The Option Institute
The Option Institute is a not-for-profit educational organization founded in 1983 by best-selling author (Happiness Is A Choice) Barry Neil Kaufman and Samahria Lyte Kaufman. The Institute website lists testimonials from folks who've overcome various challenges in their lives, such as abuse, disease, depression and professional burnout. An example: "When I was seven years old, I found an injured garter snake and cared for him until he healed. From then on, I wanted to be a veterinarian. I worked hard and spent years in school preparing. When I finally opened my own veterinary clinic, it was like a dream come true. I saw myself as another James Herriott, curing the animals and receiving the appreciation of my thankful clients. But reality was quite different. Sometimes the animals didn't get well. Some died. Then their owners often got upset. Some people even refused to pay their bills. Although I'd achieved my lifelong dream, I was becoming more and more stressed out. I was so tense and unhappy, that I developed a painful stomach condition which was, according to my doctor, stress-related. At age 31, I was well on my way to an ulcer! My dream had become a nightmare and I could barely drag myself into work."
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The UnComfort Zone
This Month: Deadlines Work
As I sit here writing this column against the deadline, I’m reminded of my days as a young advertising copywriter when I occasionally needed a deadline as motivation to finish a boring project. The deadline did more than motivate me to finish -- more often than not, it was what finally stimulated enough creative thinking to move me forward -- in other words, it motivated me to think outside of the box.“Thinking outside of the box.” Boy, has that phrase become overused. People are so often telling us that we need to think outside of the box that it has fallen into the realm of cliche. Never-the-less it is still true. Sometimes, however, we need to be put into a box first before we can think outside of it. A deadline is just such a box.
I used to believe that the more freedom I had, the more creative I could be. But it doesn’t necessarily work that way. Ingenuity needs to be motivated by something, and if the desire to achieve isn’t there, then an uncomfortable boundary may work.
Have you ever watched a man or a woman with one leg running a marathon or competing in downhill snow skiing? I have, and every time I’m deeply impressed because I have both of my legs and I can’t do either one. I used to wonder why they were able to do so much more than me when I was the one born with the greater advantage. Now I can see that the difference is that they were challenged by a boundary and I wasn’t. Some of them might even argue that they were the ones born with the greater advantage. Being unable to walk made them uncomfortable, and conquering their disability became a powerful motivating factor. They had to get out of that box!
Think of creativity as a prisoner trying to bust out of jail. When your resources and opportunities are limited you must become innovative. A good illustration of this is the World War II movie The Great Escape. It is an amazing tale of ingenuity. Men with little to work with escape from a German POW camp. In addition to digging three tunnels without shovels, they made hand drawn traveling documents and identification papers that looked authentic enough to pass for ones made on a printing press. Now that was a box to get out of!
I have enjoyed working for myself most of my adult life. People frequently tell me they wish they could be self-employed like I am. They say things like, “If I could just get one client then I could quit my job.” My response is always the same, “Until you quit your job, you are never going to find that first client. There is nothing like the deadline of a rent or mortgage payment staring you down at the end of the month to motivate you to get out and look for clients.”
Everyone works under some kind of deadline. They force us to prioritize our responsibilities; they limit procrastination; and they help us achieve our work related goals. But, we often lack them in our private lives. We are not given deadlines to accomplish our most important personal goals and without those boundaries procrastination can creep in and destroy our best intentions. The trick is to impose a deadline on yourself. But it has to have some teeth to work.
Here’s how to do it: Write down your goal. Then set a reasonable date in which you can achieve it. Next, go to your bank or attorney and set up an escrow account. Now add the teeth -- put into the account an amount of money that will hurt to lose: $1,000... $10,000... $100,000... you decide! Set it up so that if you haven’t achieved your goal by the deadline then the funds go to a favorite charity... or make it even more motivating: let the funds go to your worst enemy!
Not ready to try that? Then try the buddy system. Pair up with a friend and each of you take responsibility to follow up on the other one. You can get together once a week and check on each other’s progress. If goals aren’t being met, then nag each other into the UnComfort Zone!
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In future articles we'll examine further the ways in which motivation works. How to motivate ourselves, our employees, customers, volunteers, friends, loved ones and children. I would like to get your feedback on which of these areas of motivation are of most interest to you. I’d also like to hear your stories of how you may have overcome adversity and what pushed you to go the distance. Please email me your suggestions and stories.
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Links to previous UnComfort Zone articles:
What's Pushing Your Buttons?
Don't Get Stuck in Reverse
The Most Powerful Motivator
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Robert Evans Wilson, Jr. is a motivational speaker and humorist. He works with companies that want to be more competitive and with people who want to think like innovators. For more information on Robert's programs please visit www.jumpstartyourmeeting.com.