You know the feeling – that sinking sensation in the pit of your stomach just before you go in and ask your boss for a pay rise. That hope that you might finally get what you deserve, alongside the horrible feeling that he’ll simply say no, or fob you off with an excuse, and then your dreams of a half-decent raise have gone for another year.

As it turns out, there is a real science to the particular time of day to asking for something important.

Early mornings are best

Researchers at Columbia University studied decisions taken by judges over whether to grant parole to prisoners. On average each judge approved parole about a third of the time. But here’s the amazing thing.  Prisoners who appeared early in the morning got parole 65% of the time.  And those who appeared late in the day won parole less than 10% of the time.

Why was this?  It’s thought our ability to make good decisions depends on our levels of glucose in the body. Glucose = Willpower, as Roy Baumeister tells us in his book on the subject. The thinking is that early in the morning, the judges were well fed and rested and had the ability to make good (and potentially risky) decisions on parole. As the day went on, their brains and bodies used up glucose, and researchers concluded they would look for ways to conserve energy (and would pick the less risky choice).

There were fluctuations through the day too. For instance, just before lunch your chances of getting parole are 20%. But just after lunch – 60%!

What does all this mean for us?

If you’ve got something important – a meeting, a pitch, a job interview, asking your boss for a payrise; schedule it for early in the morning, or straight after lunch.

Schedule your important meeting for early in the morning, or straight after lunch.

Don’t schedule it for: just before lunch, or at the end of the day.

Either that or bring a chocolate bar in for your boss….

And when you are making an important decision yourself, make sure you are well fed and your glucose levels are adequate.

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For more on this why not check out Roy Baumeister’s book on Willpower.

And for some extra get-up-and-go, you might be interested in my Mo month – how to supercharge your MOtivation and MOmentum.

It’s the Oscars soon, and Meryl Streep is favourite to win Best Actress for her performance in The Iron Lady. What an actress, and what a performance.

Her powers of commitment and dedication to a role are legendary.

I like the story of when she got the role of a violinist in a film called Music of the Heart. To make herself authentic, she dedicated herself to the role so completely that she learnt and practiced the violin for six hours a day over two months.

That’s dedication, eh?

At the end of it she could play Bach’s Concerto. Apparently even now she is proud at the considerable effort she put in, and the enjoyment she got from achieving a new skill.

She devotes her undivided attention to the task of succeeding in a role.

So what can we learn from Meryl Streep?  Firstly, she clearly devotes her 100% undivided attention to the task of succeeding in a role, covering every angle in her quest for perfection. And secondly, no matter how long you spend in make-up, you will not look like Thatcher the same way that she does! Which is probably a good thing.

She is already of course the proud owner of an Oscars Lifetime Achievement Award, and this week it might be worth asking yourself:

• How can you ‘do a Meryl’ and devote yourself 100% to a goal that is important to you?
• What extra things can you do?
• Do you care enough to spend six hours a day for two months towards your goal?
• How can you dedicate your undivided attention to succeeding?

and finally, what are the little things you can start doing today towards achieving something big?

Tony.

ps If you’d like some help on your quest towards achieving your ‘big goal’, I only have three clients places left for the whole of 2012. I’m only taking on ten clients this year, and I’ve got seven already. Which is brilliant of course for me, but get in touch quickly to avoid disappointment if you want to be part of the ten.

The more observant amongst you may have noticed that I’ve been a bit quiet the last couple of weeks. That’s because I’ve been here…

(Gratuitous opportunity to put in picture of holiday.)

But now I’m back, I’m having to forget all those lovely lie-ins and get used to the early starts again. And that’s the theme of this week’s 1-minute blog.

Waking up the right way

Let’s face it, most of us struggle when the alarm goes off first thing. For some it’s even worse. Someone I worked with called Tina told me her first thought on waking was one of ‘absolute disgust’. Hmmm. I’m not sure that’s the best way to start the day.

We decided to change those first few moments of Tina’s day, and Tina gave me a little alarm clock demonstration. BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!  It was horrible.  It sounded like a fire alarm.  Or an emergency warning sound.   Uuggh.

We got rid of the nuclear warning zone alarm clock and instead set an alarm on her phone with a song from her music library.

Tina said the moment her alarm went off the next day, she started laughing.  It was just such a chilled way to start the day, she said.  What did she pick?  James Brown, “I Feel Good”, which is a pretty positive message with which to start the day.

• Do away with that hideous ‘beep beep beep’ alarm clock you’ve been using for years, and start the day as you mean to go on.  Set your alarm with a favourite relaxing or uplifting song, and then notice how it changes the way you feel when you wake up in the morning.  (1 minute)

And finally – my question – what is the perfect wake up song? What do you wake up to? Right now I’m waking up to Flo Rida ‘Good Feeling’, but I’m open to suggestions…

ps take a look at this awesome video of James Brown.

Today is apparently the busiest day of the year for job-hunting.

So if you’re sitting at your desk thinking, “I’d really rather be somewhere else”, stop twiddling your pen and wondering how you’ll do it, and follow these steps.

First – work out exactly what job you’d like. Click here for more on setting the big goals.

After that, how the hell are you going to get there? It’s time to focus on the small things – sometimes very small things. I believe in the importance of momentum – doing the day-by-day, hour-by-hour little things that lead to big achievements, and enjoying them along the way. I call this momentum ‘Big Mo‘, and this is how you can have some Big Mo of your own.

Buy a small smart notebook. You’re going to write in this every day. I like the Moleskine ones that have been around forever and have been used by the likes Picasso, Hemingway etc. (My thinking: If it’s good enough for Ernest Hemingway, it’s good enough for me.)

• Every morning, first thing you do – write in this book the little things you aim to do today towards your big goal. It will probably be a list of between 3 and 7 things.
• In the evening, come back and tick off the ones you’ve done. Sometimes it’ll be all of them, sometimes it might not be all of them – but the point is you’re starting to build real momentum on your journey towards your goal.

Why write? It’s a better way to start the day than checking Twitter – honest. Scientists also say the act of writing is more powerful than typing or simply thinking. Dr. Karl Morris got me doing this every day, and it’s made a huge difference to my life. It  also gets you appreciating the process – the journey, which of course is so important. As the wise famous philosopher bloke Lao Tzu said.

“The journey is the reward”

Well, don’t get me wrong, I like achieving the goal at the end of it too, but what’s the point if we don’t enjoy the journey?

By writing down your goals early morning in your BigMo Book it’ll focus your mind on taking action. By taking action, you’ll start witnessing and feeling the Big Mo – unstoppable momentum, and whilst keeping yourself rooted firmly in what needs to be done day-by-day, hour-by-hour, and minute-by-minute.

Because it’s those actions that will help you get that great new job, and stop you twiddling that pen.

For your FREE eBook on New Year’s Resolutions 2012 (worth £8 on Amazon), click here. (NB – last chance, only available for another few days)

For your own dedicated private program, click here (nb, I only take on ten private clients a year, and already have five high-end clients already booked in – five sign-ups in the first week of 2012. So there’s now only 5 places left for the whole of the rest of 2012. Interested? To apply click here)

Change your computer passwords to reflect your goal for 2012.

Most of us ‘log in’ to something every day, so at a conscious level we have to ask ourselves – ‘what is my password?’ So now, whenever you log in, you are literally forcing yourself to remember your goal. Of course, after a while, the process of remembering your password becomes almost automatic. Great. That means the process of remembering your goal also becomes automatic, and unconscious.

I recently told someone about this and she started laughing. “What are you laughing at?” I asked her. “Well, I’ve not had much luck with men over the past couple of years, so my password is AllMenAreEvil.” No wonder.

So, what’s your password going to be? Clearly this needs to be really short and sweet, so how do you articulate your goal in just a few letters? (Even the process of thinking this out helps you get closer to your goal.) I spoke about this in my first book Confidence in a minute, and since then have enjoyed hearing about how people get creative with their passwords. Here are some examples:

Confidence1, NewCar01, MillionDollars2012, GiveMoreToCharity, IGetMarried12.

Come up with whatever password you like that reflects your biggest, most important goal for 2012. Change your password now.

Start to notice how it becomes second nature to think about this goal.

Your focus this week needs to be on actually doing something. Changing your passwords only takes a minute – and when you do it you’re building momentum.

For your FREE eBook on New Year’s Resolutions 2012 (worth £8 on Amazon), click here.

For your own dedicated private program, click here (nb, I only take on ten private clients a year, and now have four booked in – including two high-achieving businesspeople and a top sportsman. So there’s now only 6 places left for the whole of 2012. Happy days for me – time to act fast for you if you’re interested.)

Tony.

My local gym will be absolutely rammed this week. Thousands of eager beavers sweating and straining on the treadmills, trying to work off those extra mince pies. But next month, and the month after that, I know what will happen. Attendance will start to drop off. Many will slowly forget about their New Year’s Resolution to get fit and healthy. By Christmas 2012, the regulars will have the gym to themselves again.

So how do you make sure that you actually get your New Year’s Resolutions done, and you’re still motivated in February, March and April? What is it that makes some people stick to their goals?

For now… grab a pen and some paper (or if you got a trendy iPad or iPhone for Christmas, you might want to do this bit on your new toy.)

Make 5 headings.

• Work.
• Money.
• Health.
• Relationships.
• Happiness.

(NB – these are just suggested headings. You might want to make additional headings too, such as Family, Charity, Leisure etc.)

1. Enter your goals for 2012 under each category.
2. Write them in the present, as if they’re happening right now. (I have a new job. I am going on an amazing holiday. I drive a new Skoda. Etc. Studies show the unconscious mind takes them more seriously if written in the present.)
3. With each goal ask yourself – is this possible? If not – amend your goal until it is achievable.
4. With each goal ask yourself – are there any negative consequences to achieving this? (If so – evaluate whether this goal is still worth pursuing or amending).
5. Once you’ve settled on your goals, date them with the date on which you want to achieve them. For example: I have a new job – 9/9/2012. Or… I always go to the gym twice a week. 12/12/2012.)
6. Write them out smartly on a piece of paper (there’s a proven visual/kinaesthetic link between writing and achieving)
7. If you are happy to share your goals with family and friends, pin them up on the fridge. ‘The Law of Commitment’ shows that the more we commit to something publicly the more likely we are to actually stick to this commitment. I’ve written more on sharing here.

Congratulations. By following this process you’re already starting to build momentum towards achieving your 2012 goals.

If you want to build even more momentum, share your New Year’s Resolutions at this special website set up just for 2012. It is simply there so you can tell the world about your goal.

Come and see what crazy goals other people have come up with – and enter your own.

www.bigmo.biz

The research shows, once you’ve announced your goal (for instance at bigmo.biz), you’re more likely to achieve it. This is just the start of your journey.  Enjoy it, and if your goal is health-related, maybe see you in the gym in December!

For your FREE eBook on New Year’s Resolutions 2012 (worth £8 on Amazon), click here.

For your own dedicated private program, click here (nb, there’s now only 7 places left for the whole of 2012)

My week? Apart from the usual TV stuff it’s probably the quietest few days of the year  - and quite right too, we’re all thinking about Christmas, families and fun.

From Boxing Day though – things start to get lively as people start to think about the future.

And from January 1st, it goes crazy busy – the busiest month of the year as we put the festive cheer behind us and start thinking about the future/getting in shape/getting a new job/our empty bank accounts.

So it may be quiet right now for me – but rest assured that as well as fully enjoying the Christmas parties I am busy working away on an excellent start to 2012 for you.

From January the 1st I will once again be sending out a daily free guide on the NLP principles that will help you to supercharge 2012 and make it your best year ever. This has proved really popular in previous years. It is all based on scientific research that will help you set big goals and get them done next year, so simply make sure you’re signed up to the mailing list (enter email box in the top right of this page) if you’re not already signed up.

And in the meantime. Merry Christmas! I’m off to enjoy the quiet before the storm.

Tony

ps If you are really serious about achieving something special in 2012, then as well as looking out for my daily emails in the first week of Jan, you may want to sign up for my Mo Month. I’ve already had more sign ups for this January than any previous month.

Some fun stuff last week with the Absolute Radio Christian O’Connell breakfast show.

Quite apart from bringing back great memories of my radio days (I worked at the likes of Atlantic 252 and Century FM for 10 years before moving to TV), it was a fun morning hanging out with Christian and producer Richie.

Richie was by his own admission an extremely nervous flyer and had four flights to take at the weekend.. I first chatted to him on the phone during the show on Tuesday, and then went in to the studio on Wednesday.

Here’s us heading into the boardroom to do a few short techniques to help with his fear of flying.

Afterwards, Richie seemed to be very positive – check out this second video.

The proof is in the pudding though, and conveniently they had two flights on Thursday booked to Lapland to do Friday morning’s show from there.

I had a couple of lovely texts from him and the team when they arrived saying how much better the experience of flying had been. (One of Richie’s colleagues described him as ‘cured’!).

And then this tweet from Richie when he landed seemed to confirm that everything is now well.

So… how to do it? If you have a phobia of something then the skills used in NLP can really help. After all we’re not born with phobias, we learn them. So we can learn to react differently too. Get in contact if you’d like to discuss yours. Or my book Relax in a minute has the exact techniques that I used on the radio this week.

Cheers,

Tony.

ps – Starting 1st of January, I have seven days of New Year, New You emails and blogs coming for you. Each one will be packed with useful information on how to achieve all your New Year’s Resolutions, and have your best year ever!