Secret Recipe for Success and Motivation in Business


What’s the secret recipe? It can be found in a magical success zone, called your x-spot. You know, X marks the spot! If you’re wondering what on earth the x-spot is, it’s a term from positive psychology.

Finding your X-spot can keep you motivated and help you reach goals faster, and according to Shawn Achor, happiness researcher, this is a success accelerant. It’s been proven that we actually get a burst of energy when we are near the end of a project, to finish it. This is only true though when we can see that we are close to the finish line.

This is a well-known phenomenon in marathon racesâ€¦.the runners speed up when they reach that point where they can see the finish line. Wouldn’t you think they’d be more tired at the end of such a long race?

Logically yes, but when they are in the x-spot they get a rush of adrenaline to get the goal accomplished. It’ s about perceptionâ€”seeing that we are almost there, and realizing it is not only possible but almost surely going to happen.

Instead of focusing on how close they are to a goal, and getting in the x-spot, we do the opposite! We tend to focus on how much more work there is to do, or how much further we have to go–making the goal appear more distant. This is how we lose out on the benefit of the x-spot, and actually slow ourselves down and demoralize ourselves.

How can we use this principle to our advantage?

We need to retrain our brain to make goals seem closer. The easiest way to do that is to chunk down their task into smaller pieces. It’ s so practical–it makes your project less overwhelming and more manageable, and easier to fit into your schedule. It also creates regular opportunities to reach the x-spot, for each of the smaller goals, and so you get a boost of energy from feeling you are getting somewhere and making progress towards completion.

Like any habit, this retraining needs to be practiced regularly over time to make lasting change. Habit change is hard on your own and easier with support, which is why I offer 21 day group challenges like Motivation by Celebration: Retrain your Brain for more motivation and productivity.

Come join me at the x-spot cafÃ©? (We’ll order decaf, since we surely won’t need caffeine with all of our X-spot adrenaline coursing through our bodies!)

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