Imagine that you are considering whether you want to do something in your life or work. This could be doing a specific activity, doing a project or tackling a challenge.
Great workers do their due diligence before embarking on an activity. This includes considering both the pluses and minuses involved. They also look at how they can build on the pluses and minimise the minuses.
Bearing these factors in mind, they rate how motivated they are to do the work. They may do on a scale 0-10. If appropriate, they also clarify the specific things they can do to improve the rating.
This approach comes with one caveat. There are some things in life that we may not feel particularly motivated to do. We choose to do these, however, because the pluses of doing them outweigh the minuses of not doing them.
Let’s return to your own life. Looking ahead, can you think of something you would like to do in the future. This could be in your personal or professional life.
You may want to improve your health, commit to a new relationship or achieve a personal goal. You may want to take the next step in your career, build a business or do another professional activity.
The Pluses And Minuses
Let’s assume you are focusing on something you want to do. What may be the pluses and minuses involved in doing the work and achieving the goal? How can you build on the pluses and minimise the minuses?
This is an exercise I learned early in my career when working with people in addiction recovery programmes. They wanted to live a healthier life and give up their addiction to drugs, alcohol or other substances.
Bearing this in mind, we encouraged them to focus on what they saw as the pluses and minuses involved. Much depended on the person’s circumstances, of course, but let’s look at some examples.
The pluses may be the following. The person may feel healthier, feel more alive and live longer. They may be able to build better relationships, be better parents and see their children grow up. They may also, if they wished, develop a satisfying career.
The minuses could include the following. They would need to take responsibility every day, find a new purpose and learn how to manage their feelings in a healthy way.
We explored how they could build on the pluses and manage the minuses. Whatever route they took, however, they had to feel that what they were gaining outweighed what they were losing.
Some people had addictive personalities. They therefore aimed to follow a positive addiction rather than a negative addiction. They aimed to follow a positive mantra and positive habits one day at a time.
Some followed a personal health programmes. Some threw themselves into running, helping former addicts or doing other healthy activities. This gave them a sense of purpose and satisfaction each day.
They also focused on how to minimise or manage the minuses. This included learning how to manage trigger moments that may tempt them to return to their former substance abuse.
Looking ahead, we role played how they could manage such trigger moments. This often involved them learning how to stop, buy time and choose positive ways rather than negative ways to deal with the situation.
Bearing all these factors in mind, we invited people to rate the extent to which they were motivated to achieve their goals. Plus how they could get some quick successes on the journey they would follow one day at a time.
Let’s return to your own life and work. Imagine that you want to take a leadership role in a company. Providing you are still playing to your strengths, let’s focus on the pluses. These may include the following.
You may be able to take more strategic decisions. You may build a positive team that does superb work. You may do stimulating work that helps your company, customers and colleagues to achieve success.
The potential minuses may include the following. You may not necessarily have as much freedom as you anticipated. You may also inherit a challenging team and feel alone when making tough decisions.
Bearing these factors in mind, how can you build on the pluses and minimise the minuses? One approach is to make clear contracts before taking the role.
You may agree with your key stakeholders on: a) the picture of success; b) the principles – the Dos and Don’ts – to follow; c) the practical support required – including the autonomy you will have – to achieve the goals.
Let’s assume that you have clarified how you can build on the pluses and manage the minuses. On a scale 0-10, how motivated do you feel to take the role? If appropriate, what can you do to improve the rating.
Imagine that you have taken these steps and want to take the role. How can you set things up to succeed? How can you get some quick successes? How can you continue to encourage yourself on the journey?
There are many ways to live and work. One approach is to rate your motivation before embarking on an activity, doing a piece of work or aiming to reach a particular goal.
Let’s return to your own life and work. Looking ahead, can you think of a situation where you may want to follow elements of this approach? How can you do this in your own way?
What may be the specific thing you want to do? What may be the pluses and minuses involved? How can you build on the pluses and minimise the minuses?
Bearing these factors in mind, how motivated do you feel to pursue the activity? Rate this on a scale 0-10. If appropriate, what can you do to improve the rating?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
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