sure you are maintaining this routine at least twice daily.

Meditation can be a powerful tool to use. Or you can simply close your eyes and breathe slowly for a few minutes. This can increase your focus, concentration, and powers of observation.

Step 6: Take advantage of various forms of neuro-technology to reinforce these images throughout the day.

Technology makes it easy to use wonderful tools such as an audio of your affirmations that you can create and then playback while you exercise. Recording and replaying your belief narrative could also be an excellent tool. Meditation, visualization, affirmations, and subliminal tapes/audios and video are all essential tools to keep in your toolbox. Pull them out throughout your day, as they are practical and available.

DO IT NOW

Take inventory of everything you have accomplished in your life. Write it down.

I also challenge you to create a list of your personal strengths. Write down everything that you do well. I encourage you to add to this list daily until you have at least one hundred things listed.

These two items can become part of your Recovery Plan. A recovery plan is the tools you have at your fingertips to help you pull yourself out of a slump.

Examples may include:

Testimonials

Cards or personal notes you have received

A list of people who are your fans and who you can call for reinforcement

Contact information for your favorite clients

A list of your strengths and accomplishments

Collect the information you want to include in your recovery plan, and put the items in a place where they will be easy to access. Be deliberate about pulling yourself out of your slump.

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