I chose this topic as it was a recurring theme last week. Read 1 article and attended a session last week both of which revolved around this topic of Emotion and its relation to success.
The article in question was by Minda Zetlin and you can read the article here. In short, the article talks about how to take notes but in the article a very crucial idea is shared which I will quote here”
Information in itself is not memorable but it becomes a long term memory when its combined with an emotion
I will elaborate why I believe Emotion is one of the drivers of success but let me first introduce how people make decisions and the psychology behind it.
Psychology
If you are in Sales, you must have heard that either of the two motivates a person to buy, hope of gain or fear of loss. But Emotion is what nudges a person to make a choice.
For eg. You see the latest ad of Apple iphone 11 pro worth $ 849 ($900 in India), you have a smartphone that you bought only a year ago, works well, does the job. But the ad is enticing to say the least, how can they possible record a wonderful video on that iphone. Is it possible? You fall for it, the punch line “Just the right amount of everything”, You think, thats it, it has got EVERYTHING, You go for it. Bought it and saw your hard earned money go swissssh…
This is when your other side, rational side of the brain takes over. Now, it starts to justify your decision. It starts giving you rationale behind your decision. Your phone is low on space, it hangs up a lot, it might give might better pictures which might be helpful in your profession, so this new iphone 11 is perfect and finally its done, you sold the phone to yourself.
You see, Emotion basically made you buy it, but Logic helped you justify the buying behavior.
Psychology – Take Away
By now, you must have got some idea of why I think Emotion plays a big role in making decisions, sometimes those which you might not like but still.
So when you set yourself some goals, these are basically something that you dream of. Company with turnover of 1000 Cr., Speaking assignments at major events, or Mansion in upscale locality, new Merc that has just been launched, the international vacation that you have your eyes on, luxurious lifestyle, whats wrong with wanting all this.
But your brain does not get these, they are all simply information that you are feeding to your brain. The brain will process this, store it in its memory somewhere only to recall it time and again if at all you read it. There is another method called affirmation and visualization that people utilize but both these topics need separate blog posts.
So your brain gets this information and does nothing about it. Ideally, it should force you to get up each day and work towards your goals but it doesn’t happen. Why is that? Why will it not do it? What should I do to make it happen?
This is where Emotion comes into picture. Emotion when related to a goal helps you connect with it. If you feel it you will connect with it and if you connect with it, you are driven by it.
Inspirations
Who knew Mahatma Gandhi when he was thrown out of that train in Pietermaritzburg which was a turning point in his life. I believe it was emotion, of humiliation that made him decide that he would make his country free.
Another example that I could recall is that of Steve Jobs of Apple. Steve Jobs got fired from the company he founded along with Steve Wozniak in 1985. In his own words:
Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
Steve channelized this emotion of defeat, of having to leave that company he was so passionate about and to look for other avenues that he was not interested in. He went on to start NeXT which was then purchased by Apple and subsequently Steve again became the CEO of Apple.
Emotion might not always be negative, it could be positive. Dhirubhai Ambani, the famous Industrialist of India was moved by an emotion to always build a company like Shell.
“I have been able to build this refinery because I decided long years ago not to settle for anything else,” he said, “I had heard a Yemeni proverb in Aden “la budd min Sana’a wa lau taal al-safr” (Sana’a is a ‘must’, however long the journey may take). I never forgot that saying.”
We might not be able to follow up on our goals because part of the problem could be that they are still not YOUR goals. You might have just copied them from somebody else, or social pressure that moved you to make it a goal. You have not OWNED those goals.
Now, how could we do it? How could we own our goals? What is the process of owning a goal?
Personal Experience with Emotion
I will share you my example of how I did it. Small but relevant. I will share you my goal in one of the areas of life but they can be equally applied to all of it.
One of my goals was to run a 10 km marathon. Now, it was simply a wish and there was no action. I was not doing anything about it.
What I must do to do a 10 km marathon?
- Build Stamina
- Become agile
- Increase Fitness
- Mark a Time for Marathon
- Register for Marathon
- Run
- Hold the medal
For all this to happen, I must follow the process which starts with visualizing it. Visualizing that I have completed a marathon. Visualizing that I am holding the medal and that I am also biting it just like “Nadal does it”. Will share it in my Family group, my school group and my college group. What will I experience? A feeling of accomplishment, a feeling of setting a goal and completing it. Now what I will feel is Emotion.
I immediately jot down the process (mentioned above), strategy (1st month 1 km continuous running, 2nd month 3 km, 3rd month 5 km, 4th month 7 km, 5th month, 10 km), Sources to get inspiration from (Nilesh Gajera & Aksh Brahmabhatt) & visualizing it (drew a picture of myself holding the medal & biting it).
On the 26th January, I ran 10 km marathon, first time in my life. I didnt had stamina to run for 1 km let along 10 km but I somehow managed to do it.
End Note
I believe Emotion is a very important ingredient in my quest for success. Another very important ingredient is Passion which I will talk in a separate blog post.
Emotion helps you connect with the goal and drives your brain to take all the right decisions. Emotions also gets your commitment which is crucial in difficult times.
Emotion comes from heart and when your heart and mind gets aligned, that is where goal achievement becomes a reality.
I do hope that you would have enjoyed this blog post. If yes, please do connect with me on Twitter or Linkedin. And even if you have not connected or do not agree with me, please do connect and let me know your thoughts. I will try my best to discuss both sides.
Thank you for your time in reading this post.
“Emotion is the key driver. If I link anything with emotion there is a higher probability that I will stick to it.”
~ RG ~
Very nice Rajat
You write very nicely keep it up
Thank you Sir. Coming from you, I am humbled.