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3. THE MOTIVATION
RECIPES
3.1 Mighty Motivators
3.2 Momentum Motivators
3.3 One Minute Motivators
3.4 Motivation Squishers

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Get up & GO-AL!
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Keep the end in mind

3.1 MAKING YOUR 1 Create a picture

MIGHTY MOTIVATORS 2 Do the Five Why’s
Mighty motivators are a lot of fun to create and will
give you a huge burst of Motivation while you are 3 What’s in it for me?
making them. But the real magic is that while you only
make these once, you get to use them again and again
and again. That’s what makes these truly mighty!
Because these Recipes are fun and super-motivating,
don’t do them all on one day. Reap the full force
of the motivation they spark by spreading them out
over at least a week.

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1 : C R E AT E A P I C T U R E
The best place to start
Create a real (physical, not imagined) picture
which represents what reaching your goal looks like.
FOR EXAMPLE:
☞ if your goal is to write a book, do a mock- up of
the front cover.
☞ if your goal is to earn $10,000 photoshop your
bank statement to show the money in there.
☞ if your goal is to declutter, sketch a picture of your
room clutter free.
☞ if your goal is to make a certain number of sales,
photoshop your sales reports to show the sales as made,
or create a picture of your goal number of products all
packaged up ready for posting.
WHY IT WORKS
While you are creating the physical picture of reaching your goal,
your subconscious brain interprets this as you actually achieving it. The
feeling of ‘success’ triggers Motivation Central to produce Dopamine,
and the Dopamine makes you feel motivated to do the work to ‘repeat’
that success.
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WHY THIS IS A MIGHTY MOTIVATOR
Physical manifestation of your goal (creating a goal picture) makes you feel
super-motivated because:
1. T he process of making your goal picture takes time and effort which
helps embed your goal deeply in your brain.
2. Y
 our subconscious brain thinks it’s seeing the real achievement of your
goal, triggering a lot of dopamine!
3. O
 nce made you can look at your picture daily (or more often!) as a nifty
reminder of what success looks like and even just the briefest glance will
give you a little burst of motivation.
SIDE BENEFIT!
The effort required to create your goal picture helps your goal crack
through the Reticular Activating System (RAS).
The RAS is a protective barrier around your brain which prevents most
information getting inside. The barrier is necessary because your brain
would break if it tried to process all the information it is exposed to. When
information does get through your RAS your brain regards it as important
and starts spotting other information in connection with it. You might have
consciously experienced this the last time you bought a new car if you
suddenly noticed the roads seemed full of vehicles the same colour and
make as your new one.
Once your goal cracks through your RAS the same phenomenon will
happen, but this time you will notice lots of opportunities to help you reach
your goal. It almost feels like the Universe is conspiring to help you, but
actually it’s your brain noticing opportunities that were probably always
there but kept hidden from you by your RAS.
FUN FACT
When Jim Carrey was a struggling actor he wrote a cheque to himself for
$10million for ‘Acting services rendered’ post dated it 10 years and kept it
in his wallet. Ten years later, he’d achieved it.
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2:DO THE FIVE WHYS
Kinda like being a toddler
The Five Whys is a way of understanding why reaching your
goal is so important to you. Yes, you’d think that, as you
thought up your goal yourself, you’d know why you wanted
to do it. But the subconscious brain’s a funny beast and
sometimes it keeps that detail hidden.
1 You’re going to ask yourself WHY you are working
towards your goal, five times.
Tip: If you do this exercise in your head it doesn’t work that well,
so either write down the five why questions and your answers
(there’s a Worksheet for that in this kit) or get someone else to ask
you the ‘Why’ questions.
2 Start with your goal, ask “why do you want to achieve
this goal?” Write down the answer.
To that answer ask: “But why does that matter?”
Write down the answer.
And to that answer ask: “But why does that matter?”
Write down the answer.
And to that answer ask: “But why does that matter?”
Write down the answer.
And to that answer ask: “But why does that matter?”
Write down the answer.
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EXAMPLE
Charlotte’s goal is to make sales of $30,000
“Why do you want to make $30,000 in sales?” So I can pay the running
costs of our family.
“And why does it matter to pay the running costs of your family?”
So we can keep the family happy, take them on holiday.
“And why does it matter that you should take them on holiday?”
Because I want us to create memories and spend quality time together.
“And why does it matter that you spend quality time together” My kids
are getting older and will leave home soon and I want them to leave
knowing they have a strong happy family here to support them.
“And why does that matter?” Because I think that they will be more
confident adults if they have had a happy childhood.
Of course your answers will be completely different to Charlotte’s, but
you get the gist. It’s about digging deep into the core of why you want to
achieve your goal.
WHY IT WORKS
Asking ‘why’ five times will helps you get to the real reason that this goal
is important.
Sometimes when you’re feeling unmotivated it’s because the outer reason
(the skin on an apple, if you want) doesn’t feel important enough to you.
This is especially the case after you’ve been working on your goal for a
while. When you feel a bit jaded by your goal you need to get closer to
the core, to the true purpose of why you’re pursuing this.
When you remind yourself why you’re really pursuing your goal you’ll
feel happy and motivated again because you’ll know that you are
persevering with work that is worth doing.
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 WHY IT WORKS
Writing your ‘What’s In It For Me’ whets your brain’s appetite for success,
activates your Dopamine Reward System and hello motivation!

3 : W H AT’S IN IT FOR ME? FUN FACT

WIIFM! WIIFM!
While it’s wholesome and purposeful and motivating to frame
your goal as helping other people (“I want to make $xx so
my children can go on the school trip”) it’s also healthy and
motivating to understand what the reward for yourself is too (“I
want to make $xx so I don’t have to go back to my old job
with the terrible boss”).
When you write by hand you make sequential strokes with your fingers
and hand to form a letter. These sequential movements ignite the
subconscious parts of your brain responsible for thinking and working
memory. So when you write by hand you’re actually communicating with
your subconscious brain! But it’s only hand writing that works, not typing.
Because typing is just selecting a letter from a keyboard, it doesn’t have
the same impact on your brain at all.
So if you want to embed something into your brain, handwrite it!

1 Write, by hand, five ways in which reaching

your goal will make life better for YOU. You can
use the Worksheet in this kit.
2 Pop the Worksheet in your Motivation Station
(Mighty Motivator #8) when you’ve finished.

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Bundles of Motivation
Hang on to the good things

4 Start a Smile File

5 Create a Trophy Cabinet

6 Start a collection
of Inspiring Stories

7 Start a collection of
Motivational Words/
Quotes

8 Set up a Motivation
Station

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 WHY IT WORKS
The subconscious brain loves praise! It’s the ultimate reward and
sparks a huge surge of Dopamine when you initially receive it. The
great thing about the subconscious brain though is that it gets just as
4 : S TART A SM ILE FI LE excited when you remember praise! Reading your Smile File gives you
a surge of Dopamine.
Everyone should have one of these

A smile file is a delicious collection of praise, thanks and
other things that have gone well for you.
1 Put together a file, it can be digital or physical. Apps
like Google Keep and Zoho Notebook work well for
this but an old shoe box makes a great file too.
SIDE BENEFIT!
Reading through your Smile File reminds you how valuable YOU are,
that you do really GOOD work, that you are a capable person, and
that you are important. Being reminded of this makes you feel capable
of doing good stuff and makes you want to do good stuff, even when
the praise and the goal are not related.

2 Find every ‘thank you’, ‘praise’ or ‘nice comment’

about your work’ and put them in the file.
This might mean copying and pasting emails or writing notes to
yourself (so you can remember the the verbal compliments).

3 What you put in your smile file doesn’t have to be

connected to your goal in any way. Though you might
want to keep a special 100 Day Goal Smile File, you
don’t have to.

4 Ongoing, whenever someone says something nice

about you, pop it in your Smile File.

5 When you need a Motivation Boost, re-read your smile

file. More on that in ‘One Minute Motivators’.

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 NOTES

5: CREATE A TROPHY CABINET

It’s not just cups, crowns and ribbons...

This is similar to the Smile file but is about surrounding

yourself with physical reminders of your success.

1 This isn’t about real trophies (unless you’ve won

some, in which case it certainly is) but it’s about
physical reminders of your success. So they could
be images of products you’ve made, a before and
after picture of your weight loss, the book you’ve
published. Anything you’ve done that feels like a
success.

2 Make a little display, or add them to your

Motivation Station (see Mighty Motivator #8) and
whenever you need a boost of motivation, sit with
a cup of tea and look at your ‘trophies’.

WHY IT WORKS
Looking at your past successes reminds your brain that you are
capable (you are!), and how good success feels. It will remind your
brain of the rewards of your work and it will cause a dopamine
surge and kick start your motivation.

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6: START A COLLECTION
OF INSPIRING STORIES
We are what we read
Start pulling together a collection of inspiring stories now,
so they are ready to read when you need them.
1 Start a file (like your Smile File) of stories or links to
inspiring stories.
2 You don’t need to have anything to put in your file right
now, just set it up and keep your eye open for stories.
Actively looking for stories will open up your Reticular
Activation System and soon you’ll be noticing them
everywhere.
3 Inspiring stories typically follow what’s called the hero’s
journey. The hero is an ordinary person who works
hard, has a crisis, overcomes it and achieves something
unexpected. These stories inspire us because they
illustrate how ordinary people (who we identify with) do
extraordinary things.
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4 But don’t worry too much about what constitutes an
inspiring story, just pick any that YOU find inspiring. You
can find them anywhere but if you’re feeling stuck try
looking at TED talks, and podcasts.
5 The stories don’t need to be at all relevant to your goal,
the magic works irrespective of the topict.
WHY IT WORKS
When you read, watch or listen to inspiring stories your brain emotionally
resonates with the hero and you actually feel their emotions. Your
subconscious interprets the hero’s story as your story, and their success
as your success. And - hey ho - that triggers Motivation Central and the
Dopamine Reward System.
But that’s not the only thing that inspiring stories do, they also work on a
conscious level. Hearing stories of ordinary people doing great things
makes us believe that WE can do them too. And we can!
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 7: START A COLLECTION
OF MOTIVATING WORDS/QUOTES
What we think, we become
Start pulling together a collection of motivating quotes.
1 Start a collection of your favourite quotes. You can
make it physical or digital but keep them together in
a single, easy to find place. To stop you disappearing
down rabbit holes it’s a good idea to keep them off
Social Media.
2 And where to find them? Don’t go nuts looking for them
now, just start a file and collect great ones when you
see them. It’s better to have a small collection that really
speak to you, than a big but dull bunch.
WHY IT WORKS
Life throws out all sorts of challenges which might make you feel drained,
sad, or stuck. Quotes are a good reminder that other people have walked
this path and thrived and this will help you believe that you can too!
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8: SET UP A MOTIVATION
STATION
You can create this however you want, but some useful tips:
If you have room, use a pinboard for your Motivation Station,
otherwise use a box, planner or file.
PIN OR FILE:
☞ Images of what achieving your goal looks like.
See Mighty Motivator #1
☞ Your ‘Why’– See Mighty Motivator #2
☞ Your ‘What’s in it for me?’– See Mighty Motivator #3
☞ Stories from your Smile File – See Mighty Motivator #4
☞ Pictures of ‘trophies’ – See Mighty Motivator #5
☞ Inspiring stories – See Mighty Motivator #6
☞ Motivational quotes – See Mighty Motivator #7
☞ Goal trackers Don’t Break the chain etc. See Momentum Motivators.
WHY IT WORKS
Putting your Motivation Station together creates the feeling of ‘success’
which wakes up Motivation Central and triggers your Dopamine Reward
System. More than that though, the Motivation Station really comes into its
own when you use it as part of your Daily Motivation Routine (Section 5).
Spending just a couple of minutes each morning looking over your board
or planner will set you up for a fabulously motivated day.
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