Imagine that you have just bought a brand new luxury car, perhaps a shiny new Jaguar, and you park it at your favorite restaurant to have a celebration dinner. Imagine the pride and joy you are experiencing as you pull up to the restaurant and park the car.
Now imagine that you have a full stomach and you are totally satiated after a marvelous meal. You walk out toward your new can to see two young men beating on your car with metal pipes. One man is pounding on the trunk of your new Jaguar while the other one is smashing in your windows. What do you want to do as you imagine this scenario? What had your heart pumping the most, the pleasure of driving the new Jaguar or the desire to stop the men from destroying your car?
For most people the answer is clear, the pain of seeing the imaginary car destroyed was a far stronger motivation. Most people are more motivated to avoid pain than they are to seek pleasure. However, studies also show that people are more willing to spend large sums of money to reach a goal. That is why people will spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on education.
The point is that both types of emotions, positive and negative, play a huge part in our motivations to take action so we must think about how to use those emotions the goal is to cause action. Let us take a look at the seven positive emotions.
Hope is the most powerful of all emotions. I believe that everything that is accomplished is accomplished based on hope. If you can provide someone with hope then you have provided them with the ability to accomplish any goal. Conversely without hope nothing can be accomplished. Be careful with hope because you must be able to follow through.
Talking about your own experience or the experiences of others you have helped with your coaching is a great way to inspire hope in your potential coaching clients.
This is another time when testimonials do the selling for you.
Outlining a process that has worked in the past is another great way to inspire hope. All great achievements begin with an idea and hope so know when you inspire hope in a client you can help them achieve any goal.
The Power of Hope