In
Hollywood, there is an ongoing debate into what constitutes the "X"
factor - that mysterious something that makes the difference between good
and great acting, between an average career and stardom. Candidates for
the "X" factor range from talent to sex appeal, to authenticity,
likeability, and charisma.
I would like to offer my entry into the "X" factor debate and to open it out beyond the scope of Hollywood and into the world inhabited by you and I. (OK, so I live in Hollywood, but I'm trying to maintain my common touch
:-)
My candidate for the "X" factor?
eXcitement!
eXcitement is the key to unlocking not only your inner e-motivational engine but a way of creating access to your own best resources. It is the difference between competence and excellence, between being active and being inspired. Skill without eXcitement leads to mediocrity; eXcitement without skill, if cultivated, can lead not only to the development of skill but on into the realm of true creativity.
In fact, an excellent test for how effective you're going to be in the pursuit of a goal is to ask yourself "Am I excited about this?" If your answer is anything other than an enthusiastic "Yes!", chances are you are already experiencing that bizarre combination of boredom and panic that seems to accompany those things we do just enough work on to "get by" or "get away with it".
So what are the keys to unleashing the e Xcitement factor in your life, work, and relationships?
1. Get eXcited about the End Result
Why do I write these tips? There's many reasons, but one of the main ones is that it is a sort of a twelve-step program way of writing a book - one day at a time. What eXcites me about writing a book? Funnily enough, nothing more or less than having a book at the end of it. I don't even mind if I publish it - the idea of having written a book is eXciting enough to keep me learning, experimenting, and writing, day in and day out.
Interestingly, you don't even need to know what the end result will be to get eXcited about it. The man who raised the Titanic was famous for beginning each day by telling his crew "Today's the day, boys - I feel it in my bones!" Seventeen years later, he did indeed succeed. What kept him going was the sense that something wonderful lay at the end of the rainbow, even though he didn't know what, if anything, he would ultimately find. I call this method of goal setting "Treasure Hunting", and it is one of a series of exceptions to the rules which say a goal has to be specific and measurable for it to be achievable.
2. Get eXcited about the Process
In his groundbreaking research into Flow:The Psychology of Optimal Experience, author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi points out that intrinsic motivation is a consistent element of flow experiences - that is, people who experience joy in their lives inevitably find joy and satisfaction in the process of what they are doing, regardless of the results they produce.
While there are many ways of getting yourself eXcited about the process, one of my favourites is to treat each project as an experiment, thereby shifting the emphasis from creating specific results to learning what works. Inventor/philosopher Buckminster Fuller is famous for living his whole life as an experiment; I find that when it comes to complaining about service, I can turn myself from a 90 pound weakling into Charles Atlas by treating the entire process as an experiment in "happy negotiation" - i.e. how far can I get without complaining, whining, guilt, anger, ultimatums, or acting like a victim.
3. Get eXcited about the Consequences
Sometimes neither the results or the process eXcite you, but the possible consequences of getting the result or going through the process do. One of my favourite authors told me he got eXcited about writing his first book not by the prospect of having it done, but by the prospect of all the people who would enroll in his seminars after reading it! Another friend of mine loves to take on particularly difficult projects because of how wonderfully capable it "makes" her feel.
Another category of eXciting consequences is the effect what you're doing will have on other people - creating positive experiences for others is one of the most satisfying and profitable activities imaginable.
4. Get eXcited about the Big Picture
So, what if you can't, don't, or won't eXcite yourself about the results, process, or consequences? Chunk up to the "big picture" - how what you're doing fits into the larger tapestry of your life and life purpose.
One of the most empowering exercises I teach on my workshops and teleclasses gives people an opportunity to re-evaluate their work, lives, and relationships in the larger context of what matters most to them, be it a relationship with spirit or that which gives direction, meaning, and purpose to their lives. Time after time, I am amazed at how seemingly mundane activities are transformed in the light of their "role within the whole".
Today's Experiment:
Part One -
1. Make a list of things you do and/or projects you are engaged in which eXcite you.
2. For each item on your list, mark down whether you are excited by the result, the process, the consequences, the big picture, or some combination of the four.
Part Two -
1. Make a list of things you feel you need to do for your happiness, success, and well-being which do not yet eXcite you.
2. For each item on your list, ask yourself "What could eXcite me about this?" or "If I was eXcited about this, what would be different?"
3. If you can't come up with anything, cycle through the four keys listed above until you feel yourself getting genuinely eXcited. (I know I've found it when I want to start working on it there and then!)
Have fun, learn heaps, and put the eXcitement factor to work in your life today!
I would like to offer my entry into the "X" factor debate and to open it out beyond the scope of Hollywood and into the world inhabited by you and I. (OK, so I live in Hollywood, but I'm trying to maintain my common touch
:-)
My candidate for the "X" factor?
eXcitement!
eXcitement is the key to unlocking not only your inner e-motivational engine but a way of creating access to your own best resources. It is the difference between competence and excellence, between being active and being inspired. Skill without eXcitement leads to mediocrity; eXcitement without skill, if cultivated, can lead not only to the development of skill but on into the realm of true creativity.
In fact, an excellent test for how effective you're going to be in the pursuit of a goal is to ask yourself "Am I excited about this?" If your answer is anything other than an enthusiastic "Yes!", chances are you are already experiencing that bizarre combination of boredom and panic that seems to accompany those things we do just enough work on to "get by" or "get away with it".
So what are the keys to unleashing the e Xcitement factor in your life, work, and relationships?
1. Get eXcited about the End Result
Why do I write these tips? There's many reasons, but one of the main ones is that it is a sort of a twelve-step program way of writing a book - one day at a time. What eXcites me about writing a book? Funnily enough, nothing more or less than having a book at the end of it. I don't even mind if I publish it - the idea of having written a book is eXciting enough to keep me learning, experimenting, and writing, day in and day out.
Interestingly, you don't even need to know what the end result will be to get eXcited about it. The man who raised the Titanic was famous for beginning each day by telling his crew "Today's the day, boys - I feel it in my bones!" Seventeen years later, he did indeed succeed. What kept him going was the sense that something wonderful lay at the end of the rainbow, even though he didn't know what, if anything, he would ultimately find. I call this method of goal setting "Treasure Hunting", and it is one of a series of exceptions to the rules which say a goal has to be specific and measurable for it to be achievable.
2. Get eXcited about the Process
In his groundbreaking research into Flow:The Psychology of Optimal Experience, author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi points out that intrinsic motivation is a consistent element of flow experiences - that is, people who experience joy in their lives inevitably find joy and satisfaction in the process of what they are doing, regardless of the results they produce.
While there are many ways of getting yourself eXcited about the process, one of my favourites is to treat each project as an experiment, thereby shifting the emphasis from creating specific results to learning what works. Inventor/philosopher Buckminster Fuller is famous for living his whole life as an experiment; I find that when it comes to complaining about service, I can turn myself from a 90 pound weakling into Charles Atlas by treating the entire process as an experiment in "happy negotiation" - i.e. how far can I get without complaining, whining, guilt, anger, ultimatums, or acting like a victim.
3. Get eXcited about the Consequences
Sometimes neither the results or the process eXcite you, but the possible consequences of getting the result or going through the process do. One of my favourite authors told me he got eXcited about writing his first book not by the prospect of having it done, but by the prospect of all the people who would enroll in his seminars after reading it! Another friend of mine loves to take on particularly difficult projects because of how wonderfully capable it "makes" her feel.
Another category of eXciting consequences is the effect what you're doing will have on other people - creating positive experiences for others is one of the most satisfying and profitable activities imaginable.
4. Get eXcited about the Big Picture
So, what if you can't, don't, or won't eXcite yourself about the results, process, or consequences? Chunk up to the "big picture" - how what you're doing fits into the larger tapestry of your life and life purpose.
One of the most empowering exercises I teach on my workshops and teleclasses gives people an opportunity to re-evaluate their work, lives, and relationships in the larger context of what matters most to them, be it a relationship with spirit or that which gives direction, meaning, and purpose to their lives. Time after time, I am amazed at how seemingly mundane activities are transformed in the light of their "role within the whole".
Today's Experiment:
Part One -
1. Make a list of things you do and/or projects you are engaged in which eXcite you.
2. For each item on your list, mark down whether you are excited by the result, the process, the consequences, the big picture, or some combination of the four.
Part Two -
1. Make a list of things you feel you need to do for your happiness, success, and well-being which do not yet eXcite you.
2. For each item on your list, ask yourself "What could eXcite me about this?" or "If I was eXcited about this, what would be different?"
3. If you can't come up with anything, cycle through the four keys listed above until you feel yourself getting genuinely eXcited. (I know I've found it when I want to start working on it there and then!)
Have fun, learn heaps, and put the eXcitement factor to work in your life today!
Michael
Neill ("The Coach")
Already recognised as one of the outstanding trainers and coaches of his generation, and after nearly a decade at the forefront of human performance technologies research and development in the UK, Michael helped found Quantum5 to create an outlet and forum for further developing and implementing his wide-range of existing and future innovations. Since 1990, he has been teaching and training NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), one of the first human performance technologies to win widespread acceptance in the corporate sector.
Michael is perhaps best known in the field for developing models of "Conversational Change", user-friendly ways of creating pervasive personal and organisational change. He has coached and trained a diverse range of senior-level people ranging from chief executives of multinational companies to members of the Saudi Royal family. He has also been working as a professional actor throughout that time, most notably as "new-age American" Randy in the BAFTA award winning BBC sitcom Satellite City and as Hamlet in the Reduced Shakespeare Company's The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged). For more info check out his website at www.successmadefun.com
Already recognised as one of the outstanding trainers and coaches of his generation, and after nearly a decade at the forefront of human performance technologies research and development in the UK, Michael helped found Quantum5 to create an outlet and forum for further developing and implementing his wide-range of existing and future innovations. Since 1990, he has been teaching and training NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), one of the first human performance technologies to win widespread acceptance in the corporate sector.
Michael is perhaps best known in the field for developing models of "Conversational Change", user-friendly ways of creating pervasive personal and organisational change. He has coached and trained a diverse range of senior-level people ranging from chief executives of multinational companies to members of the Saudi Royal family. He has also been working as a professional actor throughout that time, most notably as "new-age American" Randy in the BAFTA award winning BBC sitcom Satellite City and as Hamlet in the Reduced Shakespeare Company's The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged). For more info check out his website at www.successmadefun.com