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How to Get Unstuck and Reduce Stress

How to Get Unstuck and Reduce Stress

During this crisis, people are feeling stuck, stressed and off balance. It’s hard to think clearly or to know what you can do that’s productive and positive. So most people just remain immobilized. Here’s a simple strategy you get you back in control, reduce your stress, and allow you to regain your balance.

Transcript:

Thank you for joining me. I’m Linda-Ann Stewart, a vision strategist. Today, I’d like to talk a little bit about how you can reduce some of the stress you may be feeling as a result of our current crisis. We’re in unknown territory.

Everyone is feeling out of their depth and off balance. They’re worried about their health and that of their loved ones, worried about finances, and uncertain about how long this crisis will last. All of this worry and uncertainty causes stress. And with stress, it’s hard to make rational decisions. We react, and can’t think clearly of how to respond in a productive way.

Instead, it’s human nature to either fight, freeze or try to flee from the danger. We either feel angry, immobilized or fearful. It’s nature’s way of helping us deal with a threat, right? Well, we can’t fight a virus. I mean hand-to-hand combat. And we certainly can’t flee from it while we’re quarantined, can we? However, people  have complained the most to me about feeling frozen, stuck or helpless.

The way out of feeling stuck is to move, to actively do something positive. There are a lot of things you can’t control or do anything about right now. But what can you control? You can control your actions and attention. So focus on what you can do, just one thing you can do.

What one positive thing can you do today that will make you feel like you accomplished something? It could be as simple as taking a shower, changing out of your pajamas or changing a light bulb. That’s your first step. When you get one thing done, no matter how small, it will give you encouragement to do something else. You could reach out to a loved one or friend. Send a greeting card. Try out a new recipe. Do something creative.

As you take action, it becomes easier to do it again. Feeling in control reduces the feelings of stress, which means you’ll be able to think more clearly. You may be able to plan for what’s next. Who knows? You might even end up cleaning out the garage. Maybe. No pressure. But even if you don’t achieve that massive task, you will still have been able to regain your sense of balance, by just doing one thing at a time.

If you’d to achieve a 90-day goal more easily, download my free comprehensive Strategic Vision blueprint at www. Linda-AnnStewart.com/setyourcourse.html. You’ll receive the blueprint, as well as a video of that walks you through it with tips and directions to support you in you in accomplishing your goal.

Thank you for watching. My wish for you is to stay well, physically, mentally and emotionally.

Read the complementary article, When Life Gives You Lemons…

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

What Motivates You?

What Motivates You?

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Do you wait until the last minute to do your taxes or a report? Do you procrastinate and avoid thinking about them until the night before they’re due? If so, you may be motivated to try to avoid pain, until the last possible moment. In the meantime, your attention is divided, knowing that the project is looming over you. While you’re trying to go about your life, dread nibbles at you.

Or are you someone who does your taxes, or a report, as soon as can? If so, you’re motivated to get your refund faster or to move on to the next task. You look forward to not only getting the unpleasant task done quickly, but to the reward of receiving your refund and clearing your desk. You’re motivated by seeking pleasure. You take your time and make fewer mistakes, because you aren’t pressured.

How the Pain Pleasure Principle Works to Achieve Goals

People are motivated to avoid pain and/or anticipate pleasure. To find out which governs you the most, assess how you deal with unpleasant aspects of your life. If you generally procrastinate or let things go until the last minute, you’re probably motivated to avoid pain.

To achieve your goals, you stir up the pain until it’s so bad that you must move forward to reduce the discomfort. This is fine for the short term and to initiate change, but it’s stressful and extended stress leads to burnout. You’ll associate your goals with pain and eventually abandon them.

Using pain to flog yourself forward wounds the inner self. You also block the flow of the Universe and the Law of Attraction. Your attention is on the pain, and not on your vision and your connection to your Higher Self. To avoid the discomfort, you move in any direction that eases the pain, even if it’s the opposite way you want to go. Or you do the least amount possible to make the pain go away, and that won’t take you to what you ultimately want, either.

To function at your best, your subconscious and inner self need safety, which is the reverse of stress. If you’re motivated by seeking pleasure, you feel more secure. You’re able to be more creative and effective, and have a greater range of resources from which to draw. The Universe and the Law of Attraction are able to expand more good into your life. You also have your focus on what your goals will bring you.

Getting tasks done ahead of time gives you a sense of satisfaction and your attention can then be freed for your next step. Your brain likes the completion, and rewards you with a feeling of being uplifted. Being motivated to anticipate pleasure is better for long term progress. It draws you forward towards your vision. It activates the Law of Attraction to draw to you what you need for your desire.

Using Your Motivation Style to Your Advantage

No matter if you’re someone who avoids pain or anticipates pleasure, you can use this motivation principle to more easily achieve your goals. If you’re been someone who stirs up the pain to initiate action, that’s fine. Once you’re moving, you can shift to the longer term strategy. Here are four steps to help you be more successful.

1. Your goal must be realistic. Create small steps that you can accomplish so you feel like you’re progressing. For instance, if you expect to accomplish five projects, when you only have time for three, you’re going to feel like a failure. Even if you must scale back your expectations, make sure your steps can be achieved in the time allotted.

2. Write out your ultimate vision. Write down what it will look and feel like to achieve your goal. Explain why you want your vision. What changes will it bring into your life and how will that improve your situation? This stirs up the anticipation of the pleasure you’ll feel when you’ve reached your goal.

3. Reframe the pain. Once you get moving, don’t continue to drive yourself with the fear of what will happen if you don’t take the next step. Instead, give yourself credit for each step you’ve taken along the way. The subconscious likes the appreciation and you’ll feel encouraged to continue. Look forward to the benefit you anticipate from your actions.

4. Take mini-steps. Work on your goal in short bursts of energy during the day. Think of it as a series of small sprints, rather than a marathon. Alternate your actions with some other neutral or pleasurable activity. You’ll stop associating the goal or task with pain and negativity when it’s not overshadowing your life. Once you see how much you’re getting done, and feeling the satisfaction, it becomes easier and easier to work on.

It may feel uncomfortable to make a shift to a different way of motivating yourself. You’re breaking a long standing habit. But if you do, you’ll be much happier, more productive and successful in all of your endeavors.

Affirmation:

The Universe wants the best for me and I deserve it. By keeping my vision in mind, I create a mold for the Universe to fill and draw to me everything I need. I acknowledge and appreciate every step I take towards my vision. Each step brings me closer to the achievement of my dreams.

Watch the complementary video, Motivate Yourself with this Strategy.

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Motivate Yourself with this Strategy

Motivate Yourself with this Strategy

Is there a goal you want that you haven’t put any effort towards yet? To achieve your goal, you have to motivate yourself to start taking action. But that’s easier said than done. You have to find what will make it important enough to you to get moving. And then you have to discover how to stay committed. Here’s a strategy that will solve those problems and get you on course to achieving the goal you’ve been dreaming of.

Transcript:

Thank you for joining me. I’m Linda-Ann Stewart, a vision strategist. I’d like to share a technique I’ve used for thirty years to help clients get themselves motivated to make massive changes in their lives. It’s called the Stick and the Carrot.

Essentially, it’s figuring out what will prompt you to get moving, and what will keep luring you forward. It’s like a cart driver using a stick to gently urge a reluctant donkey to start forward, and dangling a carrot on the end of a stick in front of the donkey to keep them moving. No, I’m not calling you a donkey. But doesn’t it sometimes feel like you’re stuck and won’t move forward? This strategy will solve that. 

I suggest a technique many businesses use. To motivate yourself to do something you’re dreading, do a cost-benefits analysis. Sounds boring, doesn’t it? But it’s worked for my clients.

I ask them why they want whatever their goal is. What happens if they don’t get it and what happens if they do? Essentially, you’re figuring out what the costs are to not getting started (the stick), and then what the benefits would be to taking action (the carrot).

For the costs, or disadvantages, ask yourself, “What are consequences of staying on this same path?” “How will I feel if I don’t make this change?” And, “Where will I be in a year or two years if I don’t commit to changing?” Those would be the costs of inaction for you. Most of the time, the answers to these questions will gently whip you into taking action, even if it’s small and slow.

Now for the carrot, to lure you forward towards your rewards. To consider the benefits, turn the questions around. Ask yourself, “What are the advantages of making the change?” “How will I feel once I’ve achieved this change?” “Where will I be in a year if I do commit to making a change?” This helps you to create the vision of what you want. Done right, it will stir up anticipation, excitement and commitment.

When you use both of these, you’ll spur yourself forward and keep going. The stick simply reminds you of what will happen if you don’t take action, and the carrot is there to remind you of what’s in store for you when you do.

If you’d like to achieve a 90-day goal more easily, download my free comprehensive Strategic Vision blueprint. You’ll receive the blueprint, as well as tips and directions to support you in you in accomplishing your goal.

Thank you for watching. I hope you motivate yourself to achieve that goal you’ve been dreaming of. I know you can do it.

Read the accompanying article What Motivates You?

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

“10 Steps to Turbo-Charge Your New Year’s Resolutions”

“10 Steps to Turbo-Charge Your New Year’s Resolutions”

by Linda-Ann Stewart

This is a time of year when many people establish New Year’s resolutions to improve their lives in some way. And generally within weeks, if not days, they give up on their good intentions and go back to their old ways, feeling like nothing can ever change. Most people just don’t know how to set a goal and achieve it. Here are ten steps that you can use to manifest any desire you have.

1. Write down everything you want to change in your life.

I mean everything, from your weight to your mom stopping her nitpicking, increased income to putting up that little picture you got at the flea market. Big and small, write them all down. Take a small note pad with you to catch the ones you think of in the supermarket or at work. Add them to your master list.

2. Prioritize the importance of each one.

First, go through and eliminate the desires that you have no power to change, like your father’s health, or the state of the economy. With what’s left, give each one a number from one to ten to establish its importance, with one being very important, and ten being least important. Take the ones you rated a one or two, and again assign each a number of importance. Whittle them down to a few really strong desires.

3. Pick the most important one to focus on.

Choose one goal to work on. It would be nice if you could stop smoking, lose weight, start exercising, and quit biting your nails all at once, but that’s not realistic. Your subconscious can only handle so much change at once.

4. Write down why you want to achieve that goal.

What are the reasons and motivations you have for the realization of that desire? Why do you want to eat healthier? Is it to feel better, live a longer life, or to continue to be there for someone close to you? Get detailed because this is your driving force, your power for change.

5. Write down the steps you need to take to accomplish your desire.

Under each step, note down micro-steps. For instance, to lose weight, you could write, “Diet.” But what does that mean? Eat more fruits and vegetables, eliminate sweets, reduce calories or carbohydrates or simply eat less at each meal? You could then decide on various meals to prepare or foods to have on hand.

6. Be willing to do whatever is necessary to attain your goal.

That is, within reason, legal and moral. You may have to do things that stretch you out of your comfort zone, or that are difficult in the short term. But keep your attention on why you want it, and your subconscious will take your commitment and make it easier to reach.

7. Read your reasons and goal out loud at least three times a day.

This will help keep you energized and enthusiastic. Reading your goal keeps your subconscious focused on what you want. Visualize that you’ve accomplished it, and affirm that you have achieved it. You may not know how it’s going to come about, but your subconscious knows just what to do.

8. Take some action towards your goal each day.

Even if it’s the same thing you did yesterday, take one of the micro-steps you’ve chosen. This helps to convince your subconscious that you really do want the goal, and aren’t just daydreaming about it. And the action also sends out energy to attract what you may need to manifest your goal.

9. If you reach a dead end, ask the Universe for guidance.

You’re not in this all by yourself. At any point, from setting the goal to its actual manifestation, ask the Universe for direction and be open for any impulses or nudges.

10. Be grateful for the fulfillment of your goal.

You can have what you desire, through the power of your Higher Mind. Even before you see the completion in your life, you have received it. Thanking the Universe for Its help, guidance and success of your desire communicates to your subconscious. The subconscious uses the power of that emotion, and the feeling of conclusion to create your desire.

If you seem to resist doing any of these steps, or the goal isn’t manifesting, ask the Universe if you’re blocking it for some reason. If you are, find a way to deal with that and move forward. You could also be trying to force it, instead of trusting your subconscious to manifest it. That’s why the gratitude step is so important. This encourages you to let go of the worry and doubt, and let the Universe and your subconscious mind handle the details.

Affirmation

I can have anything I desire through the power of my Higher Mind. My creative mind knows just what to do and how to do it to accomplish my goal. I’m willing to do whatever is necessary to make this positive change in my life. I keep my mind focused on my goal, and take the steps necessary for the fulfillment of my desire. I trust my creative mind, and the Universe, to take care of the details and bring me whatever I need to realize my desire.

Copyright 2009 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved