Visualize This: Values and Motivation
by Barry Maher
Published on this site: August 6th, 2004
A little imagination can do wonders for changing the scale and
putting things into perspective. Here are four simple visualizations
I've found to be particularly effective for me in providing insight
into the things I actually value as opposed to the things I sometimes
think I value or the things I often act like I value.
Visualization 1. This one should seem familiar. I'd be amazed
if you haven't imagined it on our own. You might want to try it
a bit more seriously this time.
You've just come out to visit me in my home in California, just
outside of Vegas. But before driving to my place, you stop in at
Caesar's Palace. As you're walking through the lobby, you drop a
dollar into a giant slot machine. Bells start ringing, lights start
flashing, people come running up, and you've won the largest jackpot
in the history of Las Vegas. One hundred and thirty-seven million
dollars! After taxes and a small finder's fee to me for leading
you into this fantasy, the lump sum payment to you is $73 million.
What are top three to five things you want to do with the money?
Visualization 2. The chairman of a major television network
just called and asked me to give you the following message. Because
of that thorn you pulled out of his paw when you were at Caesar's,
he's going to give you an ad campaign on all the network's top rated
shows for any non-commercial message you might chose. What's your
message going to be?
Visualization 3. Your fairy godmother's come down with senile
dementia. She's got one wish left to grantand it's all yours.
But in her confusion, she's decided that it can't be something for
yourselfand no, it can't be more wishes. It also can't be
money, or something for your immediate family. And no, it can't
be more wishes. What's your wish?
Visualization 4. Here's an old motivational test I always
like. Imagine a six inch wide, forty foot long board lying on the
ground. What would it take to get you to walk from one end of that
board to the other? Certainly you'd do it for a million dollars
or to save the life of a loved one, but what's the minimum you would
do it for?
Now raise the board. Make it five feet high, stretching between
two banks of a stream. It's forty feet long so it sags a bit in
the middle. What would it take to get you to cross it? Make the
banks ten feet high. Now what would it take?
Add alligators to the stream.
Now, raise the board to the height of a house and try it. Keep
raising the board until finally it stretches from an open window
on the top floor of one towering skyscraper to an open window in
another skyscraper, forty feet away. What would you cross that board
to gain or to preserve or to protect?
How do your board-crossing priorities match up with the way you
prioritize your time? Are you spending great hunks of your time
pursuing things you wouldn't walk a particularly high board for?
How are you using your career and the working hours of your life
to help you pursue the things that are really important to you?
Nothing you ever do in your work will be as difficult as crossing
that board. If you can get the motivation that could get you across
the board to motivate you in business, you're going to be hard to
stop.
Copyright 2004, Barry Maher, Barry Maher & Associates
Barry Maher speaks, consults and writes on management, sales
and on increasing productivity AND job satisfaction. His book,
Filling the Glass: The Skeptic's Guide to Positive Thinking
in Business, has been honored by Today's Librarian magazine
as "[One of] The Seven Essential Popular Business Books."
Visit his website and sign up for his free email newsletter
at www.barrymaher.com
or contact him at 866-243-8062.
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