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RE - Ignite Your
Passion
to motivate yourself and make more money
by Michael Lovas, , C. Ht.
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NOTE: In the years I've
been doing motivational therapy with people, I've noticed a trend that relates to
financial advisors. Experienced advisors are losing their passion for their work.
If you can relate to that, you'll find this article takes you a giant step in the
direction of restarting your passion. It gives you a simple formula and an effective
technique you can use immediately.
In 1972 I looked out from my drum set and gazed at 15,000 people
It was the second day of the Willie Nelson 4th of July music festival. It was the
biggest concert my band had ever played. That was the good news.
The bad news was overwhelming. It was 2:00 in the afternoon- ever
been to central Texas in July? The temperature was 108 degrees. And there was no
shade. The 15,000 people? Well, remember it was a Willie Nelson festival. They had
toasted many friends the day and night before. So, at that moment, their mouths were
fuzzy. Their heads were in agony. And, their enthusiasm extinguished. I was looking
out at a sea of 15,000 hung-over, lifeless bodies.
One by one, during the day, the other bands failed to get even
a muscle twitch from them. In fact, Waylon Jennings played just before us, and they
left the stage disgusted at the lack of response. It really was like playing music
at a valium festival!
Passion. My band was a little different. We played with
reckless abandon because playing music was the most exciting, fun and passionate
thing we could imagine doing. The energy that exuded from us had always been contagious.
Within 20 minutes, my band had all 15,000 people jumping up and down and dancing.
It was totally electrifying.
From 1969, when I got out of the Marines, until 1985, I lived
the life that most people would kill for. Playing drums in a band is one of life's
most fun experiences. In a popular band like ours, it is beyond belief.
Perplexed. With that lifestyle in mind, you can see why
my friends were perplexed when I told them I wanted to give it up. I wanted to give
up the freedom, the creativity, the passion, the freedom, the girls, the fun, did
I mention freedom? And, trade it all in for what I thought was something more important,
more satisfying- a grey cubical, early hours, deadlines, dress code, and a micro-managing
boss!
Today. That is exactly the situation that exists for many
advisors today. Perhaps you or people you know are simply going through the motions
of helping people, but their hearts are not in their work. That's a career without
passion. Can't be rewarding, and it surely invites unhealthy diversions.
When people live unfulfilled lives, that puts them into a state
of stress, and stress is just uncomfortable enough to motivate them to begin avoiding
it. The easiest way to avoid it is an ancient ritual known as "happy hour."
Still, other people unconsciously develop health problems to serve as their diversions.
The research on this is down-right scary.
My experience as a coach and therapist proves to me time and time
again that when the activities you enjoy are aligned with your values, you begin
to create passion. When your passion is aligned with your career- especially now,
with this bad economy- you become a magnet, a charisma machine to your clients and
target market! That's called the Passion Formula. It is simple and it works and it
looks like this:
Activities- (in line with) Values = Passion
How do you know when you're passionate about something?
Think of the times in your recent history when you were engaged in something and
you experienced time distortion. You started working at 10:00 am and the next time
you looked up, it was 3:00 pm. That's when your passion is at work. When I conduct
a day-long workshop, it seems to take about thirty minutes.
On the flip side - when we do things we're not passionate about,
it's torture and time seems to drag slowly and tediously along. Ever have a conversation
with a compliance officer? I'll bet it seemed like you were standing in a slow-moving
line.
Are you passionate about your career? Let's find out. Answer these
questions:
"What first attracted you to your career?" Activities.
For most of us, it was probably a combination of three reasons: 1) we like to be
with people; 2) we're analytical and like to build things with intangible concepts;
3) we like to be in control of our destiny.
"What keeps you in this industry?" Values. For
many of us, it could have been that the activities began to line up with our values
as they evolved. Perhaps your interest in building things with financial products
began to make sense in a more fulfilling way. The fun of visiting with people gave
way to deeper personal satisfaction of protecting a family's life savings. That shows
that your activities aligned with your values.
Values: There is a great deal of talk in the financial
community about finding out a prospect's values. Did you ever ask someone to name
his or her values, or to enumerate what's important about money to them? You probably
got a blank stare. That's partly because people just don't know what their values
are. In fact, most people can't define a value or even name any that apply to themselves.
So, for the time being, let's focus on values. They are not as simple as you may
have been led to believe. Values are probably the most misunderstood element in our
lives.
What are Values? They are lessons learned- usually early
in life. They are subconscious memories connected to our emotions. They are directions
that are programmed deep in our minds, usually by the people who took care of us
when we were kids. They are our mental wiring. The are the subconscious checks and
balances we use to make decisions. They are the essence of the standards by which
we determine right from wrong and appropriate from unacceptable.
Do all Values have the same importance? NO. When I coach
people, I have them go through an extensive Values List and mark all the values that
apply to them. Then, I have them place the list in order of importance. The values
at the bottom of the list might not be powerful enough to motivate you. The ones
at the top of the list probably are.
How do Values work to motivate us? This is perhaps the
most intriguing question of all. When you understand the "technology" in
values, you can actually build yourself a motivation machine by managing your own
values. Here's how:
1. Visualize in front of you - something that you want
very much in your career. A new client, a new strategic alliance, a better office,
secure retirement.
2. Visualize behind you- something realistic that scares
you. Going bankrupt, defaulting on your mortgage, failing to send your kids to college,
falling behind in your skills and becoming obsolete.
In front of you are angels encouraging you to swim faster, work
smarter and more effectively. Behind you are sharks snapping at your BVDs. With those
angels in front of you and these sharks behind you, don't you think you'll be motivated
to swim faster? When you define those two categories of motivation and use them together
you activate the psychological secret to powerful self motivation. (*This is just
one extremely effective technique to ignite your passion and motivate yourself.)
Who can use that motivation technique? If you like things
to remain the same, if you're doing business the same way you did years ago, you
probably won't ever even try it. If you like to grow and improve over time, you will
probably use it today.
Reward. Any professional who has been working for more
than twenty years is apt to realize the flame of passion has died down. Is that you?
Are you a financial advisor who is simply coasting on auto pilot? If so, you may
find it harder and harder to weather turbulent economic times.
Do you find it difficult to get excited about a new marketing
program or yet another seminar? Do you find it tedious to do your absolute best?
If you recognize those symptoms, send me an email and we'll schedule a time to talk.
I'll explain another step-by-step technique (called the "overlay principle")
to ignite your passion. This is completely free. Consider it your reward for reading
all the way to the end. Now, you might enjoy my bio, too.
Michael Lovas is President of AboutPeople and creator of
"credibility-focused psychological marketing & selling." Plus, he has
the best job on the planet! People pay him to do what he is passionate about. Michael
holds two prestigious certifications; he is a Clinical Hypnotherapist and NLP Master
Practitioner. As such, he operates a very active coaching/mentoring practice helping
financial professionals ignite their passion and reach the top of their game!
Michael is a former comic and professional musician. A veteran
entertainer for about forty years, Michael delivers entertaining and fascinating
keynotes and workshops in the US and Canada.
For fun, Michael is PR Director for the Greater Dallas Bicyclists
and regularly rides his custom road bike 100km on Saturday mornings.
Michael
Lovas
10718 Morning Glory Dr. Dallas, TX 75229
michael@aboutpeople.com
www.credibilitymarketing.com
(214) 366-0919
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